Yamadori English Beech

This is a recently acquired Yamadori Fagus Sylvatica. I didnt collect this tree myself, i bought it. so its been established in this tub for a season at the least. The first images are how i received it...so far ive removed one or two dead branches, tidied up the structure, cut out one or two heavy bits and wired for a broom like canopy, the tree will be built up over time and fine ramification developed. this is styled to look like a tree in nature and the dead branch stubs and Uro/hollow features will all remain in the design, in time they will weather to look natural. here's what ive done in pics





Quite a difference in leaf size throughout the tree




The tree has been heavily grazed by wild animals



This branch is dead




These two left n right branches are dead, it appears most of the cambium has been chewed away, rather than remove them completely i have a plan to use them in a design as they have lots of character, can be reduced and hollowed out..



the dead branch on the right can be reduced to a knuckle to let the live branch behind it free















Flat











back



After removing the top heavy branch

Looks like great work so far! Trees like this seem to tell quite a story when you let yourself get lost in it's presence.

Wilson L wrote:
 Looks like great work so far!  Trees like this seem to tell quite a story when you let yourself get lost in it's presence.

Thanks for your interest, Wilson...your enthusiasm is refreshing to see
and i agree, Yamadori trees do have a special character and presence. this is certainly one of the older looking trees on my balcony, there is a mix of ruggedness and elegance IMHO.

its going into a more manageable training pot soon, so will update in due course.

damn bobby !
another piece of dynamite material... cant wait to see how she comes along

Yep, I'm going to have to agree with Kevin there, very nice. I like the way you've managed to pull a coherent and convincing image out of what started of as a quite a confused piece of material.

For me this where the fun is in bonsai and that's why I'd rather develop my own trees (even if my result are distinctly modest) than buy "finished" trees. However it's also the difficult bit of course!

Well done and thanks for sharing, another great tree in the making.

Regards

Richard

Thanks all for the comments!



This one was re potted over a couple weeks ago. I had to sort the roots out and removed quite a few bits of heavy root, while making sure to cut back to smaller roots further back....

I had wanted to have the tree looking more upright like this
2016-04-06_06-03-03 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

But after a look at the roots, i decided the tree along with the roots, would be better suited to a slanting style
2016-04-26_03-35-34 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
2016-04-26_03-35-24 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

Here you can see the strong right sided anchor root holding the tree in place, giving the tree visual stability, crucial to slanting/windswept. there were also some cuts made in the nebari/base and these were packed in with Spagnum moss, maybe new roots will form where i want them...
2016-04-26_03-36-15 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
2016-04-26_03-36-35 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
2016-05-01_06-21-02 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

The tree today, some of the top moss was removed and the pot topped up with soil, i was able to plant the tree deeper after removing some heavy roots, where the soil is mounded around the base is where ive left spagnam moss to induce new roots.
Although im very content with the base as it is, the tree has a sinuous movement which transmits right through the base IMO.
IMG_0213 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
IMG_0220 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
IMG_0282 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
IMG_0290 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
IMG_0291 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
IMG_0304 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

Now the tree has some filling out to do, some tweeks on one or two places and improvement in the apex. in time the top might be hollowed out.

Very nice tree thanks for all the detailed pictures.