Mugo Pine on a slab

Maybe this is the most mature tree in my collection.

The first picture shows the tree 2003. The trunk splits in two main branches; I decided to take the left one, the right one was "jinned". One year later the Pine was wired. Because the tree has only roots to the right side I decided to plant it on a stone slab.
In comparison to the Jin you can see howw the trunk gets a little big thicker every year.

The last pic is a recent one, about 10 years after collecting

Regards,
Marco

The final image is very pleasing. Thanks for showing the progression.

Regards, Lee.

Good pics and a nice tree...

cheers

steve

I really like the progression, which, to me, seems to be one of a masculine to a more feminine tree, for what it's worth

Nice one.

Hi Marco.

Very nice slab planting, Really compliments the simplicity of the tree! The ground cover is perfect too.

regards,
jun

Hi Marco
I feel this tree was a big challenge right from the start, some difficult decisions are made.
First what line to choose and therefore which branch had to go.
Also the plant angle is changed which is better but because of that some nice character of the flowing trunk is less visible.
And you needed a stone to support the trunk.
Because of the beautiful flow of the trunk, the left branch is still looking a bit stiff.
The last picture suggest that due to new growth this will be less visible,
on the other hand, a to massif crown is not suitable for this nice tree.
This left branch is on the moment not in balance with the total,
are you planning to make it shorter, longer, lighter, some more wiring?
Nice tree and impressive work.
regards, Sunip

sunip wrote:
are you planning to make it shorter, longer, lighter, some more wiring?

Sunip, lighter.
It is not planned to change the volume or the shape of the crown. To avoid a too heavy optical weight of the crown I will pluck the needles hard to get more transparency.
Also the photo is taken from a disadvantageous camera angle (to much from the top), so the trunk line seems to have a knot in the middle. The front of the tree (comparison photo 4 to 5) has changed a little bit counter clockwise to make the pine more compact.

regards,
Marco

Hi Marco
The knot feeling in the middle will be in life no problem i guess,
only on a picture.
But i think because this interesting curve is in the middle of the trunk,
one might consider to cover the upper part of the trunk with a little branch?
I would some way avoid to accentuate this unpleasant effect of two same size pieces on the trunk.
(again just seeing the picture of course)
Also the natural planting on the slab will have to remain calm
so it will not disturb to much the atmosphere of the tree i feel.
regards, Sunip

Last week i have changed the planting position by setting the tree on a rock. Now the trunk line is more interessting I think and there is no determined front view anymore.

Next year some branches have to be edited a little bit.

regards,
Marco

MerschelMarco wrote:Last week i have changed the planting position by setting the tree on a rock. Now the trunk line is more interessting.

Now that is a VERY INTERESTING tree!!!

It wasn't at all bad as it was before, but this is so much better.

Such an impressive transformation. I liked the slabs very much but your last pic shows all the trees character and movement beautifully.
Well done.

I can't keep a Mugo alive let alone work on a progression. Don't know what I'm doing wrong. Must be the weather here. It couldn't be something I'm doing incorrectly LOL

JAG

Very impressive the way you have decided to take a good tree and work with it to make it an outstanding tree. Nice bit of work. I like the idea of the rock but I am not so sure I like the rock itself.

The new position is very beautiful.

Cheers

Great progression from the start image, very nice job.
But i am still not sure which i like more, the rock or slab.
On the slab i think it worked very well, good interaction between both. The rock however, it could be because its just a picture and that make it difficullt to show well but the rock looks like a ball, the trunkmovement is very nice here but the overall picture is less pleasing to me. Would love to see some different angles to get a better idea of it.

DjTommy wrote:Great progression from the start image, very nice job.
But i am still not sure which i like more, the rock or slab.
On the slab i think it worked very well, good interaction between both. The rock however, it could be because its just a picture and that make it difficullt to show well but the rock looks like a ball, the trunkmovement is very nice here but the overall picture is less pleasing to me. Would love to see some different angles to get a better idea of it.

Thus as I said: I love the tree and the way it's planted but I don't like the rock. It does look like a ball. Having said that; what I think means very little and please do not think you need to change anything right now for the sake of a couple of nay sayers and kill this wonderful tree doing it. There has to be a better stone out there that will fulfill this image.

If it's Tufa can you carve it to create a more irregular, less ball-like shape? This means it's roots won't be disturbed and the rock shape will have been improved.