BIG BERTA

Here is a new story from TORA atelier: this spruce (Picea abies) was collected in early spring 2012. My dear friend Hans van Meer was our guest and we made yamadori trip to the Slovenian Alps. There was still a lot of snow on the forrest roads, so we did walk quite a lot to Alpine meadows. But the true suffering started at returning down - while others could walk on the hard snow I, with 80 kg of fresh weight, sink in to the snow with every step. At the end Janez Oblak helped me to drag this beast to the car; if he wouldn't help me, I'll be still on that mountain!

To je nova zgodba iz TORA ateljeja: smreka je bila izkopana zgodaj spomladi leta 2012. Prijatelj Hans van Meer je bil naš gost in skupaj smo odšli v Karavanke na lov na jamadorije. Na gozdnih cestah je bilo še veliko snega, tako da smo do visokogorskih pašnikov morali prehoditi kar nekaj poti. Toda pravo trpljenje se je začelo šele ob vračanju - med tem, ko so ostali lepo hodili po trdi skorji, sem se jaz, z novimi 80-mi kilogrami na hrbtu, ob vsakem koraku ugreznil skoraj do pasu. Na koncu mi je na pomoč priskočil Janez Oblak in mi beštjo pomagal zvleči do avta. Če mi ne bi pomagal, bi bil še zdaj na tistem hribu! 

Hans talked about his experience and potted his own spruce after that trip :-)

I put spruce in the big wooden box where it happily lived for three seasons. Then, in September 2014, time for first intervention came. I cut all redundant branches and opened the crown. I also wired all the main branches and bring them in to position. I didn't touch the secondary and tertiary branches.

Smreko sem posadil v veliko leseno škatlo, kjer je srečno živela naslednje tri sezone. Septembra 2014 je bil čas za prvo intervencijo. Porezal sem vse odvečne veje in odprl krošnjo. Ožičil sem tudi vse glavne veje in jih pozicioniral. Sekundarnih in najtanjših vejic se nisem dotikal.

This is the oldest photo of spruce I have. This is after the branch selection and before wiring, September 2014

Now, one growing season later and after the tips of new growth hardened off, the spruce was fully wired for the first time. As always Gašper, TORA International Bonsai School apprentice did a lot of work. 

Eno rastno sezono kasneje in potem, ko so novi vršički otrdeli, je bila smreka prvič popolnoma ožičena. Kot vedno, je veliko dela opravil Gašper, študent šole TORA.

Gašper working on Big Berta

The main feature of this tree is secondary crown on the right-hand side, I was also considering to cut that branch once, but then I decided to go with it and make it in to secondary crown. It is something special and will stay on the tree for sure.

Glavna zanimivost tega drevesa je manjša krošnja na desni strani. Razmišljal sem celo o odstranitvi te veje, toda po natančni analizi sem se odločil, da jo uporabim in iz nje napravim drugo krošnjo. Je nekaj posebnega in bo zagotovo ostala na drevesu.

Slowly finishing first styling

Tree has so many great details ...

The secondary crown is still weak, but in season or two will catch up with main crown, and then the tree will be re-potted in to bonsai pot

Big Berta, July 2015

P.S.: Even though I try to photograph all trees that came trough our atelier, sometimes some of them slips trough without photo-shooting. So, first part of this tree's history is poorly documented, but nevertheless, as you can imagine, there is still a lot of stories to tell. Even without photographs ... :-) And this is all about: to feel, to live bonsai!

P.S.: Čeprav se trudim fotografirati vsa drevesa, ki gredo skozi atelje, se tu in tam zgodi, da mi kakšno uide. Tako je prvi del te zgodbe slabo dokumentiran. Toda ne glede na to, si lahko predstavljate, da ostaja veliko zgodb, ki si jih pripovedujemo. Celo brez fotografij ... :-) In to je tudi bistvo: bonsaj moraš čutiti in živeti!