Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Walter and Alex bend very old trunk of mugo pine

This is a very old mugo pine that Alex has collected in the Alps a few years ago. He styled it with two crowns but never was happy with the result. The long cascade trunk was too straight and way too long without any green. So one cold have cut off the long part and worked with the small crown only. Since this would well be a viable option it was OK to risk the trunk and try to find a way to bend it severely. To bring some life int the WP bonsai school in my garden I held a long presentation of the pros and cons and know how and secrets of bending very thick old trunks on conifers. Then I let Walter and Alex loose. You can see what they did. The result is stunning. Now it is not a dog anymore, it is indeed, a very nice piece of material. If the lower crown looks healthy next year one can start to wire again and style the tree a second time. If the lower part ceases to cooperate it gets cut off and the little crown becomes the main one. The pot by Josef Mairhofer seems too big and too sort of square. So one option will be to plant this into a new stone pot by Mateusz Grobelny. We'll see and report.