Twin Trunk Bald Cypress

Jeremy, Thank You very much for your kind words.

Jay, Thank You. The trunk was carved in 1998, it was a tree that was collected in 1994 or 1995 and was about 20 to 30 feet tall.The top of the stump was to large to make a convincing transition so I decided to make it a twin trunk style. It took about 4 hours and I used an electric saw, an electric carving tool and an air driven die grinder as well as an electric die grinder and a lot of different bits.
Here are some early pictures.
Ken

O.K.
So now I am really impressed. Great vision and execution.
My bonsai buddy Chris Thomas has a thing for these. No doubt your carving will give him pause for thought.
Not to mention Bob Hill's itchy carving trigger finger.

That is a first for me to see. The sky is the limit or maybe we should say the solar system is the limit.

ciao....Leonardo

Thanks for the photos and explanation. The end result is amazing.

Jay

Harleyrider wrote:
Are these trees suitable for the British climate/weather?

People think of bald cypress, Taxodium distichum, as a tropical in Florida, which is actually the southern end of its range. It is native up to southern Virginia and the southern tip of Indiana. It can be cultivated in Zone 6. It does not have to grow in standing water. I have seen it in the middle of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. I should think it would do fine in Britain.
Sorry, I didn't see page 2.
Iris

And I was quite surprised to find one growing wild in central Maryland a number of years back, complete with knees!

kenduncan wrote:
(...) The trunk was carved in 1998,(...)

Wow! A very daring solution, and a very impressive result.

This post should be kept as a reference on this technique.

Jeremy, Leonardo, Jay and AlainK, I want to thank You guys for your comments and praise, but I can not take credit for the idea of splitting the trunk of this tree. I first got the inspiration to do this from an early issue of Bonsai Today in which Mr Kimura took a Japanese White Pine that was large with no taper and split the trunk into 5 sections all the way down to the root base to form an impressive clump style Bonsai, I was amazed and wanted to try this technique. I have seen Bald Cypress trees recover from all kinds of damage from Mother Nature, as well as the hand of man, and thrive, so I was fairly sure that it would do okay. I am not to sure how Mr Kimura's White Pine did after the operation it received, I have not seen any pictures of it since and I would love to know if it is still alive.
Ken

It's far from the class of Ken's bald cypress, but I split the trunk of this little (11 inches) pear tree about 13 years ago and it's still kicking. This pic is from last March.

kenduncan wrote: (...) I can not take credit for the idea of splitting the trunk of this tree. I first got the inspiration to do this from an early issue of Bonsai Today in which Mr Kimura took a Japanese White Pine that was large with no taper and split the trunk into 5 sections all the way down to the root base to form an impressive clump style Bonsai, I was amazed and wanted to try this technique. I have seen Bald Cypress trees recover from all kinds of damage from Mother Nature, as well as the hand of man, and thrive, so I was fairly sure that it would do okay. I am not to sure how Mr Kimura's White Pine did after the operation it received, I have not seen any pictures of it since and I would love to know if it is still alive.
Ken

When I saw what you did, I also thought instantly of this article. The question is not who "invented" this method, the fact is that the way you used it is exemplary: good solution for a tree, very nice result, and what's more, the tree doesn't look like one that underwent "extreme surgery". Because yes, your last question ("I would love to know if it is still alive") is the question that always come in the end when someone mentions this article.

This technique can also be adapted for other trees (thanks for the very nice example Jim), including deciduous, especially when the circulation of the sap goes in several directions, but with junipers in which the "live veins" mustn't be cut, it must be much trickier.

Jim, Thanks for your kind comments.
Nice Pear tree. I like the fact that the leaves have reduced so well, I bet it has good fall color in your climate.
Does it bloom for You?
Ken

AlainK,
Thank You for your kind words.
I am glad to here that someone else knows of this article. I need to look it up and see if I still feel the same way about that Pine
tree.
Ken

Ken,
First off, absolutely fantastic tree. I love the work you have done thus far. I knew right away that you where going with the natural growth patterns of the bald cypress with it's flat tops. My only recomendation would be the thinning if not flat out removal of lower growth. This is more in line with the mature bald cypress look and I think will reflect better on your overall image of age.

