cypress stock?

[JoeLewko]

well I was at the local supermarket the other day, and something caught my eye. It was labeled as a 4 inch cypress, $4.99 (Us dollars). even though it was from a supermarket, and probably not the best quality, I coudl'nt pass it up for such a small amount of money. I'm not sure if it is actually a cypress, and if it is, I have no idea what kind. It has an "evergreen" scent. (I can't really describe it, it's almost mint-like). I think this coudl ahve potensial as a bonsai, but needs a lot of work, and I'm asking for opinions of suitability (if that's a word), and ideas on shaping, and even help with identification. I took lots of pictures, as shown below.

[img]https://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m204/joelewko/bonsai-halloween11edit.jpg[/img]
First, these are the surface roots, or nebari. IMO, they are nice, and probably some of the better ones from the tress I had to select from. also, at the top of the pic, you can see a close up of the needles.

[img]https://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m204/joelewko/bonsai-halloween014.jpg[/img]
This is the whole tree, about 15 inches tall, and 7 inches wide.

[img]https://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m204/joelewko/bonsai-halloween017.jpg[/img]
this is the apex of the tree, where the main trunk splits into about 4 or 5 "sub-trunks". It is about 3 and a half inches from the base.

[img]https://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m204/joelewko/bonsai-halloween016.jpg[/img]
another angle of the apex

Any comments/ideas are greatly appreciated

[ynot]

Joe,
If this is a Chamaecyparis [Cypress] you should be aware that they DO NOT backbud on anything other than new wood.

This will severely limit your options wrt geting rid of that reverse taper at the top [Where the multitude of thick branches are-in the picture above] as you are going to need to chop it severely to get rid of that.

A big chop, a new leader and some time in a big training pot [or planted out] is the route I would take.

What style where you planning on for this one?

Can't see much wrt the nebari at all there...

Here is a care sheet about them: https://www.bonsai4me.com/SpeciesGuide/Chamaecyparis.html

Good luck,
ynot

[JoeLewko]

thanks, I'm not sure about the style yet, still figuring out what to do.

[JoeLewko]

ok so this is one idea I had, I was thinking of wiring soem branches horizontally, and jinning one of the top branches. the black outlines would be the new outline of the tree, with the jin in white.
[img]https://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m204/joelewko/bonsai-halloween017paint.jpg[/img]

this is a crude drawing of what the tree would look like.
[img]https://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m204/joelewko/bonsaipaint.jpg[/img]
the branches are too bar-like, (as ynot pointed out), stemming form the trunk at the same point, so if anyone has better placement ideas, please feel free to do a virt on it, (or any of my other pics, I will tyr to put more up later). I'll also try to redraw.

Anyone have any thoughts/ comments?

[JoeLewko]

just another idea, I personally like it better. (the red arrow indicates where the branch would be wired(it might be hard to see)).

[img]https://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m204/joelewko/bonsai-halloween014-1.jpg[/img]

[JoeLewko]

well this tree didn't do quite so well during the winter, so I planted it in the ground to see if it could make a recovery, and well it died...

[ynot]

well this tree didn't do quite so well during the winter, so I planted it in the ground to see if it could make a recovery, and well it died...

Questions Joe:
1.Where did you overwinter it?
2. How did you know it wasn't doing well?

ynot