2011 John Naka Award for North American Native Material

The Tipsy Ponderosa Pine

By Dean Bull,

Traverse City, Michigan

Figure 1. Dean and his award winning Ponderosa Pine, Pinus ponderosa. His description of the original tree follows: "… the roots enter the ground about 5" from left to right, although there is some exposed roots figured in there. Actually, everything from the very top of the trunk down to the pot was originally roots, so technically you could say it is an exposed-root style. The width of the nebari, the way you would measure a regulation upright tree, would measure close to 3 1/2". The trunk is about 2 1/2" thick. Andy says they figure about 1" per 100 years in the area where he collected this one. If you were to uncoil the trunk it would measure 6 feet long.

Photo supplied by Amber Elliott, Grand Traverse Photography.

It was May of 2005 when Andy Smith showed up at the Michigan All State Bonsai show with what I thought was the worst example of a collected ponderosa pine, Pinus ponderosa, I had ever seen. Andy’s business is Golden Arrow Bonsai, from Deadwood, South Dakota. He collects trees in the Black Hills area, and always has top-shelf trees to offer—except for this one. I first saw it on Friday afternoon as I was helping set up backdrops for the bonsai exhibit at Frederik Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids, Michigan. (www.meijergardens.org). The tree was on a wheel cart as Andy set up his vendor’s booth. It was in a red, sun-faded plastic pot and was crudely fastened to the container with rusted steel wire. (Figure 2) The reverse-taper trunk emerged from the media at a low angle, abruptly turned and made an awkward angle upward and back over its own shoulder and then after a long boring lion’s tail trunk line with no taper, it twisted and then split into two main branch-trunks, neither of which was the least bit impressive. I recall thinking, ‘what kind of idiot would buy such an obvious arboreal liability, for crying out loud?’ I’ll give you the punch line now: The idiot was me. As it turned out the tree was OK, it was I who needed to improve; and it took me a couple of days to come around.

 Once the exhibit was underway on Saturday morning, I took a walk through the vendor area. I saw the pine in Andy’s display and I just shook my head, silently wishing him ‘good luck in trying to sell that one’. But it troubled me—there was some indefinable something pulling me to more carefully examine that stupid tree. I still walked away shaking my head, but it kept bugging me. On Sunday morning as I awoke in my motel room, my mind kept putting that tree in front of my face. Something was urging me to look it over again after having slept on it. But why? Wind-swept? No, that won’t work. How can you possibly get past that reverse taper? Why was such a forgettable tree so unforgettable? It was confounding to think I was actually attracted to such a piece of junk. Wait a minute—what about a cascade? Well that is probably a bad idea for several reasons, but I decided I had to give it a mental run-through, if for no other reason than to get it out of my head. It was like a bad song with a catchy tune that just would not leave me alone.

I have been fascinated with the cascade style since first becoming interested in bonsai in the late 1980’s. They are well known as one of the most challenging styles. In 1990 I collected some witch hazel seeds and eventually trained a cascade style from one of the seedlings. It was fun and lovely, but it died for no apparent reason, after about 15 years. There are some real good reasons not to choose a pine as a cascade prospect. I collected a red pine, Pinus resinosa, in 1991 that was already styled for e by a logging truck. During a clear-cut, the truck and backed over the tree and skinned the bark off one side—about 25 years earlier. As the scars developed it became curved just right for a long gentle cascade with some lovely dead wood along the trunk, and exquisite flaking red pine bark. My friend, Lois Vorath, was so taken with the tree that she made a pot especially for it.

But, before I could get the tree into the pot, it had the audacity to die—about 1996. I have ever since wanted to find a tree worthy of that pot. Maybe this ponderosa was going to be the one… 

The area of the reverse taper had very thick bark—classic 200 year old collected ponderosa pine bark. Maybe if I could carefully split and remove some of the outer layers of bark until the taper problem was solved, then it just might be worth pursuing. The coloration of the split bark would soon oxidize and look authentic.

