Carpinifolia elm

The photos. are a taken a little over a year apart. Following acquisition of the tree I concentrated first on reworking some of the carving. In the process some branches were lost, which will now be redeveloped.

Regards,
Tom

The most recent photo...

I like the new branch structure you are developing now considerably better than the old. It is much more suited to the apparent age and style of the tree. I think the dead area is far too smooth however and still has way too much wood. I would reduce and hollow it out more using knob cutters to roughly pull out chunks of wood. I've had good results with that method although there are plenty others I'm sure.

Seems like you are going to have to let that top grow wild to develop some taper.

Good luck with it.

Thanks to you both, and you are right, Rob....my plan is to let it grow unchecked for some time.

Regards,
Tom

Tom,
Looks like you are heading in the right direction.
One thought, in most hollow trunk styles a major difficulty is that the living material pretty often all comes off the back of the tree. This makes the tree appear to be falling backwards out of the pot. Branches, and rotation of the tree must be adjusted to bring some foliage to the front.
Just my thoughts.
Jerry
www.bonsaihunk.us

Thanks, Jerry...you raise an excellent and well taken point.
Tom

After some branch restructuring....leaves are now just beginning to turn....a bit unusual considering the time of year in northern West Virginia.

Regards,
Tom

Tom,
Was this tree from Keith Scott stock?
Dale

Hi, Dale:

Yes, the tree was purchased from Keith Scott, actually by a fellow grower who lives here in Morgantown, WV also....he purchased the tree from Keith several years ago in Pittsburgh and it has been under my care for the past two years. Hope this helps.

Regards,
Tom

Tom Simonyi wrote:Hi, Dale:

Yes, the tree was purchased from Keith Scott, actually by a fellow grower who lives here in Morgantown, WV also....he purchased the tree from Keith several years ago in Pittsburgh and it has been under my care for the past two years. Hope this helps.

Regards,
Tom

I thought so Tom.
You don't see many of these that weren't connected to Keith in some way.
Keith, and one of his students ( Kelly Adkins) from many years found a 'site' full of these back in the late 70's/early 80's and took many from the site. When I worked with Keith I never saw him throw out a root cutting from one!
I believe the original site was a large estate near cleveland where his student found the parent tree. I understood that they were so thick on the ground from seedlings that they were almost solid root clumps that were chopped out in sections.
I worked on MANY of these while working at Keiths.
I found them to be pretty touchy in winter here if in a pot and not protected well in winter.
His tree in the Nat. Arboretum collection is one of these , probably from the same original source as yours. you can easily find a pic I imagine. We repotted it several times at his place in NE Ohio until it went to the Nat. Arb in mid 80's.

Dale

I found this blurb from an old '99 Pittsburg club meeting workshop:

"This Month's Meeting -Friday October 15, at 7:00 p.m. at the Pittsburgh Civic Garden Center 5th and Shady Ave. This month's meeting will feature Kelley Adkins of Cleveland. He will be doing a demonstration and workshop. On Friday Kelley will create a composition emphasizing using various stones in various configurations and there effect on how plants are added. On Saturday starting at 9:00 a.m. at the Garden Center, Kelly will lead a workshop using collected Carpinafolia Elms. As you may know Kelley is the man who first introduced the Carpinafolia Elm to American bonsai. He first collected the elm from an estate outside of Cleveland Ohio in the early 1970's. One of Kelley's early collections was given to Keith Scott who was Kelley's teacher at the time. That elm eventually found its way into several national books and magazines as well as becoming a permanent part of the National Bonsai Arboretum's collection. If asked, Kelley will give the entire story of how he discovered the elm and some of the stories connected with it. The elm in question while reported to grow throughout Asia as well as America, few specimens have been found in the U.S. except for some larger leafed varieties. The qualities of this particular species cannot be overstated. In addition, rarely does Kelley sell Carpinafolia"

Here are a couple shots I found quickly:
First is from Jerry Meisliks website and photo was taken by Dennis Hawke
http://www.bonsaihunk.us/pic/nat/nat14.html

Here is one from a Flickr site.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/spike55151/4024433202/in/set-72157622489602307/

and, you can find it on pg 5 of the NBF site.
http://www.bonsai-nbf.org/site/north_american.html

Regards,
Dale

These are great trees. I have a couple that came from the same source. I'll look and see if my son
has any photos on his camera. Since I don't own a digital yet!

Hi, Dale:

Thanks so much for refreshing my memory...I was at that meeting with Kelly (which I had forgotten until you jogged my memory)...he brought some beautiful trees with him to that workshop/demo. on Carpinifolia....also a very good teacher and gentle man as I remember. How is he doing currently...do you know?

Thanks again... I look forward to working with this tree during the years to come.

Best regards,
Tom

Tom,
I haven't seen Kelly in quite a few years. Last we talked he was still working at Lowes or Home Depot? and still lived near Cleveland area. I imagine he still shows up at the Cleveland club meetings from time to time. It's been many years since he worked at any of the estates. When he moved back to the area from Chicago area he went to work at one of the chains I mentioned. The estate jobs always seemed neat to me!
It's been a bit over a year since I saw Keith at the Columbus 'State' show where he was the honorable guest and spoke and gave a critique.
Dale

Dale,

Thanks for the update....would you please extend my sincere best wishes to Keith the next time you see him....I would appreciate it and thanks. I did not know he had relocated back to Ohio until just recently. Sounds like he is doing well.

Regards,
Tom

After a recent repotting this spring. The slab is native sandstone which was drilled and hollowed out.

Regards,
Tom

The tree later this spring...getting used to its new home...

Tom, Really looking graceful and top not coming off back since you sent me photo to be on slab. Keep bring right sub-branches down. Great work. Also, Dale thanks for history down memory lane. I am old West 25th St/Broadview Rd. Cleveland guy. Dustin

Hi, Dustin...thanks for the kind words....I think the slab is going to work o.k. for this tree....thanks also for the advice regarding branching.

Regards,
Tom