Large English Elm Penjing SUZHOU School

I collected this elm 2-3 years ago ? Instead of chopping it down and waiting a life time till I was too old to lift the tree by the time it developed. I decided to try a Penjing style I believe to be from the SUZHOU School.
The idea is they are large trunk trees with some carving and delicate cloud like pads of foliage.
I planned on a bigger pot to start with but I thought this was a decent compromise considering my budget. I thought I was going to have to be a little creative to make the tree fit but after a couple of hours of hosing and soughting roots all it took was a couple of trims of useless wood with the chainsaw and it was almost a perfect fit.






This is a snapshot from Lindsay Farr's WOB showing something like I am trying to create.

I have already styled the tree after repotting but interested to hear others ideas before I post.

Nice project to be working on. Good luck. I think the design could work. How quickly will foliage develop in your climate with this species?

Hi Brett.
Yes, I think it the idea you want to achieve for the tree is very achievable. or it can be made even better,,,the base of your tree is much better.

regards,
jun

Hi Fiona
I would think our climate is very favourable with a long growing season but in reality I found they put on one great flush of growth and then went into a Summer type dormancy that does not end? Even if you cut the trees back hard. I have discussed this with Will and others and they have given me some confidence it can be overcome in possibly various ways. I plan on giving it lots of water and fert to start with and next year I will consider a very early prune and or defoliation just to get that continued growth.
Really I am only going by others advice and educated guess that it is actually English elm. I believe I have another older "bonsai" English elm and it has pretty small leaves compared to these I collected so it will be a matter of time before I see how small I can get the leaves as they are of the larger size at the moment. Maybe anywhere between 50-100mm.
Thanks Jun,
I forgot to upload the wired tree last night, hopefully my plan doesn't disappoint

I had a couple of choices for the new leader and I think I can get a transition with some carving later.

You have a very nice tree !! I am glad you decided to work with it that tall..will be a good tree ,,please keep posting.. take care john

Thanks John I am glad you like it