Rescued Oak

I first saw this Oak in a garden and asked the lady if i could have it . It was very healthy at the time and was attracted to the lovely bark. The lady said she wanted to keep it as she planted the acorn when her boy was born . He is now grown up and left home.

I next saw the tree in the front garden in the middle of summer and it looked dead from neglect of not watering. I thought it was dead but that winter i had a look at it and could see a little sign of life so i knocked on the door and asked if i could now have it. Finally she said yes.

This is what it looked like when i got it back.





I then found which bits were still alive having to lose nearly all the lovely bark and getting out of the pot ,i dont think it had been repotted ever. It was a mass of roots so i did some surgery on it.













This is what it looks like now.






















This local tree inspired me.



I know its not going to be to everyones taste this tree but i like trying things out and it just seemed to evolve into this.

Its been in the washing bowl for a couple of years now so i think a pot next year.

Sigh

This is why bonsai is called 'art'.

Why did you decide to remove the dead parts so drastically, instead of waiting for spring to see which bits would recover?

leatherback wrote:Sigh

This is why bonsai is called 'art'.

Why did you decide to remove the dead parts so drastically, instead of waiting for spring to see which bits would recover?

Because they were dead.

I understand the effort, and what you had in mind... but honestly i dont see it happen with this tree or maybe only if you plant it out in the ground again, forget what you've styled so far (and prune several branches back hard, or cut them off entirely) and let it grow again, 3 to 5 year, and certainly leave enough room for strong growth on the apex too. You can avoid it becomes apically dominant if you dont let that top branch grow feely for more than 2 or 3 years.

I think that's an impressive save Neil! I mean, wow, I didn't see that coming - at all. Good for you!

yves71277 wrote:I understand the effort, and what you had in mind... but honestly i dont see it happen with this tree or maybe only if you plant it out in the ground again, forget what you've styled so far (and prune several branches back hard, or cut them off entirely) and let it grow again, 3 to 5 year, and certainly leave enough room for strong growth on the apex too. You can avoid it becomes apically dominant if you dont let that top branch grow feely for more than 2 or 3 years.

Thanks for the comments and advice Yvess71277. I quite like what i have done and only really make things that i like for my garden . I will carry on trying things out as that is how i have learnt everything i know in the garden.

Russell Coker wrote:


I think that's an impressive save Neil! I mean, wow, I didn't see that coming - at all. Good for you!

Thanks very much Russel ,glad someone liked it I try not to get too precious on technique with things that were just about dead. I just like to have a bit of fun with them and if i like them then they get to stay in my garden.

leatherback wrote:Sigh

This is why bonsai is called 'art'.

Why did you decide to remove the dead parts so drastically, instead of waiting for spring to see which bits would recover?

Leatherback i forgot to ask what the sigh meant.

Smithy you did what you decide to do. Me personaly would try to field/plant first at least one year and watch how the tree will fight for life. Your styling looks dramatic and I like nice calus and dead wood structure. Definitely not bad. I like it.

Considering what you started with, I think you have done an admirable job. I've seen oaks in the midwest, USA, that have been struck by lighting and/or survived tornadoes, and have massive dead parts, and I think as this develops it will look more and more like those trees. I like that you do what you like; that is what it is all about.

yamasuri wrote:Smithy you did what you decide to do. Me personaly would try to field/plant first at least one year and watch how the tree will fight for life. Your styling looks dramatic and I like nice calus and dead wood structure. Definitely not bad. I like it.

Thanks Vlad, there are two and a half years between getting tree and wiring.

OK I missed that....so the top was definitely gonne

Carolee wrote:Considering what you started with, I think you have done an admirable job. I've seen oaks in the midwest, USA, that have been struck by lighting and/or survived tornadoes, and have massive dead parts, and I think as this develops it will look more and more like those trees. I like that you do what you like; that is what it is all about.

Thanks Carolee, doing what i like is something i have always done in all my walks of life. It frees you up from all sorts of worries about what others think.

I like it, too - very creative use of the material. I picked up a heavily discounted nursery oak (Q. robur) this month that has a similar base and straight, slightly tapered trunk. I was thinking of one approach, but this tree has caused me to look at mine a little differently. So thanks for posting!

I also like what you did with it. And where it's going. Bet it looks great in 5 years or less...
Best of all you took a dying tree, and gave it love...
J

I like it, and your creative out look. Do what feels right to you. Half way through the pics I kinda gasped and thought "oh no, all that beautiful bark gone". But your final image really reminds me of many large trees seen standing alone out in farmers fields around her. Giant lightning rods.

Very nice.

coh wrote:I like it, too - very creative use of the material. I picked up a heavily discounted nursery oak (Q. robur) this month that has a similar base and straight, slightly tapered trunk. I was thinking of one approach, but this tree has caused me to look at mine a little differently. So thanks for posting!

Thanks Chris,
Good luck with your tree.

JudyB wrote:I also like what you did with it. And where it's going. Bet it looks great in 5 years or less...
Best of all you took a dying tree, and gave it love...
J

Thanks Judy .

mgallex wrote:I like it, and your creative out look. Do what feels right to you. Half way through the pics I kinda gasped and thought "oh no, all that beautiful bark gone". But your final image really reminds me of many large trees seen standing alone out in farmers fields around her. Giant lightning rods.

Thanks mgallex, iwas well dissappointed when i got it home and started to find out how much of the tree was dead ad was going to loose all that lovely bark. It was what made me want it in the first place .

Mr Miyagi wrote:Very nice.

Thanks Mr Miyagi , always enjoy seeing what you put up also.

You gave it quite an upgrade! It needed to be cut back hard anyway to begin to develop taper. I also really like all the twisty bends you put in the branches, something that *may* be hard to keep up as the oak grows and always wants to put out stick-straight shoots (in the first photo). I'd love to see how this one progresses! Very nice!

Looks good! I would recommend reading and absorbing the following tutorial from Will Hiltz. Apply this technique to your branches. Especially for oaks this is a great technique as it will give it that kind of spooky look that oaks should have. You might have to sign up on the forum to see it I don't remember.

http://www.bonsaisite.com/forums/index.php?s=23efccd2f411b1a462a254cd60a18d3d&showtopic=24581

Smithy wrote:

Carolee wrote:Considering what you started with, I think you have done an admirable job. I've seen oaks in the midwest, USA, that have been struck by lighting and/or survived tornadoes, and have massive dead parts, and I think as this develops it will look more and more like those trees. I like that you do what you like; that is what it is all about.

Thanks Carolee, doing what i like is something i have always done in all my walks of life. It frees you up from all sorts of worries about what others think.

thats a clever attitude, but i'm not so sure why you would cling on to a forum then :-) Maybe just to enjoy our company, or you want us to enjoy your personal style adapted to bonsai. Thats nice too, but this forum category is meant for others to comment on what you post right , that also includes comment in which someone says the dont like it (the tree as a whole or the design you opted for).
If you dont want to worry about what others think, well, i'm not so sure why one would post it in this category

But apart from that, offcourse i (we for all i know) dont have any problems with the fact that you want to do what you like to do, offcourse you do.

cheers

JMcCoy wrote:You gave it quite an upgrade! It needed to be cut back hard anyway to begin to develop taper. I also really like all the twisty bends you put in the branches, something that *may* be hard to keep up as the oak grows and always wants to put out stick-straight shoots (in the first photo). I'd love to see how this one progresses! Very nice!

Thanks Joey ,it maybe hard to keep going but i'll give it a go, if it fails then i'll have learnt something. Ill keep it updated.