''El Coto''

Have been looking for a decent Cotoneaster to add in my collection for a long time, and when I recently saw a nice one offered for sale at Bonsai Studio Momiji, I did not hesitate and bought myself this fine looking specimen. I have it already a couple of months here at my house, but did not found the time to show it over here. But here it is on picture anyway…









As you can see there is a lot of solid and healthy growth, a sign that this tree is doing well. And although it is not a big tree – the height is about 30 cm and the nebari is +/- 25 cm at its widest point – it looks like a very massive one. The base is one large root base, bearing 5 trunks in different sizes and height. I suspect that this multi-trunk tree is also fairly old, but I have no idea how old it is. The bark looks already well developed for a Cotoneaster. Here and there are some pieces of dead wood that have been rotting in for some time now. After I acquired it, I also found piles of sawdust on the soil, so there were some bugs in the dead wood. Especially at the rear of the root base they did feast on the dead wood. With a chisel, I removed most of the soft rotten wood, and I think I got the critters too, because I didn’t found any sawdust anymore on the soil.

Here are some detail pictures...









A few week ago I pruned the foliage way back, and the tree responded well by making lots of new shoots everywhere over the tree. This week I wired the remaining branches, and made an initial styling. This is the result for now…









As you can see, the angle has been changed. This results in more difference in height for the two main trunks. I have pruned a lot of thick branches away on the largest trunk, because they were all very close together, and most of them were too thick to be a credible branch. By doing this I also created more taper in this trunk. For now it leaves me with a large pruning wound at the back of the main trunk. I will work on this later. For now, I will leave the wood like it is. Maybe I will drill some smaller holes in it, so it can rot easely by standing water. And much later on I will treat it with a woodhardener. In the spring I will also clean all natural dead wood on the tree, and treat it also with the same wood hardener to stop the rotting process. Meanwhile, I noticed a few very small white mushroom popping out just behind the big pruning scar. I think it has something to do with the rotting of dead wood. Anyway, it is a nice picture…





Of course there is still a lot to do to enhance the future of this beauty, but I think I made a nice start for the future of this Cotoneaster. Remember this is only a first design, and this tree will need many more years of refinement. Hope you like it....

Best wishes,

Hans

PS: Concerning the name “El Coto”, this is a Spanish bodega (winery) in the Rioja region, with a deer on the logo. I think this tree now looks a bit like a side of a deer antler, so now I decided to call this tree “El Coto”. This name obviously fits itself well with the species Cotoneaster, and then this little beast also has a wonderful name. El Coto de Rioja – certainly the reserva – is also one of my favorite wines. And now I have a feeling this tree will be one of my favorites too…

Very nice Cotoneaster Hans. Great movement for this species. They are quite often straight or slightly snaking. I think this is an excellent first styling.

Hi Hans.
Very interesting tree. In the future it will be amazing, great composition, the first styling very good.

Pavel

Gday Hans,
I have a Privet which is very, very similar to your Cotoneaster. It's been sitting in my yard for about 6 months now and you have got my mind ticking as to where to start working on my tree. I'll post some photos of it tomorrow.