How to Disfigure a Bonsai without Killing It, Part II - Questionable Maintenance

摘要

Bald cypresses (Taxodium distichum) do well in San Diego as long as they get adequate water. Some people here grow this tree with its roots in water, believing that it will cause a more tapered trunk. The bald cypress that I bought from a friend was grown in the ground for about 4-5 years, making it 18-19 years old now. The best time to transplant a bald cypress is when the new buds are just showing, in early spring. When I transplanted it into a growing pot three years after buying it, I trimmed theroots substantially and reduced the foliage to match, leaving the outline in a candle-flame shape. The design was based on an old tree with dead and broken branches in the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State. It was satisfactory to me, so I decided tokeep it that way. In successive years, it was trimmed back to this design, essentially keeping it show-ready all of the time. That was a mistake, one I was to repeat. With limited new foliage, the tree grew weaker and eventually all the large branches died back.