Hi everyone,
With Steves cooperation we are showing a tree in 360 that is far from ready for display. The tree has been donated to the NBPCA but it will take 3 to 5 years of steady work to bring it to or back to a level where it will be ready for display.
Here are some photos of the bonsai when we first saw it. It had outgrown its pot, it had become elongated but otherwise was in good health and has lots of redeeming features; enough to consider investing the time necessary to restore the bonsai to good condition.
In consultation with the donor we at the NBPCA will be slowly compacting, thinning, redesigning, repotting, bending, wiring, shaping, grooming this Bonsai over the coming years and you will be able to watch the process here.
You can see the original tree here in 360 as of 14th April 2010. http://www.ausbonsai.com.au/360/Pinus_parviflora_nbpca/
We also encourage you to participate over the years with some virtual designs or even sketches of how the bonsai may look in 5 or 10 years time.
It is a green Five needle pine that would have been grafted onto Japanese black pine understock. We estimate it to be about 35 years old.
Once the soil and surface covering was removed from around the trunk we found a lovely thick, tapering base.
Looking forward to the challenge and to your comments and suggestions.
Grant Bowie
NBPCA