Ponderosa pine windswept bonsai. About 150-200 years old

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Ponderosa pine, Pinus ponderosa var ponderosa

Here's a windswept style bonsai. The tree is about 150 years old. To me these ponderosas are legitimately old, neat looking, rugged, and free for the collecting. Now I look back 20 years and wonder how the heck I ever climbed the mountain to get it. This is one of the more interesting trees I collected for bonsai. It has a wild look about it and I was able to create a windswept out of it. When a tree has survived about 150-200 years, like this one, you don't get too hung up on traditional style. The old bark is magnificent, the growth is nature inspired. All I did was tweak it. The growth rate is so slow that I don't have to prune more than every couple of years and repot every 5 years or so. I did some restyling a couple of years ago. In the spirit of total disclosure, I must say that I do trim the needles for a neater appearance. This tree was collected in the Medicine Bow mountains. There was a lot of huffing and puffing to get it back to the truck.

This bonsai is in a basic bonsai pot. The overall height is 21", height from the soil surface is 17"

The price includes all packaging, handling, and shipping charges, a $250.00 value. Your bonsai will be packed in a sturdy container filled with styrofoam peanuts and strapped to a pallet. We ship via UPS Freight. By shipping in this manner we have had no damage to trees or pots. You'll also end up with enough peanuts to take care of your Christmas needs for several years.

$850.00

SALE $475.00
Description and photos, June 2010.

How do we know how old it is? There are two ways to measure the age. The trees we collect are growing in a pocket in the rock, they're naturally dwarfed and stunted. A few of the trees we collect don't make it. We cut them off at the base and count the rings under a microscope. We assume that trees from the same area growing under the same conditions will grow at the same rate. We've found that these trees grow at the rate of 100 years per inch in diameter. The second way is to count terminal bud scale scars. Every year the tip of a branch develops a terminal bud. That bud is protected by a hull or scale. When the bud opens the scale falls off leaving a scar. In the area we collect there are about 10 scars per inch. By measuring the distance from the base of the tree to the tip of the branch and multiplying by 10 per inch we get a good measure of age. Averaging the two methods gives us a pretty good idea of age.

Ponderosa pine bonsai

$850.00

SALE $475.00

Price includes UPS ground shipping

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