12 pic Potentilla fruiticosa progression

[amkhalid]

Hi Aaron,

Its hard to tell whats going on from the pics, although it looks like it might have some promise.

What I would recommend doing now is just pondering the tree for awhile. This will be made easier if you cut away the rim of the pot and scrape away the soil until you have exposed the base of the trunk/nebari (like I did in the first few pics of my progression). Then, prune away all of the little superfluous branchlets down there and scrape away some of the loose bark. Then you will be able to see how the live veins move, and this will make styling decisions much easier. 'Cleaning up' the tree like this is the first important step in getting your tree ready for work.

If you do this and post some more pics from multiple angles, we might be able to get a better idea of what you are dealing with.

Have fun!

 

[amkhalid]

Update

Update for Spring 2010.

Got it into a pot, but the larger one of the two identical pots I have. The offending root is still there and I did not feel comfortable reducing it too much since it is connected to one of the two live veins.

The pot is too big for the tree, but currently looks way better than the last pot it was in. I am currently looking for a smaller, softer pot (oval maybe or lotus shape). As my friend/teacher pointed out, a rectangle pot is too hard for this tree. I like blue for this tree though.

Overall, I am happy with how it is coming along. Crap photography as usual

 

[Smoke]

Really some nice work there on the bark. Base is kind of skimpy but it will improve with age. Nice tree.

 

[crhabq]

amkhalid,
Thanks for posting your progression. I've been inspired by the post I've seen here to try a pontentilla. Thanks especially for showing the pruning process. As a new-ish-bie, I a bit timid yet in the cutting down thing.
If you like the blue pot for your tree, consider these from


Or maybe a smaller pot like
this.

Chuck is easy to do business with and I think his prices are very reasonable.
Okay, the vendor is http://www.ikerbonsaipots.com/

Thanks for sharing,
Ray

 

[noissee]

photograph is much improved.

 

[discusmike]

Nice poti,all the ones i ever see have very thin trunks.

 

[amkhalid]

Really some nice work there on the bark. Base is kind of skimpy but it will improve with age. Nice tree.

Thanks Smoke - very encouraging to hear that from you. Potentilla bark flakes away very easily so it is not very difficult. Although on such a tiny tree getting the details is tough.

You are right, the base is a bit skimpy. It could be improved from other angles, but I chose this front based on the live veins. This tree is styled in what some may consider the driftwood/juniper style, and from my understanding thin bases/reverse taper is often not considered a design flaw for this style. Bottom line is it doesn't bother me that much. The live veins certainly will thicken in time, if I am able to maintain the tree in its current tiny size.

If you like the blue pot for your tree, consider these

Thank you - I bought a beautiful pot from Chuck a couple years back when he was still only selling on ebay. I am glad to see that his work is becoming more appreciated as time goes on. His work is great and his prices very fair. Both of those pots are quite nice.

My teacher is a student of Nick Lenz, and he goes down there every year. He is going to try and find me a pot for this tree this year. I absolutely love Nick's pots. But if he doesn't have the right one, Chuck is definitely on my list.

 

[elroy]

Do you remember if you were hit with high brokerage fees and duty coming into Canada?

Elroy
Ottawa ON

Thank you - I bought a beautiful pot from Chuck a couple years back when he was still only selling on ebay. I am glad to see that his work is becoming more appreciated as time goes on. His work is great and his prices very fair. Both of those pots are quite nice.

My teacher is a student of Nick Lenz, and he goes down there every year. He is going to try and find me a pot for this tree this year. I absolutely love Nick's pots. But if he doesn't have the right one, Chuck is definitely on my list.

 

[amkhalid]

Do you remember if you were hit with high brokerage fees and duty coming into Canada?

Elroy
Ottawa ON

I would expect I was but can't remember the details. I do remember that shipping cost about as much as the pot, probably because it was through ups.

 

[roelex14]

Hows this tree doin?

 

[amkhalid]

Its doing well - thanks for asking. Its had an eventful year. Treated it with wood hardener recently, with emphasis on the base of the tree. It is already getting punky down there.

Here is a pic of it in its first show in May (first tree I've ever shown, actually)



Here is how it looks today Not so pretty... but its all intentional. The right side of the is in the refinement stage, so I have defoliated it twice this year already. The first branch on the left still needs to grow a bit, so that is where all that shag is coming from. The great thing about these trees is they can be defoliated/thinned at basically any time, if you need to pretty it up for some occassion.

 

[amkhalid]

Here is a virtual with a Nick Lenz pot I got from Pauline Muth (amazing lady btw) at the National Exhibit. The tree will go in this pot next spring, then we will see how much I like it. In the virt, it only looks 'ok', imo. The fact that the pot has no feet kind of bothers me. For size perspective, this pot is 2" diameter.

Also tilted the tree a bit in the virt.

The tree will also probably be rotated a tiny bit clockwise, as per marco invernizzi's suggestion. Shows more movement and a bit better nebari.



Cheers

 

[grog]

Curious as to how this little beauty's coming along. A little shy of your repotting season, just want to make sure you don't forget to update us It's a beautiful tree.

 

[Jason]

Great Progression. Your tree is making real progress and made me re-thing this species. I'm not sure I like it in that Lenz pot though(in the virtual)....besides if your have an offensive root that you can't get rid of wouldn't you want to go with something oval if not rectangular.... I kind of liked it planted off center (like your show pick) with some open space underneath it....Just personal preference. Either way, nice work.

 

[amkhalid]

Sad to report that this tree is dead as of last summer It was probably my favourite tree in my collection, and definitely the most advanced in terms of maturity/showability. I haven't been doing bonsai very long so most of my trees are in the early development stages. This little guy was a treat because it developed so fast.

Fortunately it's death was completely my fault, so I have no on to blame but myself Preparing it for a show last August I removed it from its pot just to change the planting angle. Didn't disturb the roots or anything.

Tree didn't like that at all. Slowly died over 2 weeks. Never made it to the show!

This was a case of dramatically overestimating this tree's resiliency. I assumed it was invincible... defoliation every couple of weeks - no problem. Bounced right back. Slight adjustment of planting angle - no problem, right? Wrong.

I guess the roots of potentilla are extremely sensitive during the summer (they definitely are not during the spring, in my experience).

But thats bonsai, right? Lesson learned. There will be other potentillas. Although I will never get over my reckless mistake!

 

[Alex DeRuiter]

Live and learn. I'm right there with you as I learned a little about winter care (or carelessness) recently. I'm sad to see such a beautiful tree dead, but as you said, that's bonsai -- or at least the beginner's world of bonsai. lol -- At least you know you can style one hell of a tree I'm looking forward to your future projects. This was a great progression series and I appreciate not only your posting it, but the fact that you admitted to killing your tree. Very noble of you

 

[amkhalid]

Thanks Axxonn, I appreciate the kind words.

Killing trees sucks, but I'm not afraid to admit it when it happens. It happens to everyone. Hopefully someone will at least learn from my mistake.

Hoping to do some potentilla collecting this spring... No more of this nursery stock crap

 

[Jason]

Sorry about your tree. I have a few dead ones I keep around to help me remember my mistakes (you can see their great branch and root structure year round). Lost some last year when I decided winter protection was over-rated. Worked great until about February when we set a record low. My trees were all protected this year.