Roy C brought this Larch forest to the club meeting on Friday. Roy has been creating bonsai for many years on his own, learning from books and his own experiences. About a year ago he heard about the NIBS and made contact through the Website. He has a bit of a drive to make it to the meetings but when he gets there, he always has something interesting to see.

This forest was created from young Larch seedlings that had self seeded into the guttering on a shed roof at his farm! When he put this group together, he added the white limestone as it reminded him of his local landscape. I quite like this sentimental idea but in it’s current form, the white rock over powers the image and the rocks are a little too angular.

We chatted about the group at the meeting and I made a few suggestions that in my opinion would make for a better image.

Firstly I felt that the stones should go. The rock to the left look as if they are holding the trees in the pot and are very distracting.

Secondly I felt that the height of the soil mass should then be reduced. It sits very high in the pot in its current design. This may be more sustainable in a wider pot.

Thirdly, a change to a larger, shallower oval pot would greatly improve the image. The current rectangle is too deep and inappropriate for a group.

Lastly, I felt that a few of the trees should have their height adjusted to give a more overall triangular over view. This could be enhanced by adding a further small tree or two at the edges.

I took a photo and said I would play about with a virtual to see if helped explain my views. Here is what I came up with.

A smaller tree could still be added to the right hand side during repotting. If Roy still wanted to include some white stone, a well weathered piece with a more worn appearance could be added in the space to the right as well. It would need to be low lying, mostly buried, just visible on the soil surface. Two trees to the right have been shortened as well.

With a few more years of ramification and a little wiring here and there, I think this will be a very nice little group indeed. Moss would be nice but the sparrows on the farm do major damage, but the less said about the sparrows and Roy, the better 😉