Monday, April 28, 2008

Yamadori Korean Hornbeam I

Photo courtesy of Evergreen Gardenworks

I felt it was time to introduce an older member of the crew, a yamadori Korean Hornbeam. This tree has been with me since late 2003 and was hand-picked at New England Bonsai Gardens. I do not have any photos of it during its first winter with me. In all likelihood, I didn’t own a digital camera at that time. That really dates this tree, doesn’t it.

It was raw, imported material, but I thought the curvy trunk-line was fairly uncommon for a collected specimen and it had the beginnings of an excellent nebari. I transplanted the tree from a garden container to a pot made by Sara Rayner, which could be displayed for its artistic signification alone. Most of my trees are housed between the confines of Sara’s high-fired clay.

The bark on the Hornbeam is light, but generally the collected specimens have fairly knarled trunk characteristics, so you can get away with darker glazes or even an unglazed brown.

The fall colors this particular year (2003?) were rich and make a striking composition paired with the Rayner-made container.

More to come…