How to Make Bonsai Lemonade
Back in 2010 I collected an American elm from the side of a rural highway.
It had a great flared base, with some deadwood extending to the soil, and good taper to boot.
I figured to style it into an informal upright, and once it had thrown new branches that’s just what I set out to do. It grew all right for that season, but frankly it turned out to be only a so-so bonsai-in-the-making.
I gave it the minimum attention necessary, but for the most part it stood ignored among all the other trees.
Then 2011 came and I kept it watered and kept looking at it in an attempt to find a decent bonsai in the material. In the meantime, the dead area of the trunk grew bigger, leaving a couple of odd veins of living tissue and some branching that didn’t help the appearance one bit.
By the end of the growing season I was ready to toss it out.
Then it hit me:
Why not lay the thing down and see if it wanted to be a (more…)