Sammy D wrote: I would like you to go into more detail about the sentimental value of your beautiful tree though. I love stories
. Nice tree wrcmad
Thanks.
OK ... long story short.
When I was about 12 or 13 years old, I used to frequent a bonsai nursery in Strathfield - Bonsai Barker, run by George Stockton. Growing up in the southern suburbs of Sydney, it was the only bonsai nursery I could get to using public transport (trains). Being a young kid, he used to really look after me, and load me up with discounts and freebies every time I visited. He really had a lot of time and patience for young people like myself, loved to teach me all he could, and was extremely helpful and encouraging.
He had a huge old chinese elm overhanging his nursery, and on one visit it happened to be dropping seeds - thousands of them! While ogling some of his own elms, and chatting to him about how he grew them, he ran off to his pot shed, grabbed a plastic bag and enthusiastically started filling it with handfuls of elm seeds. He said to me, "Here! Plant these when you get home, and in a few years you'll have lots of trees to work on! You never know what you'll have in years to come!" Needless to say, I planted the seeds in a seed tray, and up came hundreds of seedling chinese elms.
Meanwhile, over the few years I had become interested in bonsai, my dad had been watching (with a very curious interest) what I was doing with the nursery stock I had acquired at home. My dad was a fairly hard-working tradesman, quite a "cool" dad, quite unrefined, with definitely no grace, but he was like my best mate. He would say he thought bonsai was great, but that he would never know what to do with a tree, and had no idea of the techniques involved. However, one day he was flicking through a bonsai magazine I had on the coffee table, and he spotted a broom-style elm. With a glint in his eye, he said to me, pointing at the picture... "Hey, is this a bonsai style?".
Yes dad, it is called a broom-style.
"I reckon I could make one of those! Have you got a spare plant I could make one of those with?"
As a matter of fact, I have heaps of seedling elms on my shelves... that's the type of tree they use in that picture.
"Great! would it be alright if I have one!?"
No problems... they are small though.
"That's OK! I want to have a go at growing one of these."
From the whole tray of seedlings, he selected just one single plant to begin his broom-style journey, and planted it up into a 16 inch nursery pot. And he tended it, and looked after his pride and joy.
Fast-forward about 5 years. By this time, my bonsai interest had waned, as girls, surfing, beer and parties had become more of a priority for me. He called me over in the yard one day, and asked me what he should do next to his tree. By this stage it had become a topiary lollypop, with a stick trunk about 2 feet high, and a ball-shaped mass of foliage about 1.5 feet across.
Unable to break his spirit, instead I just told him he needed to keep it trimmed, as it was getting out of control. Not much help to the poor guy, but I wasn't very interested at the time, and sort of saw it as a lost cause anyway. Over the next few years, school had finished and I had moved out of home, and was progressing through university.
Fast-forward another 5 years. Visiting mum and dad one day when dad asked me to again take a look at his tree (my first thought was "holy crap! This thing must still be alive!"). Dad had not only continued to tend to his beloved broom-style elm, he had attempted to keep my collection going over the years too - hoping deep down inside that I'd return to the hobby. Not many of my trees survived the lack of water during in overseas holidays, and all the other elm seedlings had long-gone. One look at his broom, and it was clear that the tree was a disaster! The ball-shaped foliage mass had grown so large and dense that the thin, straight trunk had bent under the weight.
The tree was now leaning to one side in an arc, and a leader had emerged from the upper side of the ball and started growing vigorously. The initial bent lollypop is still very evident in the first bend of the trunk, and the lollypop outline is depicted in red below. The emerging leader is depicted in yellow.
history.jpg
Scratching my head, I told him it would no longer be a broom-style, and that I wasn't sure what could be done. Disappointed and a little dejected, he packed it in my car and asked me to take it and do something with it. WTF was I going to do with it? By this time, I had settled down with my wife-to-be, and had taken what was left of my collection home to care for again, and had started building up a few stock plants etc. I got dad's tree home, and placed it in the back corner of the yard... where it stayed for years.
Eventually, I had to move house, and this damn tree of dad's was still alive! I had to prune it to fit it in the car... and this was the first trunk chop at the area of the foliage ball where the yellow leader emerged. It had now been 15 years without a repot, and had not been cared for over the last 5 years.
The next house move (about another 5 years later), and this thing was still neglected, and still living! Dad had stopped asking about it by now... I guess he was sick of the blank looks he recieved from me.
But somehow I couldn't let it go. It required a second trunk chop to fit it in the car (this time at the top of the yellow leader in the above pic). Getting to my new place, I looked at it with guilt.... 20 years without a repot, and this tree was still hanging in there! So I gave it it's first repot, and promptly put it in the back corner of the yard, and forgot about it.
Fast forward another 8 years (total 28 years) - and this is where this thread started. Walking past it one day, I finally saw some potential... and the rest is history.
This tree will ALWAYS remind me of dad.
It's features of strength and power, with good character, maybe a little rough around the edges, with a few kinks, but an absolute survivor, fits so well with my dad that it is nearly like the tree took on HIS characteristics. It is a truly sentimental tree to me, that will always mean "dad".
I'd love to be able to show George the long-term results of his generosity and inspiration.
Cheers
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). It is quite astounding how quickly the chinese elm can be grown and developed. Exactly 18 months ago, every branch on this tree did not exist - it was a bare stump. The red 'X' in this pic shows where the bud originated for this branch.
Well done & all it needs is one of those Tokoname pots of yours, Good luck in finding a suitable one.
). Fingers crossed. 
