Mugo Pine Quasi-Raft

[RKatzin]

Boy! You could just walk up underneath that for a nice cozy picnicy! How awesumely inspiring!

Reminds me of this tree I had considered rafting because of its trunkless flat out structure. I decided instead to see if I could unravel the mess of strangle roots and see how/what that would grow out into.

I've been thinking awhile that your basic big box mushroom mugo, many would transform easily into rafts, Thanks for validating my musings! Proof in the puddin'!

 

[Paradox]

I really love the left side of that tree. Cant wait to see what you end up doing with it.

Get plenty of mosquito and hottie repellant and a shotgun for the aliens.

 

[misfit11]

Spectacular tree, Vance! It's hard to imagine people criticizing this tree. Personally, I think it's the nicest Mugo I've seen you post. It has a wonderful naturalistic style. Thanks for sharing!

I hope this doesn't go to your head...

Cory

 

[Vance Wood]

Spectacular tree, Vance! It's hard to imagine people criticizing this tree. Personally, I think it's the nicest Mugo I've seen you post. It has a wonderful naturalistic style. Thanks for sharing!

I hope this doesn't go to your head...

Cory

Nahhhh that's already got a big hole in it where my brains leaked out from the last round of praise. It has taken all of these years for people to purchase the idea of a Naturalistic tree, Ask Walter Pall. Saying that I don't even imagine to compare this tree to anything Walter does. He after all is the ad-hoc father of the Naturalistic style, and In my opinion is not something you can teach. It is a form that is stylized enough in places where it needs to be stylized and wild where it needs to be wild.

 

[Vance Wood]

Worked most of the day on this tree. There is a lot to do and to accomplish what I believe has to be done most of all the tree will have to be wired. I started with the far right element, removed old needles and downward growing needles and un-neccessary branching and small limbs. It is considerably opened up but now some things are exposed that were hidden.

Still like my tree? It has some flaws that we will try to correct.

[video=youtube_share;CTxRplDfeIg]http://youtu.be/CTxRplDfeIg[/video]

 

[cmeg1]

I don't think anything wrong was exposed with the wiring and needle plucking you did.It looks nice still.
Great video.Thanks for the opportunity to view the progress of this tree.

 

[drew33998]

Very nice piece. Definitely not a cookie cutter bonsai. Very artistic creation.

 

[Vance Wood]

Very nice piece. Definitely not a cookie cutter bonsai. Very artistic creation.

We will see how it progresses. It is different that's for sure, and being a Mugo makes it nice. Any other species of Pine we would not be going through this because it would have destroyed itself artistically.

Here is a little teaser or clue: I am toying around with the idea of removing the center branch.

 

[fourteener]

Here's my basic premise about Bonsai (certainly can be debated)... The trunk line and main branches are the heart of a tree, the foliage are the clothes to dress the thing up. When foliage dominates the main event, I lose interest. Guess who doesn't do many deciduous trees!!

Vance I think you have a great trunk line within the tree. The cleanup and elimination of needles, misplaced buds, etc, really cleans up the image and makes it more defined. When you do to the rest of the tree what you've done to the right side, I think the image will be more powerful.

I'm not saying any of the above because I think you need to hear it Vance, it's more about helping others. It's also the basis from which I make evaluations. I don't claim to be right, just noting what I see and enjoy in a Bonsai image...people can take it for what it's worth.

Definition, simplicity, movement. It's what I love in an image, and you certainly have that going on here. I look forward to the ongoing story!!

 

[Vin]

I started working on the tree in the early 90's when the same nursery-man who made that incredible insurance estimate on my upright Mugo sold me this one for about $15.00.

Okay, since no one else will step up to the plate, I'll make the offer on this hideous tree. I'll give you 30 bucks for it so you'll double your money and at least recoup some of the time you spent on it. Maybe you can get a decent Mugo with your windfall.

In all seriousness, that's an awesome example! Do you think the same branch structure could apply to Juniper as well? I have a couple Parsoni that look very similar.

 

[Vance Wood]

Okay, since no one else will step up to the plate, I'll make the offer on this hideous tree. I'll give you 30 bucks for it so you'll double your money and at least recoup some of the time you spent on it. Maybe you can get a decent Mugo with your windfall.

In all seriousness, that's an awesome example! Do you think the same branch structure could apply to Juniper as well? I have a couple Parsoni that look very similar.

I don't know why not. If you can imagine it and you have the branching there you should be able to accomplish it.

 

[Jeremy]

I love this tree and can already see a huge improvement from wiring out the right hand side.
For me, everything about this tree screams natural, mountain Mugo. Long sinuous lines in all trunks and an overall compact tree. Looks like mother nature created this herself. Will keep watching this thread and the videos which offer much more than a photograph.

