This famous American larch by Nick Lenz gives you a pretty good idea of why larches are valued for their yellow-golden fall foliage. The photo is from Nick's book, Bonsai from the Wild, as are all the photos in this post.
One more day on the road and one more post lifted from our archives (2009 in this case), though with serious editing and the addition of one photo and more text.
Here in northern Vermont the common name for the American larch is Tamarack, though it has several other names along its entire coast to coast North American range, including: Hackmatack, Eastern larch, Black larch and Red larch. It is one of three North American larch species and one of approximately one dozen total larch species worldwide (together they form an almost continuous band around the far northern reaches of the globe).
Of all the trees that grow here in northern New England, American larches are the most prized bonsai candidates. They are easy to grow, flexible, take to pruning and root pruning, have small bright green needles, excellent fall color, the wood is easy to carve and the resulting deadwood is attractive, the bark develops real character with age and so forth…
This rugged old naturally dwarfed larch is makes its home in the middle of a somewhat barren and boggy, larch-friendly field. Nick Lenz says that trees like this one with plenty of deadwood are often riddled with borers and that they are usually found in the smaller mounded forms (if you look close, you can see some).
Larches are abundant in these parts, especially in the boggy lowlands. However, because they are conifers that happen to be deciduous, they are unique among the world’s trees (there are only three deciduous conifer genera in the world). This gives larches a special cache, as well as their bright yellow fall color.
Nick Lenz calls this rugged heavily scarred old larch a 'super hack back job' (performed with a chainsaw). It's noteworthy for its excellent taper and nebari (among other things), things that doesn't come naturally with most larches. I guess you could say that the Halloween carving is also noteworthy.
Larch forest with tank. Like the other photos in this post, this one is from Nick's Bonsai from the Wild.
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