I bought this from Telperion last year. I'm lucky to live ~1hr away. It was potted in 100% pumice for a year and put into bonsai mix earlier this year and styled recently. In retrospect, the angles are a bit sharp on the trunk and I should have picked better, but I will make the best of it. On the plus side the nebari is as fat as a basketball, maybe a foot across, so the final design down below shows it off best with the best taper.
2019 from the field: You can see how the root bag formed that basketball-size nebari like one of those japanese square watermelons.
The "back" after removing some branches last year (fresh cut paste). I dont like the right angle of the trunk and visible scars and the branching is positioned too far in the back.
side angle:
In bonsai soil from front-ish angle: some branch removal
As of this month:
The style is rather traditional so I will work on giving it more unique flavor going forward. That large cut in the front is already healing well after one year. I will build nice full pads on the right and I'm deciding whether to keep a pad on the left. I'm also debating where to put the apex to support the design (left or right-ward). Your input is appreciated. I will update this thread in the coming years.
2019 from the field: You can see how the root bag formed that basketball-size nebari like one of those japanese square watermelons.
The "back" after removing some branches last year (fresh cut paste). I dont like the right angle of the trunk and visible scars and the branching is positioned too far in the back.
side angle:
In bonsai soil from front-ish angle: some branch removal
As of this month:
The style is rather traditional so I will work on giving it more unique flavor going forward. That large cut in the front is already healing well after one year. I will build nice full pads on the right and I'm deciding whether to keep a pad on the left. I'm also debating where to put the apex to support the design (left or right-ward). Your input is appreciated. I will update this thread in the coming years.
