My Birthday Hike

Saturday, November 8th was my birthday. So I decided to take a hike in the mountains and look at trees and scout some for collecting in the Spring of 2009.

FAT Douglas Fir

Here's a Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii)  I Collected a few weeks ago. It lifted right out of a pocket along a granite shelf. I had to cut off some of the thicker roots because the root pad was around 8' long. I lost some roots when I did that, but there are a bunch of White tipped roots close to the trunk that I kept.

I'm not into the clear yet, but I think this tree will be okay. The trunk is about 8" wide and the entire tree is about 28" tall with the foliage how it is currently. When it is styled I am going to bring the curved trunk up about 6" or so (I think) and bring the foliage down.

There aren't many Fir Trees in Bonsai and there are no famous ones that I am aware of. It is great material and is going to grow in popularity very soon.

This is an OLD tree and will make a great bonsai someday.

2 New trees

I went back up on Sunday and Found 2 trees which were easy to collect. This tree is going to be a great one. Look at how the trunk twists clockwise.

Here it is in the rock pocket.

This will be nice too, but it is really weak and needs to grow for a couple of years.

Here it is in it's pocket. This tree faces due South. Just gets battered by the sun and dried out by the wind and lack of moisture. No wonder it is so contorted. 

Collecting Trip with Larry Jackel

This weekend I went on a hike with my friend and well know Yamadori collector Larry Jackel. Most of the trees we saw were paved in the rock so they were left until spring. All Trees shown are Ponderosa Pine or Douglas Fir.