Scots pine in the ''sitting on the side of a mountain and growing in the natural pine tree'' style.

[MichaelS]

I've posted this before but here it is with the new season's flush of needles. Now, every effort will be towards fining out the branchlets by lots of needle removal etc. I don't anticipate too much wiring from here although some will probably be necessary.
As you can see, the practice of automatically bringing down branches in pine trees, which we are all taught is a law set in stone, is neither necessary or always desirable if you are after variety in form. This is a much more free kind of shaping were you allow the tree to have more say in the outcome. I think this kind of styling which is not seen very often yet will become common place in the future. The drawback is that the tree will take a lot longer to look like something because we are dealing with each shoot individually rather than one mass and concentrating more on the movement of each shoot than you would normally in your usual bonsai styling. A lot of this movement is made using pruning rather than wiring as it will give you sharp changes of direction. So, it's often 2 steps forward and one back.
It was grow from seed and spent about ten years in the ground. When I think about it, it has more in common with deciduous tree branch training.
The branch on the left coming from the inside of a curve was chosen as the one to keep rather than the one which was on the outside of the same curve. When I told someone I made this ''huge fundamental mistake'' a few years back they thought I was losing it! I think it was the right decision in this case.
The thing so far.......It helps to picture the branches as they will appear after another 5 or 10 seasons when good detail starts to appear.





The back......

 

[GGB]

from seed? nice. no clue these things could live in australia. Love the way they grow in the wild/landscape

 

[Adair M]

So, your idea is a mountain tree growing where it doesn’t snow? Scots pines are native to cold climates where they are naturally subjected to heavy snow. The snow naturally lowers branches.

Here are a couple pics of mountain pines, not Scots, but growing in the California mountains:







Now, I’m not saying you can’t style your tree how you want it, but I’m not buying the “side of the mountain story”.

 

[Wilson]

It does resemble scots pine I see all over Ontario. I quite enjoy it Michael, and I am curious what you did in this branch intersection?

 

[MichaelS]

Now, I’m not saying you can’t style your tree how you want it, but I’m not buying the “side of the mountain story”.

What a surprise.

Scots pines are native to cold climates where they are naturally subjected to heavy snow. The snow naturally lowers branches.

This is complete nonsense . You should be more careful before you shoot off.

And who said anything about emulating a scots pine?
You have zero imagination Adair. There really are other places on Earth besides the US.

A mountain pine. (probably Bosnian?)



skeleton of scots pine in the mountains..

 

[MichaelS]

It does resemble scots pine I see all over Ontario. I quite enjoy it Michael, and I am curious what you did in this branch intersection?View attachment 221783

Thanks Wilson. You will find that info here. https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/sometimes-a-light-turns-on.27358/

 

[Potawatomi13]

So, your idea is a mountain tree growing where it doesn’t snow? Scots pines are native to cold climates where they are naturally subjected to heavy snow. The snow naturally lowers branches.

Here are a couple pics of mountain pines, not Scots, but growing in the California mountains:

View attachment 221774

View attachment 221775

View attachment 221776

Now, I’m not saying you can’t style your tree how you want it, but I’m not buying the “side of the mountain story”.

Do you know ID of #2, #3 tree? Beautiful!

 

[Potawatomi13]

This is complete nonsense . You should be more careful before you shoot off.

Not necessarily. Correct statement where these trees native even if sometimes growing elsewhere.

Nevertheless tree presented looks good.

 

[Adair M]

Do you know ID of #2, #3 tree? Beautiful!

I believe it’s a Jeffries Pine. It’s growing up on the California/Nevada border. The top fell off not too long ago, relatively speaking. The dead part of the trunk is still laying on the ground next to the remaining trunk.

Some of the Sierra junipers up there are thousands of years old. Amazing!

 

[Potawatomi13]

Thank you. Native mountain trees sometimes very AMAZING.

 

[M. Frary]

I've posted this before but here it is with the new season's flush of needles. Now, every effort will be towards fining out the branchlets by lots of needle removal etc. I don't anticipate too much wiring from here although some will probably be necessary.
As you can see, the practice of automatically bringing down branches in pine trees, which we are all taught is a law set in stone, is neither necessary or always desirable if you are after variety in form. This is a much more free kind of shaping were you allow the tree to have more say in the outcome. I think this kind of styling which is not seen very often yet will become common place in the future. The drawback is that the tree will take a lot longer to look like something because we are dealing with each shoot individually rather than one mass and concentrating more on the movement of each shoot than you would normally in your usual bonsai styling. A lot of this movement is made using pruning rather than wiring as it will give you sharp changes of direction. So, it's often 2 steps forward and one back.
It was grow from seed and spent about ten years in the ground. When I think about it, it has more in common with deciduous tree branch training.
The branch on the left coming from the inside of a curve was chosen as the one to keep rather than the one which was on the outside of the same curve. When I told someone I made this ''huge fundamental mistake'' a few years back they thought I was losing it! I think it was the right decision in this case.
The thing so far.......It helps to picture the branches as they will appear after another 5 or 10 seasons when good detail starts to appear.

