Finally got lucky

[WNC Bonsai]

I was at Lowes today to pick up lumber for more monkey poles so I dropped by the garden center as well. I have been a little envious of all the neat trees others have been scoring at Home Depot, etc. so I am now keeping an eye out myself. Well right there in the middle of a bunch od bald cypress beanpoles was this 6’ speciment with a 2” base. I grabbed it and headed for the checkout.

As you can see from the photos although there is really no movement it does have a nice taper and up at the 26” point the trunk wyes forming a perfect spot for the branches of a flat top. I am considering just cutting back the growth there and wiring the existing branches to flare left and right. The price was right too, only $22.98, which is a lot less than what they are going for on ebay and some other places. As soon as I get time I’ll do some scribbling on the photos to show some stying ideas. By the way, once I get it chopped and styled it will only be about an inch taller than the one next to it.

 

[just.wing.it]

Nice!
Looks like mine!
Which was saved from a Walmart clearance rack, all dried out and sickly....
I put it in a tub of water for last summer and it sprang back to life!

BC is a very cool tree!

 

[WNC Bonsai]

Yes, it is amazing how much abuse they can take and still bounce back. I went ahead and trimmed and wired mine the other day and it seems to be loving the new haircut. I will post a photo later. this one is destined to be a flattop style and may eventually end up combined with a couple others. I wish it had some movement but it was grown at a nursery in eastern Tenn so it is straight as a beanpole. I may have to make a trip back up there this week and see if I can pick up a couple small ones to go with it.

 

[WNC Bonsai]

Here are a couple photos of the trim and wire job I did yesterday. Maybe in June I’ll do a root reduction if the tree is growing as healthy as they usually do. If not I’ll hold off until next spring and give it the full Monty to get the root mass reduced enough to get into a bonsai training pot. I’d really like to get this one into a tub of water to see if the submersion trick works.