Dalmatian black pine #1 has come a long way

Dalmatian balck pine, Pins nigra dalmatica. This is an extremely rare species. There are only a few ten thousand of these trees on the Dalamatian islands in Croatia left. This tree comes from a nursery that breeds these trees to plant most of them out into nature.

Everybody knows Pinus nigra austriaca. Well, the austriaca has very long and coarse needles. The dalmatica has very short and rather soft needles. It almsot feels like a mugo pine. It is the best black pine for bonasi in my eyes. But this is only theoretical. So far there are none available.

This particular tree has come a long way in five years. In the beginning it was not really very exiting other than being P.n.dalmatica. By now it seems that it has show potential soon. I will twist the tree counter clock wise for one hour in the pot next April. The last image shows the future position. The pot is by Klaudia form Germany.