Question, in your pictures of the carving work you did (impressive) it looks like you "folded" the top of the smaller part and held it together with wire. Is this right?

Great tree,
Ed

Nice Pear tree. I like the fact that the leaves have reduced so well, I bet it has good fall color in your climate.
Does it bloom for You?

Thanks right back at you.

It has never bloomed in 15 years. It was a seedling from dropped fruit under a row of 40-foot pear trees that were growing along my drive in Tallahassee, FL. Those trees, in turn were the result of tossing out the scraps from a batch of pear jelly my wife made some 35 years ago. I transplanted five seedlings to my drive. The driveway trees were a sight to see in spring and fall.

This one has to bask in its fall glory unless it surprises me some spring. I probably do too much pruning, since they bloom on last year's growth (and older).

I actually didn't think of the Kimura article right away when i realized what had been done with this cypress. While it is generally the same technique involving making multiple trunks from one by cutting, it seems significantly different due to the amount of wood removed, and that the wood removal was the primary means of getting the two trunks. If I remember the Kimura article correctly, his tree was of much smaller diameter to begin with, so while there was wood removed, the primary means of separating the trunks was splitting with a saw and bending with wire. Similar amount of stress to the tree tho.

Jim I love this pear! I even like the pot! I think I like it best of all the trees you have posted. And it's provenance is charming as well!

JimLewis wrote:
It has never bloomed in 15 years.

Yes, very nice story indeed It deserves to be in the "Book of Bonsai Anecdotes", along with the story of the moss-gathering people in Toronto - or is it Vancouver? (can't remember who posted that one at the moment).

Back to the pear-trees: it it's from pears that came from a grafted tree, maybe it has reverted to a species genetically closer to the wild pear. In that case, it will take much longer to flower.

Hi Ed, thank You for your interest and comments and I was intrigued by your suggestion so I did a virtual to compare the two looks.
I have seen old Cypress around here that have no low branches only branches at the very top, and I think that is what most people think a flat top Cypress should look like mostly because that is what we are use to seeing. I have also see a lot of very large and old cypress that have low branches these are on the edge of rivers and lakes where they receive a lot of sun light on the lower trunk, that is what I want to convey with this tree. Another aspect to consider with the low branches is the overall health of the tree. This tree is young in Bonsai years, only 11 years in training and I feel that the lower branches build strength in the trunk, so I have developed many branches for that purpose with plans to remove some of them later on. I can remove all of the lower branches anytime but it took 12 or more years to grow them.
The wire that You see on the smaller trunk is only to train the branch at the top to grow into a apex, it was not folded only wrapped around the Trunk.
Ken

Here is this tree in it's Fall coat, it was late to change this year because it was leaf pruned last July.
Ken

Outstanding work!!

Thank You very much Mike.
Ken

Nice to see in its fall colour, thanks for posting.
I like the virtual picture with the lower branches removed, but maybe a few less removed. Hard decision to make!

Frankly, I wouldn't mess with success.

It looks very natural with all its branches. Beautiful.

Libby

Mr Treevolution,
Thank You and You are very welcome. I think that some branches will be removed in time, we will see.

Jim and libby I thank You both for kind comments.

Ken

Is there any success stories here with thread grafting a branch on a bald cypress. I'm lacking a back branch and in two years the tree is just not giving me one. Please post reply or email me at andre.10@mtn.blackberry.com

Hi Andre,
I tried to do a thread graft on a bald cypress once and it did not take. As it turned out the problem was that the area where I wanted to graft the branch was dead under the bark.
I think that it should work if there is live tissue in that area. I have seen trunks and branches on bald cypress that have grown together in the wild.
You may also try to use a seedling in a pot to graft on a branch.
Good luck, let us know how it turns out if you try this.
Ken