Copying your landscape tree

[CWTurner]

Has anybody tried making a miniature copy of a mature landscape tree from their property?

I suppose that you'd first need an interesting landscape tree of the proper specie to begin with, but it would be really cool to see the bonsai in the foreground, and the inspiration in the background.

What got me thinking about this is the tree in the background pictured below. This is from the first page of Brian Van Fleet's posting. I don't know what the top of that tree looks like, but it's an interesting trunk.

http://bonsainut.com/forums/showthread.php?4383-Keep-it-or-Cut-it

Anybody ?

CW

 

[reefed419]

Really cool concept. Wonder if anyone has tried that before.

 

[Bunjeh]

Landscape tree

Unfortunately, I live in a new development so my bonsai are bigger than my landscaping. However, the photo in my profile is my goal. It is a Sitka Spruce on the coast of WA.

 

[peterbone]

Copying any specific tree would be very difficult because it's not possible to have full control of the growth of a tree. Branches don't bud exactly where you want for example. Most of the time you have to work with what nature gives you. You could however copy a particular style of tree.

 

[Eric Group]

I did one years ago... Pretty pitiful attempt to be honest and I don't have any pictures of the two trees... The one I was copying was a tortured old tree in my back yard whose left side had died year ago, and I had a crepe Myrtle that had been attacked by a roommate's dog, killing the side of it in a way that I thought looked oddly similar... A little wire and some pruning and they looked a lot alike... But that doesn't mean it was a good looking Bonsai. More of an unintentional resemblance that I embellished...

The landscape tree died a few years later and the crepe Myrtle- after struggling for YEARS following the dog incident- has found renewed vigor since it's last repot (finally got it into a happy mix and eradicated whatever ailment the animal bite caused) and a new style as a semi cascade... Finally on it's way to being a nice tree for me!

I would recommend using natural trees more as an inspiration than a blueprint to copy. Frequently a large, natural tree will have elements that occur naturally and look fine, but when copied in miniature they stick out and just look like a mistake that is highlighted as a Bonsai. The overall movement or look of a tree is something certainly worth copying- and it seems that is what many of the original bonsai were created to be; some form of a copy of an image of trees seen growing in nature.

 

[Skinnygoomba]

There are a good amount of old oaks around me, so I use them as a guide for my dwarf cherry. It's good to see at what point branches are naturally starting to bend downward, how the canopies look, and general branch structure.

Pines and junipers are a different story, since I do not live on a mountainside, there really aren't any interesting ones.

I like the classic styles, so there are plenty of examples to be found online.