Pinus Sylvestries "Globosa Veridis"(Dwarf Scots Pine) Pt I

This tree was acquired recently from the sale pile at the local nursery. It was in the sale pile because it is obvious that during it's developmental years one side was shaded and died back. The compactness of the tree allowed very little light to the interior and albeit not suitable for the landscape, suitable for bonsai. Because this tree caused such a controversy, I decided to name it the Black Sheep. Not many saw a future in this material and in summation I was told I was wasting my time. It seems to me that over the years I have seen many poor candidates turn in to beautiful swans.

This is where "Black Sheep will charter his course as a bonsai. For folks that are interested,here his progress will be updated periodically. Only after the tree has reached it's final destiny will it be published outside of this blog.


This is a Pinus Sylvestries "Globosa Veridis", (dwarf scots pine). At maturity the tree only grows to 1 meter in 20 years. Being that its length from what the soil line is 34 inches with a girth of 3 inches, I can safely estimate its age around 18 years.


This is the chosen front from which I saw a clear Bunjin using the left trunk.



Because of this area, and especially depicted by the lower arrow, thos branch/trunk will not be utilized. The second (top) arrow depicts another area of concern. Although subtle in the phtograph this branch is totally useless in bonsai design and will be jinned at a later time.

As the tree was acquired rather late in the season (3rd week of August), not much was carried out on this tree. The pot was lifted to inspect the roots (with eyes only). The root ball is nice and healthy and mychorizea is well established. All dead branches where removed, stubs where left where jins may be in the future. All dead branching was removed from the interior. All upward and downward growing branches were also removed at this time. Back budding is proliferous throughout the tree, where foliage has died off due to insufficient light gaining access to the tree interior. Now the tree is nice and open therefore these new shoots should develop nicely in the years to come.

The whorls are fat (something I did not care for) but that is to be expected from landscape grown trees, or even yamadori. How we deal with them in the future is more important. The tree will be left to recover and will be placed in a grow box next spring.


The tree developed a twin trunk (branch) half way up the tree the trunkline chosen is the one on the left. The right may be jined at a later date, or totally removed and the area carved out to reduce the reverse taper happening there.

Some thing that wasn't captured in the photos was the trunk movement. I took shots about every 10 degrees of rotation and although visible on the bench, the movement is flattened in 2 D. Those pictures that were uselsss were discarded.


The following picture shows the bend at the juncture that can be accentuated in future design considerations. The tree is remarkably flexible. Trunk base of 3 inches with a height from soil at 34 inches. This tree does not have a 6:1 ratio nor do I believe I wish to apply it here. It has close to a 12:1 ration which makes it suitable for a bunjin. Once the foliage has compacted and chased back to the trunk, it should turn intoan interesting bunjin.

As stated this is a long term project 5-10 years. It will be left to recuperate and grow unhindered for the next couple of years with the exception of energy re-distribution and carving out problematic areas (once the lifeline has been established and defined during the growths cycles. The following photographs (borrowed from European Trees on Walter's website) depict my intentions.


This one shows the first section of trunkline similar to what I have, just vision it with the second photo's top.