I know that it can be difficult to see the ‘Bonsai’ in raw material, but when choosing Yamadori it’s important to consider a few fundamental characteristics.

• The Health of the tree
• The Quality of the Bark
• Movement in the trunk

I know that many people want to see a lot of ‘branches’ to work with but this is not important. Branches grow, and when they do you can decided how and where they grow, you can build the ramification and canopy where you wish instead of using the branches that are on the raw material.

Bonsai must be approached as a journey of creativity, the destination being the tree ‘finished’ (although we all know that a bonsai is never actually ‘finished)

This Olive has been developed over the last two years, nobody was interested in the raw material when it was for sale at The Noelanders trophy in 2011. I saw the potential and here is the tree today.