An ebay black Pine

Browsing ebay (as you do now and again ) I spotted this black pine and thought it would wire up ok - .This was basically the picture and angle I bid on the tree from:

I could see there was plenty of shoots, this years candles were in place and growing well, along with all the old needles as well, and the tree was bursting out of the pot !

When I got it home all angles were explored and after cleaning off all the crud and thick moss from the top the nebari at the current back was excelent, so I did a quick jet wash to clean the upper roots off and assessed the branches.

Its funny but I didn't have a 'pine shaped pine' and really wanted to make one. As this tree had all the branches needed I started by pruning out the ones that hid the lower and mid trunk, then angled all the branches down a bit with guy wires. As it was mid July I decided to only decandle the strong shoots that were going to be used - many of the very strong shoots had 6-7" of bare twig and one bunch of needles at the end so I cut most of these off.

The 3 year old needles were pulled off and every single part of the tree wired with 1.2mm and 1.8mm copper wire, guy wires were 0.6mm copper. I guess it took about 5 or 6 hours of  wiring with a few beers in the garden.

For a first wiring I think it turned out well - it is exactly the shape I was aiming for - A classic informal upright.( To make a bit of space on the benches this tree is available for sale if anyone is interested. )
 There is a reasonable few months growing left this year so buds will certainly form and come winter i'll thin the needles, reduce any crowded areas of buds that may form, and then repot the tree next spring. I'm getting quite a liking for Black Pines - they love Cornwall for sure !