 Jack Wikle had explained to me years ago that one of the obstacles to cascade style is the issue of geotropism. It is the inclination for plant’s roots to grow downward, and stems to grow upward in response to gravity. ( http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geotropism—This will tell you more than you want to know about that subject.) When you stand trees on their heads, they have a strong tendency to languish and die. Even branches that are wired downward don’t grow as vigorously. Apical dominance is a closely related concept, and pines are strongly influenced with this trait. The top of the tree grows faster than the sides, so it develops a conical shape. Prostrate varieties of juniper tolerate being horizontal better; no doubt that is why those are frequently used for cascade style. Maybe that is what happened to the witch hazel, and that little flowering currant and the red pine, too. At some point, it occurred to me that if you were to train a cascade and grow it in an upright position during 99% of its life, it would not mind an occasional bonsai exhibit with the ‘blood rushing to its head’. All you would need is a cradle for the pot with some means to tip the tree ‘head-over-feet’. In essence, fool the tree into thinking it is a leaning style, not a cascade.

Andy had a huge grin on his face as I handed him the money. I’m still not sure if he was laughing at me, or if he was just relieved to be rid of that ugly tree— maybe it was both.

 I let the tree grow that summer and that of 2006 in its original container/media. I was developing a plan. Oh, all right, I was procrastinating. Anyway, in 2007 I removed the larger of the two branch-trunks, which was much more than half of the foliage. (I wish I had taken a photo of the tree before I removed that limb). Then I let it recover for the balance of the year. In the spring of 2008, with the help of my friend Eric Hallman, I put it into the pot that Lois had made 13 years earlier. We used the tree suspension technique I described in “Beginner’s Clarity”. It took some creativity and persistence to anchor it into the pot, and I am grateful that Eric was here to assist. He stuck with me for the entire two and one half hour project. It involved some stainless steel screws and even some annealed copper tubing to support the tree, and ‘unitize’ it with the pot. (Figures 5, 7, and 8) I let it grow for the rest of that summer, fearing that additional invasiveness might weaken it too much; it grew vigorously. All of the foliage was pretty much ‘above-ground’ at that point.

 As my ‘bonsai juices’ began to flow in April of 2009, I decided to make my move. During a five-hour marathon prune-and-wire session, I gave the tree a good initial styling. Ponderosa branches are very flexible. (For some of the tighter bends with heavier branches, I used annealed copper tubing that I had put inside clear vinyl hose. If you have not tried this technique, you may want to.) I then spent another 4 hours making the device to cradle the pot and tip it up. (Figure 9) I made it so I can set it down to water the tree, and then tip it up to grow toward the sun the rest of the time. As a bonus, the crate is the ideal container for transporting the tree. I just pull the hinge pins out, pick the assembly up and park it in my mini-van. To keep the tree from vibrating too much in transit, I made a cross brace from a piece of bonsai wire that the trunk can rest upon. At the exhibit, I simply lift the pot out of the crate and place it on the display pedestal.

 Time will tell if my ‘tipsy tree’ idea will solve that geotropism problem, but I am optimistic because it just makes so much sense. As of this writing, June of 2011, the shoots and needles are extending and look very good. The device is a little like an upside-down lazy-boy recliner, custom made for this tree.

 I intend to let it grow freely at least until 2012, simply to make sure the tree is very healthy. When I take candles out, I want to maximize the bud-break, and I am willing to wait an extra growing season to get that. These old ponderosa’s resent being hurried. Besides, if you are in that big of a rush, why are you doing bonsai, right?

 The tree was awarded a blue ribbon ‘Excellence in Bonsai’ award at the Michigan All-State Convention in both 2010 and in 2011. More recently, it earned the ABS John Y. Naka Award for a Native American species at  the convention in Louisville, KY. (Figure 1)

 I will post progress photos on this web site: http://community.mynorth.com/profile/DeanBull I have a much smaller jack pine, pinus banksiana, that I will style soon in a cascade form. It will ride next to the ponderosa in the same tipsy crate. More on that later, too. I would love to hear about any experience you may have had with this cascade/geotropism issue. You can make comments on the above site with only an email and a password registration. And if you try this technique, I would love to hear how well it worked for you.

  Dean Bull is a native of northern Michigan and has been a self-employed horologist in Traverse City, Michigan since 1975. He first became involved in bonsai in 1989 after being inspired by a small white cedar growing on top of a concrete abutment. He is a founding member, past president and vice-president of Sakura Bonsai Society of Northern Michigan. Several of his trees will appear as props in the movie, “A Year In Mooring” starring Josh Lucas and Ayelet Zurer, being released in 2011. He also was employed by the movie as a bonsai consultant to help Ms. Zurer develop her character. Dean also works as a bonsai consultant for Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, Michigan