This sweet little pine has been in the Puget Sound (Northwestern USA) area since 1989. It was collected by John Muth. Some of you might remember it from the 1992 cover of Bonsai Clubs International. I remember seeing it in a bonsai exhibition years ago in Seattle, sitting off in a corner, looking quite distinguished. Recently this tree passed to a client of mine, and we reworked it.

In 1992 fewer possibilities for the styling of this tree existed. Just a few unramified branches were present, as is often the case with newly collected Ponderosa. Now we have more complex branching options. It’s a good example of a Ponderosa that over time has done pretty tidy job of growing out branches and ramifying.

Early image of this Ponderosa pine, 22 years ago, on the cover of Bonsai Clubs International.

Before we started work on the tree.

Like the thinking in the…