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Estimated age 45 to 50 years; in training
at least 19 years.
Currently 17" tall, 10" diameter base,
in a 13"W x 9"D x 3"H blue glazed oval pot.
| This tree was a gift to
me from Bill Mooney of the Phoenix Bonsai Society in May 1987 near the
end of my first club year there. He had had it for about five years,
but couldn't see a particular style in it. When Bill saw the way
I was gawking at this wild specimen which he'd brought to a workshop but
had not trimmed (I'm not sure I'd ever seen a Portulacaria that
size before), he simply gave it to me to deal with rather than having to
lug it back to his yard. (His generosity is only surpassed by his
continued claims to a tree when it later starts to look good...)
The apex at the time was actually an overgrown branch growing right below the point at which the original trunk had been severed. It took me a couple of years to start to see some particular style in the tree, and it wasn't one of the modern traditional styles, but an old one from China. This Elephant Food was first publically displayed in February 1994 at our club's largest annual show. Overheard comments made by some visitors concerning the gnarly roots encouraged me that this tree was worth showing again. It has been shown at every Matsuri since then, plus a few times as part of our Arizona State Fair display and once or twice at the Arizona Buddhist Church's Obon. When I did a book signing for Designing Dwarfs in the Desert at Borders Bookstore in Glendale, AZ in July 1998, this was the tree with which I explained the basics of our art. |
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| I finally saw how this "fit"
with a nice oval pot in February 1999, long after a few other club members
had. The bluish gray rock at the bottom left is actually three times
larger than what is visible here and is placed to keep the tree propped
up at the desired angle.
The tree at last was getting some long growth on the right side, which I had hoped to develop into a nicely ramified section to balance out the left side. (In February 2001 the final dangling two inches or so were removed.) How I will have to restyle this bonsai when the drying strip on the back side of the trunk withers away -- and with it the section of root at the bottom left front of the trunk-- is unknown. - - - - - Two of the long branches in the picture on the top left were rooted about a year later. They were allowed to grow to about 4 feet in length and perhaps four years ago were finally made into cascades in their own right. One is in a standard cylindrical dark Japanese earthenware cascade pot with a slight flaring lip. The other (below) is in a pumice block. This one has been displayed a few times locally. I'll try to get some better pictures on here. |
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Wiring by Ernest Hasan |
Stay tuned...