This is tree #5 in my Mountain Mahogany – Cercocarpus breviflorus Gray var. breviflorus Bonsai collection. I obtained this tree from Cho Bonsai around April of 2018. The tree did not have a lot of ramification when I got it. This is typical on this species. I did take this tree down to a workshop with International Bonsai Master Bjorn Bjorholm and did give it an initial styling which made it look even sparser. His recommendation to keep the tree nice and tight on the apex to make it look more powerful and old. He also thought is should be a semi-cascade with the long branch on the right of the trunk being the main branch. That option did not work out as the branch died back to right about where it is now. No problem, I thought. So I did exactly what Bjorn suggested kept the apex nice and tight. I let it grow and clipped it back to where it is today. Lots of ramification everywhere. I took the large branch on the left of the tree off of it and left a small jin. The tree was clobbered by a large hail storm in the spring of 2020. It did not seem to do much damage to the tree. The branches were all mangled together but that was no problem. The tree has been growing under 30% shade cloth this summer and seems to like it there. I have two other mahoganies growing under shade cloth. The monster mahogany is also growing under 30% shade cloth but does benefit from western sun in the late afternoon. The original oil pan pot is slipped potted into an Anderson pot to make carrying the tree easier. There are a couple of rocks stuck in the corners to keep it from moving around.
Time to start looking for a pot for this tree?
Update 05-09-2021:
I had a pot for this tree all along. I put the tree into a large Chuck Iker pot with no problems. I did cut off about 2 1/2″ of a long root with no roots on it. Some other roots with little to no finer roots were eliminated to. I reused the pure pumice along with regular Bonsai soil and wired the tree into the pot. I did rearrange the branches to a certain degree. The tree will be left alone and fertilized with Plant Tone for the growing season.
Mountain Mahogany – Cercocarpus breviflorus Gray var. breviflorus Bonsai
Gallery 08-28-2020:
