Last weekend we made a promising future Bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) bonsai from a piece of material that did not come through the collecting process intact. I’m a big proponent of not wasting material, and the fact is a lot of great bonsai come from not-so-promising beginnings. Don’t forget, it’s quite common for a bonsai to make a very clear statement about the hardships of life. We see this most frequently in juniper and pine bonsai, where dead wood is prominently featured. In the wild, Bald cypresses are often seen with huge dead snags where their former crowns once stood proud.
Here’s another BC lemon from this past winter’s collecting efforts. Despite good post-lifting care and sealing the chop, it just didn’t bud all the way up the trunk. As they say, it happens sometimes. But that’s okay. I can definitely make some lemonade out of this tree.
Here’s another viewing angle for this specimen. At this point I’m not sure where the front is. But that’s okay. I don’t have to make that decision now, or even a final decision after the tree is potted. Once some time passes, I may want to turn it. For now, I’ll show both angles and then settle on a preliminary front.
Just so you can see how Bald cypress heals, take a look at this closeup. The callus is rolling from the point on the trunk where the living tissue held up through to the root zone, and onto the dead tissue. When I stripped off the bark, it readily shows. Pretty neat, eh?
And this is what can happen if you aren’t careful stripping off the bark on a specimen like this. Notice the nice white tissue beneath the bark; contrast it with the dead wood above. Is this a long-term problem? Not at all. If you’ll notice the round spot near the top on the right side of where I tore the living bark, that was actually another shoot. The tree is going to push a bud there, which means the living tissue near that spot on the trunk will keep on living and will produce callus this coming year. I don’t keep a shoot where the bud pushes, but I’ll let it grow a bit for a year or two in order to ensure I have live tissue all the way around the trunk of this tree.
Now I’ve wired the living shoot, which is my new leader. And I think you can see how this establishes the “dead snag-new tree” concept at its inception.
A view from the reverse angle. I can see both possibilities.
Now the snag has its preliminary carving and the new leader is shortened. This establishes the proportions I envision in the finished bonsai. I want the young tree part of this bonsai to be shorter than the snag, to make a statement of age and hardship. And though I’m going to let a new shoot run and lengthen in 2017 in order to thicken the entire young tree part of this design, I will reduce it back to within this silhouette as I complete the styling work.
I like this front for now, and here’s the bonsai-to-be in its training pot. It doesn’t look like much right now, but I can assure you this is going to be a very attractive bonsai in about three years.
The trunk base of this tree is 2.5″ and it’s 21″ to the tip of the snag.
What do you think? Is this good bonsai lemonade or not? Just leave a comment below.
Hey Zach. Just wanted to let you know that I had to send 3 different emails to fit all the pics. I included a few from last fall, last winter, and today. I look forward to reading your thoughts on it. Thanks for everything.
I love progression photos, Tim. Thanks for sending them. You’ve done a great job developing this tree. Hopefully I can get this blog done today.
My head is so big you could probably see it from Louisiana right now! Hahaha! But seriously, I’d be absolutely flattered to have my tree featured on your site Zach. The foliage is looking a little ratty right now because we have already had several nights below freezing but ill send some pics asap. What color background should I use?
Anything neutral should work, Tim, just as long as the entire tree fits. I’ll crop the images on this end to make them fit. Thanks!
Looks like something I might want to my collection at some point but would definitely need some direction in developing. I think it is awesome to have a tree that represents the adversity of life. Too many times we are only concerned about perfection which certainly does not accurately reflect life, at least not mine.
So let me know when this goes up for purchase
I’ll email you with some details, Paul.
Looks like something I might want to my collection at some point but would definitely need some direction in developing. I think it is awesome to have a tree that represents the adversity of life. Too many times we are only concerned about perfection which certainly does not accurately reflect life, at least not mine.
The key steps in putting this type of tree on the development road are to build the caliper of the new trunk and of course the branch structure. Once this is in place the tree just needs time to mature and ramify. Hopefully I’ll get the photos from Tim and can post a perfect example of how this is done.
Zack
This is by far my favorite type of Bald Cypress bonsai, you’ve taken a setback and made a potential beautiful bonsai. I really believe these trees choose their style but it’s up to the artist to interpret what the tree is telling you correctly. Quite often the artist tries to force another style onto the tree that although it works ok it never really brings out the best in the tree! I think you interpreted this one right on and it will have the opportunity to grow to its best potential bonsai and it will be a stunner! Nice work! It will tell the story of this tree and the hardship it endured yet perserviered through to become a beautiful bonsai!
Thank you for the comment, Gordon. I got a few pictures from Tim who commented on my previous lemonade post. He got one of these trees from me a few years ago. With his permission I’m planning to post them in a progression to show what can be done. Very impressive.
That will be awesome I’m looking forward to it, I’m also looking forward to the one i ordered. This spring is going to be a fun one for me! I feel like a little kid in December waiting for Christmas morning!