If you haven’t worked with a Simpson’s stopper you should really give it a try. They have a beautiful aroma as you work on them. They produce tons of flowers and berries in the fall. Exfoliating bark that is some colorful and smooth, and the dark green leaves add great contrast.

Well th ecarving is done and the tree got a first class wiring job by Mike Rogers. No way I’m going to stand in his way if he wants to work on one of my trees. He taught me just about everything I know about bonsai.

Front side

Back side

So here we are at the wire out tree.  Still plenty to do on this one.  A few months back I started a thread graft on the lower first right branch.  It hasn’t completely attached yet so it will be into spring before that is is complete.  However the branch is doing well.  The large branch on the top right side will be removed once I get some new growth to replace it.  There are already new buds popping there.  Lastly a change of bonsai pot in the early spring.  I am thinking something more shallow, dark purple/brown and oval.  Should be great with the colors of this tree.

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So I just bought an amazing slab from Joe Day (thanks Julie Trigg) however I don’t know what I’m going to do with it. It has got to be over two feet long by a foot deep. Certainly some sort of forest planting but what?

Right now my tendency is towards bald cypress or trident maples.

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In bonsai the treasured type of material that we look for it the type no one in their right mind would want as landscaping material.  We are always looking for the trees that have had the hardest lives, and have truly struggled to stay alive.  So as I’m looking over my Simpson’s Stopper I am reminded about the hard life of this tree. 

The center of the tree had been cut (during collecting) and has died back a bit.  However this wood is very hard and the tree is healthy even with the damage.

Additionally the trunk both front and back show signs of the damage cause by this large cut.  So some carving will be needed to clean up this wound and reduce the mass of the large chunky deadwood.

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Sometime in the Summer of this year I visited Jim Smith’s Dura-stone in Vero Beach to pick up some new Bonsai material to work on.  I wasn’t sure what I was after, but Jim has some of the best tropical trees in the business and his prices are right on.  So after a 2 hour drive I arrived and walked through the rows of tree for hours, but nothing was jumping out at me.  So I decided to have a seat in front of the little shop entrance for a while and try to think of what I might want.  Jim Van Landingham sat down and we began to speak about bonsai (of course).  However it wasn’t 5 minutes later that I stopped him mid sentence say, “Is that a Simpson’s Stopper?”  It surprised me for a number of reasons, especially that it was at Jim’s nursery. 

Well it turned out to be a Simpson’s Stopper for sure, and a nice one at that.

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