Spruce - First styling

I found this spruce in summer 2010 on a big pasture ground in the mountains. Every year farmers bring horses and sheep to that spot over the summer and usually those animals are the reason these spruce grow so dense. You actually need to inspect every single tree from close by and look under the foilage to see the trunk, otherwise they all look the same - like big green mushrooms.

Last week I decided it was finally the right time to give this tree its initial styling. Over the years I repoted it already in a smaller training pot, selected some unneeded branches to let light deeper into the crown and to let the spruce backbud much. So this was the tree I had to work with at this time.

After a few hours of wiring and even more thining and cutting, this is the result. At this time I was only concerned with initial styling, details will be on my mind at the next wiring in one or two years from now. Also I belive some more branches will have to be removed in the next stage, but I rather left more then I needed to allow the tree to regenerate better.

Here is another photo for better size-comparison.

Glare ice

We are having quite the extreme weather in Slovenia these past days. It's causing quite some trouble.
But it made some sectacular sculptures in my garden.

Larix half-cascade

Remember the larch I worked on last winter?

Over the year it grew very vigorously. So I had the chance to make good branch selection for better remification. I also decided to make it more compact and brought the apex lower to the trunk. This will make the tree appear more powerfull and stable.

A photo from the side.

Update on my juniper

This is how my juniper looks today. It's getting quite mature and will maybe be ready for the big shows soon. But first I need to develop a new top. The project is already in motion but is not good visible from these photos.

Here's the same tree in February 2009, when I got the tree.