Ponderosa First Styling

I recently acquired this Ponderosa Pine, and I am already excited about the potential it holds.

Before:



After:



And here is my virtual:



I would like to explore other design options or virtuals, so feel free to share your ideas. I am going to let the tree establish before doing any additional work... this might take another two seasons.

- S

that tree got HUGE, what did you, massively feed it?

ha... its called camera trick. I just took a closeup; notice that the later picture does not show the whole tree.

- S

Appears to have potential but hard to tell from the photos provided.

I'd like to see a crown of foliage on top.

As for the shari are there natural shari there or are you planning to carve some?
Hard to reproduce weathered pondarosa pine deadwood.

Did Andy Smith collect it?

Hi Rob,

It is Andy's material (you can spot his infamous 1.5liter bottle). I will post a better picture with the proposed apex. Currently, the apex is not well defined (at the moment it is just a tuft of needles). The shari is there from before (you can tell from the original picture).

I agree that it is not easy to make the top jin look natural. That is why I will have someone experienced work on it. I am planning on letting the wood die naturally so that the resin gets secreted into the deadwood while strengthening it.

- S

Here is a better picture with the apex. I placed a white bag on the rest of the tree to give a better idea of the future design.



- S

Looks like you got this from the burlap bonanza? If so, styling this tree now wasn't the best idea. I like the movement in the base, and hope for the best with the health of the tree.

Dave

I was wondering about that too...thought the first rule with recently collected material like this was to get it established in the pot and growing well, then style. Please keep us posted regarding this tree.

Chris

I see the tips swelling. Maybe the warm-up in weather is helping. I don't want to investigate, but I hope the root tips are growing.

- S

S - I was searching for some info on ponderosas and came across this thread from earlier in the year. Was wondering how the tree is doing? Has the major pruning induced significant amounts of budding this fall?

Chris

ponderosa pines by larry jackle is the best book out there on the subject. coupla years back, I visited his denver area home and enjoyed meeting him immensely. It's inexpensive, and a book so focused on just one subject.
It's a "gotta have" for your library

Thanks Dick...I do have that book and it is very useful. I think it may currently be out of print? Somewhere (maybe another forum) someone mentioned not being able to find it, and I didn't see it listed on Andy's website last time I looked.

Chris