First a short history recap: Way back in 2004 I discovered and collected this little old Mugo Pine on a high mountainside in Austria. I only had to cut a few roots and then could literary scoop it off of the giant rock it had grown on for so long!
Below: 2007: With the progressive styling story of this same tree, which covers the complete progress right from my collecting it, right up to its first styling, I won the first AoB professional online styling competition back in 2007.
Above: And in Oktober 2012. First to clarify to those that wonder: On the backside of that to the left protruding deadwood, right at the left end there is a thick large rot growing straight into the ground! The bottom red arrow is pointing to the dying root that feeds the life vein that runs over the top of the left deadwood section. The top red arrow points to the dying left side of the trunk! Today in 2020 only the section to the right of the white line is still alive!
Above: 19-3-2015 Here the root visually still looked alright…but I knew that it was dying back slowly or already dead! So my initial front slowly lost its main attraction! Meanwhile, the tree was allowed to vigorously grow out of shape and to produce many new small branches and foliage pads for me to use! And the more I looked at it, the more I realist that a big change was needed for my new future plan!
Above: And this will become the new front side! It will be planted sloping to the left like it is struggling to hold on to the mountainside it is growing on! This way the dead root/trunk enhances the story of its struggle. All (eye) movement in branches and foliage will be pointing to the left, creating a lot of visual speed and a feeling of a tree that is proudly holding on for dear life above a lot of open space. It will be styled in a natural-looking way enhancing the beauty of its years-long struggle! Hopefully more like a Lil’ Tree than an overly styled-looking Bonsai?!
Above: Branch to the right of that white line and a few back branches need to be removed! I really love how its cascading branches will be hanging above all that empty space beneath it in the future in a yet-to-be-found/made pot! PS: it has been in this pot for 13 years now…yes without repotting it once! We repot our evergreens way too much!
Cheers and stay safe and healthy,
Hans van Meer.
The Bonsai Blog of Hans van Meer 
Zeer leuk om telkens die evolutie te zien over zo vele jaren!
Ik was ook verbaasd dat die boom al 13j zonder een verpotting gaat en het lijkt alsof de reden om dit nu te doen de re-styling is en niet per se een slechte afwatering?
Ik kijk uit naar je nieuwe youtube videos! Bedankt en stay safe.
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