Yes Nick, I keep adding a new photo to my album and linking to it. A bit selfish really, but it may be of benefit to someone. There's no requirement for people to reply unless they're interested in seeing someone struggle with a decent bit of stock.! I finally did some wiring on it to try and differentiate the branches better and removed an apex branch. Only knocked off 2 buds in the process as well, which is good for me! Will probably add that and a link over the weekend just in case anyone is monitoring seriously. Haven't managed to get to the Oaks recently. I'm going "cold turkey" on a "less trees to work with = better bonsai" kick atm. I do need a small cascade pot for the juniper over on the Gallery and might sneak out there at the weekend with just a tenner and sans plastique just in case I do get tempted. BTW, thanks for the encouragement Larry............ and Resin, I'm not 100% whether its decidua or Japanese lepi whatever now. I've got 3 other euro larches and 3 J'nese but they all look pretty much the same this time of year. I'll check it up.

first off.. its a conifer.. there is such a forum.. should you wish to be enabled ... second.. you did what you had to do.. so why worry about it ... it would not be uncommon.. for a deciduous tree to lose all its needles due to such ... i would hope it does not reflush until spring ... flushing real late.. might not be good ... just keep it properly watered.. and pray ... only time and proper water will tell ... and no.. fert will not help a stressed plant ... ken

Yes, I know the larches at Oatlands. There are actually two. One is more in the "upper" garden area, and another is in the lower left portion growing with a Norway spruce. That one looks older.. There used to be two Norway spruces with the larch down there, but one died a few years ago. I assume everything is as it was last time I was thereÂmaybe two or three years ago. For an old Norway spruce, go to Morvin Park not far away. The one closest to the old house is maybe about as old as any I know of. I judge just from the appearanceÂI have not heard any ideas about when it was planted. Âspruce

Tom: I think I can explain a bit more and thus help you out quite a bit. You wrote: "And no, I will def. not be overly concerned with absolute perpendicularity to the ground. I would just rather they not develop with a sharp hook right at the base." After years and years of experience I can say without any shadow of doubt, how these trees straighten up. They do not curve upward from a base that remains at an angle. They straighten up right from the roots, just as if they were planted precisely straight with some superbly precise machine. There will be no crook or any other kind of detectable bend at the base or anywhere above it. Last year when I planted about 350 spruce trees, there were quite a number that after I was finished and had watered them were off at quite an angle. I had so many to plant I didn't have time to look at them from different angles when planting to see if they were straight. I just kneeled in one place and put them in. Yes, very carefully for getting the roots in deep and spread out, but for straightness, no. My wife looked at these and said they were a bit of a mess. I left them. By the fifteenth of August I don't think anyone could have examined my little NS trees carefully and had any idea which were planted straight and which were not. As for your larch, they are just a bit more "floppy" and slower to straighten up than the NS. Part of this is the vigor after planting--they just don't get established so quickly. Another part is their little trunks are a bit more flexible than other kinds of seedlings. For example, when they get wet with rain, they will tend to lean over; NS generally, unless they are very leggy, won't do that. I planted my last batch of larch last year. I got 10 hybrids from Forest Farm. They were nice looking seedlings, but they had very small and weak root systems. I watered them carefully and otherwise babied them all last year. About 4 of them were off at a good angle after I planted them. This spring they look somewhat straighter, but still clearly off. I am as sure as I can be that by september they will be very straight, if not perfectly straight, and by July of next year they will be absolutely, precisely, perfectly straight. If you have some at about a 30 or 40 degree angle, leave a few alone and see what happens. Of course, in your climate, the snow could bend them over again next winter. But if that happens, they will get straight again anyway. Understanding all this can be a big time saver and worry preventer. --Spruce