CREOSOTE

July 9, 2000  Tempe, Arizona

Subject Tree:  Creosote / Greasewood (Larrea tridentata)
Designer:  Max Miller

 

25"H [63.5 cm] tree, main trunk estimated to be 50 to 60 years old,
in a 19"W x 14"D x 5-1/2"H [48.3 cm x 35.6 cm x 14.0 cm] pot.


        "Dug in June 1987 and then initially shaped at a John Naka Tucson workshop that Fall.  Moved into a smaller wooden box the following January, the tree was tilted slightly to the left.  Most of the active branches and front trunk died back on their own and became jin or shari, deadwood then treated with a preservative lime sulfur solution.  Most of the present branch structure only existed then as sleeping buds.  Transplanted into its current bonsai container in the summer of 1991.  In the Spring of 1997, this tree flowered as a bonsai for the first time."  [from Designing Dwarfs in the Desert, pg. 76, which also has both a b&w photo of the recently dug tree and the tree in blossom]
        This was the cover tree for the American Bonsai Society's Fall 1999 issue of Bonsai Journal (Vol. 33, No. 3, caption on pg. 92), color photo by Lohman Studio.  This specimen had been selected by Chase Rosade at the ABS '99 Symposium in Tucson to receive the Rosade Bonsai Studio's Design Award.
        After the photo on this web page was taken in July, the top several inches were cut off as a restyling began to make the tree appear larger in proportion to the trunk.

 
        "One note of bad news - my big creosote died this fall [late 2003].  Don't know why, just kicked the bucket.  Sure enjoyed it for the time it was healthy.
        "...small branches would die and eventually a whole primary branch would be dead.  After a while I repotted it in case new soil would help.  When I took it out of the pot I didn't see any strong, healthy roots.  It seemed to be very unhappy about something, but nothing I tried helped."
(Per personal e-mails from Max Miller to RJB, Jan. 10 and Jan. 26, 2004)


Per a personal email to RJB when Max was editing his Bonsai Book of Days listing (Mar 15), the following additional information is now available:
        "When I clicked the link to my big creosote bonsai, I noticed reference to my emails in January 2004 when I did not know why it had declined and died.  By chance, I discovered the reason later that year.
        "On July 15, 2004 I noticed two smaller creosotes in bonsai pots sitting on a bench in my raised bed were showing stress in the form of khaki-colored foliage.  A small creosote that had been in a pot for several years was showing a lot of stress, and a creosote from a January 2003 dig was showing some stress also.  In contrast, a little volunteer creosote growing in the raised bed, and the big creosote in the garden cart had dark green foliage and showed no stress.  I decided to bury the two pots into the soil in the raised bed to see if that would keep their roots cooler and make them happier.
        "On September 5, 2004 the small creosote had quite a bit of new growth that was dark green since I put its pot in the raised bed.  The one from the January 2003 dig looked better too.
        "My log entry: 16 October 2004 - I pulled the two creosotes out of the raised bed and took photos.  Both look really healthy, and there were only a couple of roots that escaped the pot on the small one (one I have had for a long time).  I suspect that if I had put the big creosote in the growing bed, pot and all, it would still be alive.
        "So I am convinced that over time, creosote bonsai in Arizona need to be buried in a raised bed or other soil from about the middle of June to the middle of September to keep their roots cooler."