Saturday, July 5, 2008

Bonsai in Oregon #3

This is Jason Gamby's hammer juniper. It is a Rocky Mountain Juniper, Juniperus scopuolorum. The tree is way over 1000 years old. Jason is in the process of styling this himself under my guidance. This will be a killer tree very soon.
First image only twelve months ago, in July 2007. The last images with the bonsai pots are virtuals. In about two years it can be potted in reality. This is some tree that you have to walk very far to find a better one. Good luck!




























7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Walter,

A great stock of RMJ indeed! Very interesting branch movement and placement.

I was going through with interest on the progression where one could see the dynamic movement of the branches after pruning and thining out of the foliage.

But the end result has dissappointed me as I can't make out why such a uniform foliage pattern has been opted for... eventually hiding the beauty of the intricate branch movement. These are my thoughts only.

Would appreciate to to have your views on this; perhaps you can enlighten me on factors I might have overlooked.

Shaukat

Anonymous said...

What an amazing juniper! - Wow!
Great tree!!!
Wolfgang

Walter Pall said...

Shaukat,

I understand your concerns very well. Yes, the uniform helmet like crown bothers me a little too. But this is not the end result. This is only the intermediate resutl after twelve months of styling. It will change considerably before it is ready for exhbit. I am sure Jason will understand this.

Walter

Anonymous said...

Walter,

Thanks for your comments.

Let's hope that this fascinating tree ultimately turns into a real killer..... and I can say that it possesses all the elements to be one.

One more question: how do you normally ascertain the age of a tree? You had said it will be over 1000 years old. I am just eager to know.

Shaukat

Anonymous said...

Walter,

One more point.... Of course, I know this is only an intermediate stage and will change considerably in course of time.

By 'end-result' I had meant the end result after styling, not the final bonsai.

Shaukat

Walter Pall said...

Age of bonsai:

in general these are wild estimates. And in general it is not so important hwo old a tree really is.

100 years: I had a Rocky Mountain Juniper that died and we cut the trunk and conted the rings: 2,162 year rings!!
I have several cuttings of Rocky Mountain Junipers which were taken from trunks and branches. A normal count would be to have 250 year rings per 5 cm diamter. It can be 350 or 150 years also. So a tree with a trunk diameter of 40 cm can be 2,000 years on average and maybe 2,800 years or 1,200 years. If you follow this then 1,000 years as estimate for this one is EXTREMELY conservative!!!

Walter

Anonymous said...

Walter,

Thanks for your valuable inputs on age of trees.

Shaukat