AusBonsai

Good evening roomies, hoping to get some direction and possibly a virt on where to take this little elm. I placed a few wires this evening to try to get some direction but nothing is "jumping out". I initially thought perhaps a windswept design or informal upright, but happy to hear curve balls or left of centre ideas.






It also has these two roots either side...am I safe to get rid of these???




Thanks in advance.
Angus

So a cup of coffee and some sleep and I've done a amateur wiring job. I can decide which apex branch to keep so ill leave it for now and think about it. Still keen to know if I can snip this two roots off or what to do with them?

You will be able to snip those roots of no problem at this time of year. Cut through them and pull them away from the tree and you will have another couple of trees to play with next year.

I would lean the tree to the left and use the first branch as a new leader. At the moment it doesn't appear to have much taper

I'm a bit curious why you want to snip the only two visible roots off? They seem to anchor the horizontal trunk/root to the ground. Just my opinion.

I like the texture and angles of the trunk as it rises from the ground, but I think you are uncertain about the branches - would you consider cutting them all off next winter, choosing buds that emerge from the trunk at exactly the right place for the branches you want, and regrowing from there? To me, it feels that might concentrate the tree around the trunk, and it would give you better control of the branches right from the beginning. Once again, just my opinion - it would put you back a year or two, but you'd have branches where you want them.

Gavin

Thanks for the feedback.
Re the roots: I had thought of snipping the, as one in particular appears to originate from quite high up and then starts to wrap down below the trunk and looks like creating reverse taper.
Re the trunk line: I'm not adverse to any severe cut backs that may work out best for the tree. I am unsure of the branch placement and would rather take action sooner and have a better tree than do a crappy job and have a crappy tree.

Have you repotted this tree before?
I ask because I am wondering if you know what is happening under the soil line?
I would dig down to see where the major roots come of the trunk. This tree may have more trunk under the soil? Depending on what you find, a ground layer may be an option?
Finding where the main roots emerge on the trunk below the soil line will help you decide if you need a change in angle/inclination of the trunk line for possible future design and direction etc, wether or not to remove the above ground roots, if you need a ground layer, at what height the tree could be trunk chopped at (if you wish to reduce the height?).
If there is no major portion of trunk below the soil, the tree could still benefit from change in trunk line, trunk chop, ground layer, removal of above ground roots etc.
Let us know what you choose to do. Nice bark on this tree
Cheers, Dario.

Like Dario I would like to know what's happening below the soil level - are these roots long?

Could they be made a feature by using them to follow crevices in a "root-over-rock", possibly follow crevices going up before down into the soil?

Or possibly exposing them further and training the top in a "water-swept" style, dressing the soil surface with water washed gravel/sand to simulate a stream bank planting and the effects of flood/erosion? The position of the roots as we can see them in the photos reminds me of a stand of riverbank elms where I used to live, that had be on the bank but erosion had left some of them standing quite proud of the post flood soil level and surrounded by a gravel/boulder bed.

Agree with Dario, again, nice bark - it already has the start of that Old Bark/ Old Tree look.

Nice to have a tree with so many possibilities,

Jan.

I would make use of the lovely lower trunk and roots.
I can see a nice trunkline there to make a small tree out of it in net very long time

Ken

Thanks for the replies and virt.
It hasn't had a repot as I missed the window in the small time I've had it, but I had a good "poke around" and pretty sure there is no buried trunk under the soil level.
I think I may er on the side of caution and leave the roots for now until next season, I will however try to tease them out and sideways a bit.
Ken I like the virt!
Thanks for the help!