takira
Yamadori
TLDR backstory: I purchased this collected American Larch in late June (the nursery was/is in Massachusetts and I'm in SE Michigan). It had been collected in 2022 and the nursery sat on it for a year to see what would die back or not. It arrived to me in the hacked-off nursery pot you see here with a bit of normal-looking potting soil, and all I did was add a thin layer of kitchen compost and throw a bunch of moss from my patio on top to try and help keep it from drying out. It lives on my patio, which sadly only gets really direct afternoon sun, and you can see a little leaf scorch that took place in August. I put it behind 30% shade cloth in September and it seemed happier (sent out a new flush of growth!).
Obviously I'm not working on it now, but am trying to come up with a plan for the thing. It has a little bit of trunk movement, a spire of deadwood up top, and the nebari of Jabba the Hutt. My initial inclination was to cut off the dead branches down by the base, trim back a little of the living branches just so they don't shade each other out and result in MORE dead branches at the base, and plant it (not at the same time, as I don't REALLY want to kill it) in a long shallow oval pot to accommodate the big weird root that, while subjectively Ugly, is also one of the more interesting parts of the tree.
I was, however, wondering if it could make sense to plant it on something of a slope so it looks more like it's leaning out over a precipice - trying to make sense of the big root behind it, as though clinging to anchor the tree? I've read that larches can be fairly root-sensitive so I'm guessing root over rock is out, and in any case my level of expertise may not be up to it at present.
Curious what anyone else may come up with! Ultimately, it's never going to be an exhibition tree or anything like, but I kind of like its weirdness.
Obviously I'm not working on it now, but am trying to come up with a plan for the thing. It has a little bit of trunk movement, a spire of deadwood up top, and the nebari of Jabba the Hutt. My initial inclination was to cut off the dead branches down by the base, trim back a little of the living branches just so they don't shade each other out and result in MORE dead branches at the base, and plant it (not at the same time, as I don't REALLY want to kill it) in a long shallow oval pot to accommodate the big weird root that, while subjectively Ugly, is also one of the more interesting parts of the tree.
I was, however, wondering if it could make sense to plant it on something of a slope so it looks more like it's leaning out over a precipice - trying to make sense of the big root behind it, as though clinging to anchor the tree? I've read that larches can be fairly root-sensitive so I'm guessing root over rock is out, and in any case my level of expertise may not be up to it at present.
Curious what anyone else may come up with! Ultimately, it's never going to be an exhibition tree or anything like, but I kind of like its weirdness.