Styling a Dawn Redwood

[circledisk]

I purchased this dawn redwood last year and pruned it back pretty hard (maybe too hard and missed out on some jins) and repotted in the autumn with no particular front in mind. It's growing vigorously and had white roots coming out of the bottom of the pot already.

It's quite tall and lanky and I'm considering air layering and chopping it. The trunk is about 2" thick above the root spread. It was buried quite deep in the nursery pot so the nebari isn't all that special, I'd like to figure out this chop and then repot the recovered portion over a tile to get better spread on it.

One thought I had was to air layer right in the middle of the old trunk above the first 3 branches (black line in pic) and let both trunks recover and thicken up for a few years. Alternatively, I could just stick it in the ground and let it keep growing with no regard for branch selection. I would love a chunky and tall DR but I'm not sure that's the direction I want to go in for this particular tree.

 

[raffaelbaer]

Me personally, would let the tree grow on in a much larger pot or in the ground to develop more, as you've said:

I would love a chunky and tall DR

I stylewise, would go for a formal upright / Chokkan style, like John Yoshio Naka did with one of his swamp cypresses, which also is of similar looks...



(PS: this isnt nakas trees, I couldnt find any picture of it, it seems to be only in his books!)

A Tanuki would also look great!





what I also quite like is slanting style, I particularly love to see it on spruce! But dawn redwood should also look awesome




but obviously for this to work, you will need to uppot the tree next year into some sort of wooden box or wider container. You can try putting a slate under the roots, however I also like to put bigger sort of rounded rocks right under the base, then the roos slope niceley into the soil later... Also I would give the branches a basic wiring, either upwards downwards or in whatever style you like. But only a general wiring since the tree (if this plan is choosen) has a longer way to go... I would wire up a new leader right now, as this work should be duable now.

Hope I could give you some Inspiration

Cheers
Raffael

 

[circledisk]

Thanks Raffael. I really like the shape of the first tree and I can tell it was chopped and a new leader was wired upward for more taper later on. The Tanuki composition is beautiful, but I think its more than I can do with this tree.

There are a few steps that need to be taken here. I don't have a growing bed where I am now unfotunately, so that's probably a task for next season.

This season I think I will do an air layer, chop, and select a new leader. Next season I'll plant it in a grow bed or a larger box.

 

[raffaelbaer]

Thanks Raffael. I really like the shape of the first tree and I can tell it was chopped and a new leader was wired upward for more taper later on. The Tanuki composition is beautiful, but I think its more than I can do with this tree.

There are a few steps that need to be taken here. I don't have a growing bed where I am now unfotunately, so that's probably a task for next season.

This season I think I will do an air layer, chop, and select a new leader. Next season I'll plant it in a grow bed or a larger box.

sounds good to me, please share youre progress here!