I like this little tree. It tells a story - any tree that grow to over 250 feet (see below) in optimal conditions and yet looks like this, has a story. It's a Poderosa pine. I don't know who collected it, but it belongs to Colin Lewis (unless he sold it).
Yesterday was Ponderosa pines, so we’ll continue on that track today. BTW: I didn’t set out to make this post about rare cork bark Ponderosa, but it has headed in that direction, at least in part. This is because some of the photos and text here are from a Bark post about corky Ponderosa.
The title, Old Bonsai Tell Stories, is a theme that keeps coming to mind whenever I see old Yamadori (bonsai collected from the wild). The themes are almost always deprivation caused my poor soil, harsh weather and other sorts of trauma. Living at the edge of what’s possible and for a long time.
Speaking of stories, 268 feet is a very tall tree. “A Pacific ponderosa pine in the Rogue River–Siskiyou National Forest in Oregon was climbed on October 13, 2011, by Ascending The Giants (a tree-climbing company) and directly measured at 268.29 ft (81.77 m) high. This is now the tallest known pine. The previous tallest known pine was a sugar pine.” For the whole story visit Wikipedia.
This one looks suspiciously corky. Eric Schrader's caption for this photo reads: "At Ryan Neil’s place the Ponderosa were all about the twists and deadwood." Ryan Neil is the artist behind the wonders of Bonsai Mirai and Eric Schrader is a five star bonsai blogger.
Here's another that we borrowed directly from Ryan Neil's Mirai, American Bonsai. There are signs of what some people might call corking, but I don't think it qualifies as a cork bark Ponderosa.
This Backcountry Bonsai photo of a wild uncollected Ponderosa pine shows what real cork bark looks like. There's even a very prominent wing sticking out on the left (opposite the hand). A sure sign of a cork bark.
Impressive nebari (surface roots flaring at the base of the trunk) aren't that common on pines, though this one is certainly an exception. It's one of Dan’s Robinson's many ancient Ponderosa pines. This photo was taken at Elandan Gardens by Jonas Dupuich (Bonsai Tonight).
Speaking of Dan Robinson. This now famous (and worth every penny) book is available at Stone Lantern and it qualifies for FREE Shipping in the U.S.
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I like this photo by Morton Albek (Shohin Bonsai, Majesty in Miniature), even though it shows copper wire rather than annodized aluminum.
A towering Ponderosa with its signature reddish bark
I found this image here
Ponderosa and other trees that grow in open fields often spread rather than tower. I've seen ones that look exactly like this at about 8,500 feet in the Rockies, so we'll guess this photo is of a scopulorum, the Rocky mountain subspecies.