'Thunderhead' is an extremely vigorous cultivar of Japanese Black Pine. Very assertive and regular pruning is necessary to craft interesting structure from a dense shrubby plant. The client chose this particular tree for the curve at the base of the trunk.
Making it the focal point of the entry into his Japanese-style garden, I saw the slanted stem as the best trunk line to choose from the many possibilities. I gradually reduced the branching, slowed the growth rate and filled in the layers with fine branching...to create a classic cloud pruned pine. We have just begun to "arrive".
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