Memory Lane – Alan’s Yamadorii Larch

It was nice to see Alan recently turn up to a class with his yamadorii Larch. He had already decided that he would like to restyle the tree by cutting off the cascading branch……but what would we have left?………

The solution was to try and bend the remaining branches upwards and arrange them around the heavy trunk to create a more powerful squat image. It’s not too long since the tree was repotted and in view of the heavy bending it was decided to leave the cascading branch at this point in time and remove it once the tree is growing well.

The tree has come a long way since it’s humble beginnings back in 2001 shortly after I had acquired it. Then it was a collected tree from the Alps in a large black pot.

The strong base of the tree had to be uncovered and after an initial branch selection some deadwood had to be created.

The deadwood was used to shape the trunk line into the cascading branch and create an illusion of taper.

The selected branches then needed to be wired before the cascade style tree could finally be created.

August 2004 and the tree is growing well but with the wire removed it has lost some of it’s shape.

The first picture above shows the tree going into winter in 2004 whilst the second picture shows the tree with some shape restored in April 2005. The tree was subsequently sold and the final picture above shows it returning on a class in January 2013 ready for some pruning.

The tree has come such a long way and now after 13 years he starts on a new journey, a new shape. This will ultimately mean a new pot on his next repotting to complement his new style……and so his story goes on…….can’t wait to see his new image when he leafs out.

Sometimes it’s a tree’s history that makes it special…….but it’s even nicer when he has a new future to look forward to……..will keep you posted!