 

[Vance Wood]

Boy! You could just walk up underneath that for a nice cozy picnicy! How awesumely inspiring!

Reminds me of this tree I had considered rafting because of its trunkless flat out structure. I decided instead to see if I could unravel the mess of strangle roots and see how/what that would grow out into.

I've been thinking awhile that your basic big box mushroom mugo, many would transform easily into rafts, Thanks for validating my musings! Proof in the puddin'!

The fact that you are doing Mugos and many others are trying them is validation enough in my mind.

Your basic idea here is dead on the money. I don't know how many Mugos I have gotten down to this point and been stuck as where it might be going after that. It seems that you/me/everybody else always gets stuck with a two trunk tree and left not knowing exactly what to do. Eventually one of them is likely to be removed but you don't necessarily have to do it now. Try to develop both sides of the tree and see what the tree gives you.

I can speak only for me. I am not Ryan Neil, Kimura, or Mr. Potter. I do not have the ability to see the future of a tree the same way these guys do. I have to fiddle and diddle around with a tree before it starts to make sense to me. I'm getting better at it but a lot of the OOOO's and AAAAA moments I have enjoyed lately, have been from realizing my previous lack of vision and applying what my new points of view and changed sensibilities are telling would be nice for the tree. I always view all of my trees as raw material there to be altered if necessary. I guess it is kind of a reward for being patient and consistent for all of the years I have owned many of these trees. A lot of people coming to the realizations that I have over the last decade or so would simply sell off their failed efforts for someone else to turn into a masterpiece.

That does not make sense to me. Many years ago I was admonished to purchase at least, good pre-bonsai, and that nursery material will always yield inferior, and as my stuff was called, mediocre results. I had trouble selling people on the idea that every tree I own is pre-bonsai. Buying someone else's efforts to provide trees for bonsai was not attractive to me, I already have good pre-bonsai I know, and am familiar with. This concept was a waste of time and resources to me, and an acknowledgement that I am not capable of bringing a tree forward on my own. I guess the real stickler is my adherence to the nursery trade as a viable source for good bonsai material. Even if I grew bonsai from seed was more acceptable than the nursery trade.

So now it has come to a point that some of these people will not be convinced until I am able to make my "mediocre Nursery Crap" look like Yamadori. One could be critical here but I am one of those people. I want my trees to look like Yamadori. It is after all what bonsai is all about anyway.

 

[RKatzin]

Man! What cahones! You have a way of finding a nerve and tapping on it. You say things that I want to say, but I don't have the cred to back it up. Thanks for stepping up, you da man!

That diddle and fiddle thing is right where I'm at. I try to see the future, but I think you have to have been there with other trees to develop that talent. I can see what others have done, but to translate my tree to that in my mind is difficult. I tend towards sudden inspiration, the tree just pops at me and I see the tree, then it's on and I know where I'm going with it. Maybe someday I'll be able to look at a piece of stock and see exactly where to go with it, meanwhile I'm a fiddler and a diddler. Is there a group for that? Thanks again Vance, I have so enjoyed getting to know you and your trees, Rick

 

[bwaynef]

I am toying around with the idea of removing the center branch.

That's the part that bothered me initially. I found myself wanting to see what was being hidden behind that middle branch/trunk as the tree rotated around. I don't KNOW that removing it is the right thing to do because, as I mentioned, I don't know what's behind it, but I imagine that since you DO know what's behind it, maybe it'll be better once its gone.

I also considered that since you were going to show this one at some point this year, you might have some difficulty making it look full enough (and cohesive enough) to show THIS year with that trunk gone.

 

[M. Frary]

Where are you going to show this at Vance?

 

[Vance Wood]

Where are you going to show this at Vance?

The show you are coming down to visit.

 

[Vance Wood]

That's the part that bothered me initially. I found myself wanting to see what was being hidden behind that middle branch/trunk as the tree rotated around. I don't KNOW that removing it is the right thing to do because, as I mentioned, I don't know what's behind it, but I imagine that since you DO know what's behind it, maybe it'll be better once its gone.

I also considered that since you were going to show this one at some point this year, you might have some difficulty making it look full enough (and cohesive enough) to show THIS year with that trunk gone.

Don't know we will have to wait and see. I really don't need to show a turd.

 

[M. Frary]

The show you are coming down to visit.

Very very cool. I really can't wait.

 

[bwaynef]

Don't know we will have to wait and see. I really don't need to show a turd.

Are you then in agreement with me that removing that trunk would make it harder to show it this year?