1/2007
I had my eye on what I thought were two junipers. It was the week end of Martin
Luther Kings birthday, the weather was cool and the time was right.
I presented my case to the home owner and they went for it. Yeah. While I was
clearing the ground I noticed a heavy dead branch. I gave it a kick and it didn’t
move. My goodness it was another tree. So in the order I dug them up I named
them, Martin – Luther – King. This writing will cover the development of King.
Martin will come at another time as will Luther. If it makes it,
Luther was the dead branch. It was a bit shabby; time will tell if it makes it.
One month later 2/15/07 I cleaned the tree of dead twigs and stuff, and gave it
a scrubbing with a tooth brush and applied lime sulfur to the natural dead wood.
I have not done any jin or shiri the driftwood is natural. I also pruned and pinched some.
When I dug it up It was laying almost horizontal to the ground. I was surprised
by the amount of fine roots it had. When I potted it I had to manipulate the roots
a little with some wiring to form this slant. Yeah, Yeah ,Yeah, I know it’s kinda
premature to be wiring roots. But the tree was pretty healthy so I took a chance.
BTW at the time of this writing I took a peek at the roots (a benefit in using
straight turface) and there were new little white roots all over the place. Oh
yeah, this growing pot does allow adequate growing room. Talk about growing room;
One needs to be aware of too much growing room. OK here it comes. If a plant
is not root established, (filling the pot, but not root bound) it cannot remove very
much water by transpiration (the foliage calling for water). This leaves too much
water in the parts of soil without roots. If you create a situation of over potting or
poor soil that doesn't require daily watering, then you don't obtain an optimal
soil growing environment. When you water properly, a new supply of air is
pulled into the pot by the volume of water draining from the drain holes. Carbon
dioxide and other nasty things are removed from the soil. The longer you leave
these gases in the soil, and the longer you wait to introduce a fresh supply of
oxygen, the poorer the roots will be. Phew... I am glad that’s over.
A close look at the natural driftwood and the live veins
spiraling around the trunk. It just amazes me how an urban
tree can have so much character. This tree has a 4” diameter trunk
at it’s base and stands 29” above the rim of the pot.
Here I did a little virtual of the direction I have in my minds eye.
Computers are great. I will bring the #1 branch down and jin the
#2 branch. And compact the top to form a pleasing silhouette.
Sounds easy right. The #1 branch is about one inch thick
and thesilhouette is like a jigsaw puzzle.
Definitely time to open the bag of tricks.
This is the virtual of what I am shooting for in about
three years, if all goes well.
9/6/2007
Front
Back
1/27/2008 Repotted, pruned and
wired for future design.
Well, some of the best laid plains fall through, especially with bonsai.
The first branch on the right died and the jin on the left just didn’t
work any longer. So the original plan had to be scrapped.
This is the new design 9/24/2008.
11/12/2008 Repotted in a suitable pot (roots were not pruned), the position
was adjusted for better balance and opened with wiring to reveal the
movement of the live vein and shiri throughout the trunk. The tree will now
be left to rest and get healthy for awhile before normal maintenance is resumed.
Late Spring 2009
Changed the pot last Feb. This one works better.
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