Tree Collection

Alaska Yellow Cedar
Camaecyparis nootkatensis
Date of Origin: 1650

In 1993 I flew to Ketchican, Alaska, with my son William, to explore and collect. Two trees survive today (in 2004) from that collecting trip. One a Lodge Pole Pine is yet to be trained, the other is presented here. Heavily carved and wire trained its presentation is completed with its planting on the granite stone.

Rocky Mountain Juniper
Juniperus scopularum
Date of Origin: 705

Collected in the Seminoe Mountains of Wyoming in 1989. Just a narrow strip of bark (one inch) maintains the lifeline to the living top. The exposed weathered roots display the intensity of the suns erosive capabilities (sublimation).

Big Cone Douglas Fir
Pseudo tsuga macrocarpa
Date of Origin: 1205

Collected from natural granitic basin high in the Colorado Rockies, this tree, with the helping hand of Larry Jackall, was lifted straight up out of the basin using a crowbar under the bottom branch. The tree was subsiquently planted in a granite basin here at Elandan Gardens. Its spiraled bark and dead wood are the result of a genetic mutation.

Ponderosa Pine
Pinus ponderosa
Date of Origin: 1700

When I spotted this tree struggling for life in the crack of a granite boulder in Wyoming, I instantly had a plan to create a cascade style bonsai with its swollen base and short compact branches. To complete the design, heavy wiring would be needed to manipulate the branches. Heavy wire holds the branches in the position you determine for the trees artistic creation.