This page is dedicated to Quercus gambelii – Scrub / Gambel Oak Bonsai trees. Scrub Oaks are considered difficult to collect and have them survive the collection process. The trees seem to spread from under ground runners and the tree being collected may not have any roots or very few roots. I have a couple nursery stock trees and one small collected tree from RMBS member Paul Gilbert. Pauls tree was a free small tree in a 4″ red plastic pot from around 10 years ago. Today the tree is in a tall green hand made pot from the Potters Guild in Denver, Co. and is now a semi-cascade.
I just collected my first “Yamadori” tree and it is a Quercus gambelii – Scrub / Gambel Oak collected somewhere west of I-25 highway and east of the Pacific Coast Highway. The tree was growing in a small pocket of earth and firmly entrenched in a crack in the boulder. I could tell this tree would be special if I could get it out of the boulder with out killing. It is not a tall tree or at least the trunk is not tall, it would qualify as a shohin with a massive horizontal trunk. It does/did have one very tall branch, since removed. I usually do not have any idea on what style of Bonsai would fit a tree, but this tree just screamed to be a massive large trunk Bonsai with an apex somewhat taller then the trunk itself. In other words the branches/apex will be directly above the horizontal trunk. Well it took me hours to get it out the boulder with careful work on my part not to damage the tree and deal with a bunch of very stubborn granite that kept getting in the way. The other major problem was the tree was right next to the edge of the boulder. I had to be real careful not to loose my balance and tumble off the boulder. Of course I could always grab the tree and hold on! I did have to cut two major roots. One growing down the crack to the ground way below the boulder. The other major root dis-appeared under the boulder somewhere? The majority of the time was getting the granite out of my way. Sawing the roots in two also took some time. I think if I do this again I will invest in a battery operated reciprocating saw. I did not carry the tree out of the forest either. I hauled all the tools, water etc. out to the tree in a small folding 4 sided plastic cart. Hauling the tree and tools out of the forest proved much harder for me. I quickly became tired after around 15 feet going up hill. So stop and rest, wash, rinse, repeat until I got to the downhill side of the mountain. Out to the car I went and it started pouring down rain. The tree was still outside of the car. I was in the car now. Ok stopped raining, removed all the stuff surrounding the tree and tried to stuff the tree into the trunk. Not going to work, tried stuffing the tree branches first into the back seat area, not working out. Turned the tree around and stuffed the trunk into backseat first. Went around the other side of the car and pulled her in. No branches broke during this procedure. Brought the tree home and pottered her up in a 15″ Anderson pot. I did decide to cut off the largest branch growing on the tree as it went straight up and would not be used in the design. My thinking was there was no need for the tree to try to keep it alive. I cut it off a round 3-4 inches above a small branch growing on it. The tree was moved into shade and is now being misted every 30-60 minutes while awake. I even mist underneath the leaves. I do think there is a pocket of earth between two spots on the main trunk. International Bonsai Master and Curator the Denver Botanic Gardens Bonsai collections seems to think the tree stands a good chance of survival since it has not died yet in our 90 degree + weather. I think the overall design will be short and powerful and not to tall a tree either.
Gallery: 07-17-2020
