Jimmy V Scots pine

I decided to post a couple of pictures of a Scots Pine (P. sylvestris) that I have in the ground to show that in Jim Valvano’s words “Never give up, don’t ever give up”. This was one of several a dug and put into grow bags in early May 2019 after listing to the Telperion podcast and looking at the Driftwood Bonsai website. The candles were probably a bit long and the root cut back fairly severe, but I decided that getting the roots close to the trunk was a very good goal. Three of them had typical weak repotting growth that spring and have started to take off this spring. Two turned brown and died over the summer, but they had the most sun as well. This one pushed the candles a bit more into 1-3 mm long needles and just sat there. This spring it is pushing some very weak buds - some from the base of the previous candles and others from the tips. I thought it was an interesting lesson that if the pine keeps its needles their is still hope. I figure it is at least 2 years from good solid growth, but I will be patient.

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