There are times when things just come together perfectly, and I can officially state that I actually had the right pot for the tree for the first time. I spent much of the morning re-wiring and redefining my Crepe Myrtle. I can’t believe the pictures from last January and how far this tree has come.

 Just look how nicely the pot compliments the bark of the tree.  When this tree is leafed out and flowering it will really be something special.  When I repotted the tree I found that the roots had been holding a lot of water.  so with the new soil it should produce a lot of new growth and be much healthier.

Here is a close up of the tree.  This tree is not the easiest tree to wire.  I’m using 1mm wire on branches that are about 1mm thick.  However if I don’t the branches tend to curl up.  I need the branches mid way up the trunk to fill in over the scar.  I should be able to achieve that this year.  I have a feeling the next time I post this tree it will be a finished Bonsai.

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So I needed to do a few things to this tree becuase they really bothered me. First I repotted into a oval pot. The squared edges of the rectangular pot that it was in didn’t work with the curved lines of the trunk line. Also I removed a number of jins that really added nothing to the tree itself. Lastly I opened the tree up with wire and brought the branches lower so that it has a better branch structure. I plan to let it grow out for a while, but I like the look of this tree, and the new growth is already popping

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There have been some serious issues with this tree for a while. However it wasn’t until a tree critique held at our local club did I finally pay attention. First was this long surface root.

With a grinder I reduced the root to a better size that did not distract from the look of the trunk.

Second with the lack of a rounded taper from where the tree was cut over 6 years ago

The grinder was used again to give a more tapered look to the trunk from the initial cuts were made.

Lastly, the trunk was repotted in a more upright position. As you can see the top of this tree is not centered. This is not a problem, because the whole top of this tree is coming off soon in order to restyle the tree. There is no such thing as a finished tree. Jan 2008

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When I returned from Japan this tree looked different to me. I say that the branches were too straight and too far from the trunk. I bent them all down and closer to the trunk. This made the trunk look much bigger and now the branches matched the movement of the trunk. I also repotted the tree into an oval pot, however I found it to look to unstable. I added a rock to help thicken the base and found this tree worked very well as a root over rock. Aug 2006

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