California Gardening: Thought for the Day - Page 14, 1 by ERNIECOPP

ERNIECOPP wrote:
Dale,

I like topiary, too, and enjoyed doing a bit of it with the Nursery Trees, not to make them look like animals but just to enhance their natural shapes.

But my favorites i think were natually distorted Sub-Alpine Firs, that we would collect just below timberline and sell to our customers. Most of them grew straight and beautiful in an elegant way, but some would be stunted, with growth reduced as much as 90%, growing 2 feet tall in 20 years instead of 20 feet, if they happened to take root in an inch of soil on bedrock, and some would be pushed over and bent by heavy wet snow. Just Natural Bonsai. I posted a picture on one i collected and kept, in the Bonsai forum.

Then, one of the Crabapples that i tried to grow, just wanted too much space to spread out for it to fit in the rows, so i helped it reach its potential. I will post the picture. It is called Strawberry Parfait, as that is what the blossoms looked like.

Ernie