I am super excited about the development of a beech I collected and shared with you two years ago. You can read about that, and see photos from the time of collection here. For a quicker reminder, here’s a photo from autumn 2018, just a half a year after being collected.
So here’s the thing… I’m starting with a great piece of material. It’s not a “typical” bonsai form. In fact, I’m quite certain I would never grow a tree like this from scratch if I knew how. But I love it! It’s kinda wild, and rugged, and I don’t want to lose those qualities.
I am very grateful to have the help of Sergio Cuan in designing and refining this tree. We have worked on it together just twice, in November and this month (March), but I am excited in its progress and direction. Here’s the tree before work last week.
Last fall we made some branch selections, carved at some of the thick and knobby beaver cuts, and pruned it into shape. This month the goal was to get it wired.
The changes may be subtle, but I can really see how the wildness is being gently tamed without losing the character of the tree. Here’s how it looked at the end of the session.
One task remained for me to do at home — to attach a guy wire and pull down the first branch on the left. I didn’t have a way to anchor the wire at study group so took care of this at home with a screw and a drill.
I look forward to watching this tree grow out this spring, and develop into the future.
Bonsai Iterate 
Reblogged this on Wolf's Birding and Bonsai Blog.
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