Tuesday, July 29, 2008

mugo pine nr. 8 coming to look fine

This is extraordinary mugo pine (Pinus mugo). It is some of the best material that I ever found. But it is a real horticultural challenge . After collecting in spring of 2001 the tree was planted into a plastic pot. But it would not grow very well. It just sent one new bud at each shoot. No ramification. In 2006 I decided that it might be the soil of the original habitat that had to be removed. consequently I took ti out of the container and planted it into a good bonsai pot. I often do this quite contrary to conventional bonsai wisdom which tells you to first style the tree and only then find the final pot I do it the other way round for several reasons. On is to be able to style it in then pot finally and not re pot it afterwards for many years, like more than ten years. But it still would not grow. In the fall of 2007 I fed it with chicken pellets, which is simply dry chicken do. and in spring of 2008 all of a sudden it came to quite vigorously. It still does not have enough ramification to really style the crown. but it was enough to make it pleasing finally. Before it looked funny, like it was styled by someone who had no clue. Now one can see what the aim of that was. it wills till taken another five years before we have a decent crown. But the movement of the trunk and the most outstanding deadwood will make this a killer tree. As has become the norm in my garden by now the tree has at least two very god fronts.