Last week I took an afternoon off and went for a hike with my son in the mountains not far from my house. Winter is drawing to a close and I wanted to take the opportunity to go and look one more time at the winter landscape. Although I will be glad to see the return of spring green, it is so instructive to study the structure of mature deciduous trees shaped by life on the mountain ridges, when they are bare of leaves. Their forms are inspirational to me, and inform my ideas about bonsai design.

I made many photographs, as usual. These two trees, both Chestnut Oaks (Quercus prinus), caught my eye:

I thought this branch in particular offered an interesting idea for bonsai branch shaping:

Chestnut Oak, sometimes called Rock Oak, is a common species in the eastern United States, often found growing in rocky areas or on dry ridges. I have seen them growing in favorable locations as well, and there they will grow straight and tall. But when they grow in poorer sites they often assume gnarly and sometimes strange shapes:

The image of a Chestnut Oak growing on a rocky, dry ridge was the inspiration for this tray landscape:

The main tree is a Chinese Quince (Pseudocydonia sinensis), and the photograph is from last October. I need to repot this specimen now and I hope to post more about it in the days ahead.