View attachment 221739

View attachment 221740

The back......

View attachment 221741

That's pretty sweet!
Looks like a Scots to me too.
I see um.....a lot!

 

[TomB]

Not necessarily. Correct statement where these trees native even if sometimes growing elsewhere.

Not necessarily. I’ve seen a great many Scots pines that look like Michael’s. In Scotland, where it’s native. In the mountains. Where there’s snow.

In truth the Scots pine is quite variable in shape, though with some ‘classic’ recognisable forms such as the tall thin tree with dropping branches. It has a pretty wide native geographical range.

There’s more than one ‘natural’ image for a pine, whether growing in the mountains or not.

Nevertheless tree presented looks good.

I agree. Lovely tree, I like it a lot. I also personally like the design philosophy of gradual development rather than twisting into shape (which is not to say that can’t produce spectacular images). The branch taper (bottom left for example) among other things is evidence of its success.

 

[MichaelS]

Not necessarily. I’ve seen a great many Scots pines that look like Michael’s. In Scotland, where it’s native. In the mountains. Where there’s snow.

In truth the Scots pine is quite variable in shape, though with some ‘classic’ recognisable forms such as the tall thin tree with dropping branches. It has a pretty wide native geographical range.

There’s more than one ‘natural’ image for a pine, whether growing in the mountains or not.



I agree. Lovely tree, I like it a lot. I also personally like the design philosophy of gradual development rather than twisting into shape (which is not to say that can’t produce spectacular images). The branch taper (bottom left for example) among other things is evidence of its success.

I think the scots pine is one of the most picturesque large pines around. I've seen many in the flesh as well as lots of beautiful trees in the background in UK TV dramas etc. The variety of form is almost endless. To me they are more interesting than Japanese blacks. But I like all pines. Those that Adair posted are also spectacular. (except maybe the first which is still a baby)

Here is another one of exactly the same age....
Diameter of the base about 4 inches. It has basically stoped thickening since it was potted but I guess it's all about the bark now.....

 

[Adair M]

I think the scots pine is one of the most picturesque large pines around. I've seen many in the flesh as well as lots of beautiful trees in the background in UK TV dramas etc. The variety of form is almost endless. To me they are more interesting than Japanese blacks. But I like all pines. Those that Adair posted are also spectacular. (except maybe the first which is still a baby)

Here is another one of exactly the same age....
Diameter of the base about 4 inches. It has basically stoped thickening since it was potted but I guess it's all about the bark now.....

View attachment 221856

Hey Michael! Here a Scot’s I acquired last summer, but I haven’t really started working on it. It had some health issues that I wanted to give it a chance to recover from first.

This photo is a snap taken from a video, so it isn’t very well presented.

But I thought you might like it. I’m planning more of a “wild and free” styling with it.

 

[MichaelS]

Hey Michael! Here a Scot’s I acquired last summer, but I haven’t really started working on it. It had some health issues that I wanted to give it a chance to recover from first.

This photo is a snap taken from a video, so it isn’t very well presented.

But I thought you might like it. I’m planning more of a “wild and free” styling with it.

View attachment 221873

I do like it. Looks like you've got some branch length reduction ahead of you? Nice bark!

 

[Yosemite Goat]

I believe it’s a Jeffries Pine. It’s growing up on the California/Nevada border. The top fell off not too long ago, relatively speaking. The dead part of the trunk is still laying on the ground next to the remaining trunk.

Some of the Sierra junipers up there are thousands of years old. Amazing!

Trees #2 and #3 could also be a western white pine. The others around them are more than likely lodge poles.

 

[Paulpash]

This tree looks like many older trees I see along the A1 when I drive to Greenwood bonsai. They often have stubby jins down low with more substantial deadwood up top. I like it a lot and it is a very naturalistic image - well done.

It's great virtue is lovely movement. There are a few areas on this scots where naturalism fights with the best aesthetics of movement. It's a trade off if the artist is to use both aspects given the position of some of the branches in relation to the curves of the trunk.

 

[Potawatomi13]

In truth the Scots pine is quite variable in shape, though with some ‘classic’ recognisable forms such as the tall thin tree with dropping branches. It has a pretty wide native geographical range.

There’s more than one ‘natural’ image for a pine, whether growing in the mountains or not.

VERY true.

 

[Mike Hennigan]

I really love this tree, it looks like a little tree not as much like a classic bonsai look. It's great.

 

[Ryceman3]

I planted a lot of Scots Pine seeds this year... I dream of getting a few of them to this stage at some stage. It’s pretty much the kind of stuff I had in mind for them - there’s a long way for me to go but you gotta start somewhere. Love the inspiration, love the trees. Thanks for the pics.