The Best Yet

                                                         

Over the winter I wanted very, very badly to go scope out some muskeg for yamadori. For those unfamiliar with muskeg, it is an acid peat bog environment. Heavy acidity, low oxygen content, water immersion below the moss line, and heavy snow packs all tend to dwarf the trees managing to eke out life in the muskeg. You cannot walk twenty feet without seeing a tree that, if it were somehow magicked into a pot, would easily be a bonsai masterpiece. I went on a cursory photo expedition to show some of the coolest trees to people online, but the backdrop of other trees, and moss, combined with my poor camera skills to obscure the beauty of those I wanted to highlight.

 Now the snow has mostly receded, I've been exploring the bonsai potential of the muskeg to a greater extent than was possible in winter. Unfortunately I've discovered that almost all the trees are totally unsuitable for bonsai. This is because, while they appear short, 99.9% of the trees are actually a few feet taller than they appear. The muskeg top-layer is comprised of sphagnum moss, and mud-- totally saturated with water: basically a lake with a sponge on top. Unable to find support in this medium, the trees are sending long trunks down into the murk, with nary a root within reach or sight. One feels like Tantalus on Earth in the presence of such trees, so close, yet so far beyond one's grasp.

I have refused to accept that in all the vast reaches muskeg there are absolutely no extractable trees. Thus I have studying the landscape to determine which areas are more likely to harbor suitable trees than others. Some rare patches are more earthy than watery, and there are raised hillocks where generations of trees and shrubs have created raised ground. Hemlocks have a penchant for growing on nurse logs, and it's due to this habit that I've collected most those I currently possess, so I held out hope on that front. But, the problem is that mountain hemlock, not western hemlock is prevalent in the muskeg, and they do not prefer logs nearly as much-- being content to grow in the mud and water.

Nevertheless I persevered, and after much wandering I came home with this beauty:

I just ecstatic over this tree. The pictures do not do it justice, but even with my poor and hasty camera work the quality of this tree is apparent.

I preserved as many roots as I could. The hemlock had been growing not quite on a log, but along it, and so while there was a descending tap root, there were also lateral roots extending into the shallow soil on and around the log. I did not try to extract what fine roots I salvaged from their soil, as there weren't as many as I would like, and I did not want to damage them at all. Unfortunately it was difficult to navigate the soil, due to other woody plant growing in close proximity. The tree is now planted in the soil it came in, along with primarily orchid bark, and a small portion of good topsoil.

I hope and feel this mix will be suitable for the hemlock. I wanted a very well draining, yet very moist environment to support the earth that still surrounds the roots. I am not at all worried about over-watering it, because its habitat was immersed in water, and I live in a rainforest. But just the fact that I like it so much makes me nervous about its recovery. I am keeping it in a shady area, and will mist it throughout the day during this initial period. It does have a lot of needles, so I don't want it to transpire to death.

Here at the end is small shore pine I collected the same day. It is very nice in it's own right, and I'm not worried about it at all. I've observed from another shore pine I collected that they are incredibly hardy.