New Mountain Hemlock Project

[grouper52]

I though t I'd start a new thread with some photos of this guy after initial cleaning up today. He was collected on a trip with my wife to Mt. Hood about 4 months ago. Stands about 4 1/2 feet tall.

There were five trunks, but two were very straight and uninteresting, and added nothing, even for a group scene. You may be able to see where I cut them off today, and this resulted in a much more open scene.

Not sure which side will be the front, but I plan to do some further initial guy wire branch placement, and maybe even some wrapped wire work if I decide later this season, and if it continues to look healthy.

 

[bonsaiTOM]

Excellent material, and it looks like either 'front' has wicked possibilities !! Congrats ! Nice find.

 

[Dav4]

WOW! You could photoshop a nice pot into your first pic and I'd swear that tree had been there 10 years. For me, that triple trunk, I think, would be incredible. Good luck with this one.

Dave

 

[G3ON5IA_GUY]

WOW! You could photoshop a nice pot into your first pic and I'd swear that tree had been there 10 years. For me, that triple trunk, I think, would be incredible. Good luck with this one.

Dave

I agree, like I said on BonsaiSite, it already looks great. Really a great find!

 

[satsuki]

Wow, nice material.

I am looking forward to seeing the progress,
Andrew

 

[Bob]

As it is, I like the front in your first picture. Once your done working on it I'm sure that it will look good from any angle. Nice find!

Bob

 

[Brian Underwood]

This could be a spectacular tree. Nice find. I'm sure you will do it justice, and I can't wait to see it when your done!

 

[Bill S]

If it gnaws at you too much, send it to me, I think I could find a little something in there.

Now we know how you do it, he takes her collecting, seems to be working, keep up the good work.

 

[Si Nguyen]

Grouper, if this tree were mine, I would split it. The 2 main trunks don't match well with each other. The deadwood trunk appears wider and older than the tall trunk. I think you could get 2 very nice bonsai out of this stump. I particularly like the shorter trunk with all the deadwood. That would make for an awesome shohin all by itself.
Si

 

[grouper52]

Thanks, all.

Si, There is a third little trunk that I have great plans for! If it was just the two main trunks, I might be more prone to separate them into two.

The focal point for the composition will, of course, be the deadwood on the fatter trunk, and the other two trees will lend their foliage to frame and draw the eye to that feature. By themselves, neither of them are really very much worth working with, but as support for the main event - the deadwood - they will serve quite well, and, I think, result in a composition much more attractive and interesting than the single fat trunk. It doesn't really have the branching and foliage potential to compliment the deadwood as naturally as the other two would. Those are my thoughts at the moment, anyway.

 

[Si Nguyen]

I do see that little third trunk. I was thinking that could be part of a nice double-tree design along with the tallest trunk, after you split off the deadwood trunk. To me, that deadwood trunk just don't match with the other 2 healthy young looking trees. Unless you jin the entire trunk and not keep any live branches coming off of it, but then it would be on the wrong side of the composition. I'll sketch you something later.

 

[Si Nguyen]

Here's a thumbnail sketch of how I see that awesome deadwood stump. It has a perfect back branch already! You are a lucky man Grouper!
Have a great day!

 

[grouper52]

You have a good eye, si. I'll keep that in mind as I study it over the next season or two. Thanks.

 

[Si Nguyen]

Hi Grouper, whenever you get lucky and find a big stump with such a strong low branch, you've got to take advantage of it and go shohin all the way. I sketched it with the branch going around the back of the shari, but it might work better if you leave it in front of the shari because you have a strong back branch for depth already. It depends on how you would eventually tilt the trunk. If the nebari cooperate, you could lean the trunk back, then the branch can be in front. Check out Walter Pall's site. I remember seeing how he did a small tree with a huge shari like this.
Have fun working on it in a year or two! Hope you have the patience to wait that long.
Si