prunus mahaleb ("sainte lucie") from a small yamadori

clem

Chumono
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hello, i collected this tree with my best friend in 2007. I didn't take photo, but it was like this (virtual) ->
ste lucie 2010 04 06 001virt.jpg

Here is the tree in 2010 after 3 years in the ground , potted in a Bonsai pot ->
ste lucie 2010 04 06 001.jpg

In 2011 ->
ste lucie 2011 06 21 004.jpg

2013 ->
ste lucie 2013 03 09.JPG

2015 ->
ste lucie 2015 04 29 000.JPG

2018 with flowers and a new pot ->
ste lucie 2018 04 19 001.JPG

july 2019 ->
ste lucie 2019 07 01 002.JPG

A few days ago, i repotted it ->
ste lucie 2020 03 18 001.JPG

The nebari is good (imo)->
ste lucie 2020 03 18 005.JPG
ste lucie 2020 03 18 003face.JPG

With sphagnum moss on the soil ->
 
Lovely progression. I like the second virtual too. Might be tempted to aim for even more of a dropped branch as well to fulfil the ghostly feel even more. Nothing beats the dark cragginess of a prunus‘ bark to make a tree look haunted.
 
I like it with the apex still in place. Nice tree, great base, bark, and trunk movement. But the lime sulfur makes the Shari too bright and a bit distracting.
 
I like it with the apex still in place. Nice tree, great base, bark, and trunk movement. But the lime sulfur makes the Shari too bright and a bit distracting.

hello, you're probably right ! the wood has a lot of cracks and it is quite fragile so i prefer to keep it "safe" with a lot of lime sulfur. I also protect the tree from the rain during most of the year.
 
I prefer this virtual. In addition to the bark and shari, key features of this tree are flowers and fruit. The more upright virtual allows a better display of flowers and fruit.

It is important to make use of the better traits of a tree. No point in making a flowering tree so sparse that it looks like a juniper.

ste-lucie-2020-03-18-007virt2-jpg.290796
 
Some news. The repotting of this spring ->
ste lucie 2021 03 25 (2).JPG
ste lucie 2021 03 25 (7).JPG

The tree doesn't grow very much, since 2 years, in this very small and flat pot. So i transpotted it in a japanese training pot this summer (in the beginning of July) without cutting any root ->
ste lucie 2021 07 08 (1).JPG

I hope the tree will grow more in this training pot for the next coming years.
Here is the virtual of the future project ->
ste lucie 2021 03 25 (7virt).jpg
 
This tree has certainly acquired some wonderful character over the last 14 years, since 2007. The increased vigor from moving it to the training pot will give you what you need to make the next step, what ever direction you take this. It is a lovely tree. Hope you post a photo of it in bloom in spring 2022.
 
thanks for encouragements. I hope that, with time, the bark of the 2nd half of the tree (above the shari) will become more mature/cracked like an old prunus mume...
 

I like the look of the new pot better than the old. Hopefully, the tree agrees.
 
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