A small Taxus

I bought this Taxus baccata  from Tony Tickle at the Best of British 2011. I was attracted to it by the movement it had throughout. A lot of Taxus have straight and rather difficult to bend sections. It had not been collected for long but was extending well. All I did was feed well for the rest of the year.

The following year it was cut back to push strength into the areas I wanted in the design

A small amount of rough carving was carried out to help with visual movement and reduce some inverse taper 

       The right side of the tree showing the nice deadwood branch that I wanted to be important in the design

 I like the idea of a semi cascade style tree but didn't want to create another green triangle amongst a whole                   load of deadwood. The other thing that bothered me was the lazy s shape in the trunk

 By turning the tree away some more, the curve was tightened. I also rotated the tree bringing the deadwood                                                        branch more over the top of the tree.

 All the older leaves were removed. this helps with wiring and also aids back budding. The whole tree was                                                                            then wired

                     Before styling I refined some deadwood areas that had already been block carved

                      Once finished, the deadwood was wetted and treated to diluted Lime Sulphur

                                                             The right side after styling

                                                                            The back

 Now on it's way to becoming a bonsai. I always intended on the three canopies and the top one will eventually gel more with the rest of the foliage. I could have gone with a much smaller tree but felt this design was more individual and feminine but still with plenty of power and dynamism.