My yard is rampant with two huge celtis trees that give the gift of shade in summer, and the curse of leaves to rake in winter. I noticed a few years ago that there were some two metre tall lanky celtis in a spot that must have grown from seed from one of the biggers trees 8 years or so before. I spied one with a thick base and gave it a low cut back with a saw one day while mowing my yard, hoping it would shoot nice and low. I thought it could become a possible fun bonsai later on. One year later in spring 2010 I checked it out and saw low branches all over it, so a dig was on the cards!
Spring 2010 - The celtis in the ground, the dotted line is my shovel circle showing my over compensation due to fear of valuable root severing.
score! - You can tell it's scale by my hand holding it. It's about 27cm high.
The celtis ended up having not that many fine roots saveable, so with a doubtful heart I planted it in some fresh mix in a styro box. (I swear styro boxes exist for us bonsaiers purely to make our hobby look even stranger to non-bonsaier civvies. "I do bonsai! Yes, that's a stump in a styrofoam box".)
Summer 2012 (february) - 1 1/2 years after dig up and she's doing well.
All growth has just been let to grow freely with prune back to encourage wild looking branch splitting close to the trunk. These are photos after a defoliate on the weekend.
As for the future, I know there's the reverse taper at the lower bulge from a low branch death years before, and I think this tree will lend itself to a big carving out of the trunk. Possibly lowering it's height to two thirds it's current height. Here's a sketch of a very hopeful distopian ideal of a future:
This has been a super fun tree to dig up, it just never stops.
As always, i love hearing feedback, so post any tips or ideas any of you might have, thanks!
Jozaeh
