Coast live oak is ubiquitous in the canyons and foothills of southern California, providing food (acorns) and habitat for wildlife. In nature oaks often take a “fountain” formation, with main branches emerging upwards from the trunk and then bending downwards at the branch ends. That is the ultimate design goal for this tree, although it isn’t there yet.
The tree was purchased as a pre-bonsai from Kuma Bonsai nursery in San Diego in 2013. New growth was insufficiently pruned in the first years after purchase and it was very spindly until spring in 2016, when it was pruned back hard. I nearly lost it after a hard root-pruning in winter 2018 but it recovered.
The tree today
The tree when first posted to this website.
The tree as bought from Kuma Bonsai, San Diego.
Repotted into a clay pot.
Spindly branches after a summer growing season.
Barerooted and repotted.
The tree in a new pot.
Very spindly early summer.
Spindly with new growth.
Pruned back.
Abundant summer growth.
Pruned, still spindly.
Springtime pruning, new growth.
Bare rooted, tap root pruned.
Tree in pot.
New growth.
Abundant new growth.
Root mass exposed, mycorrhizae visible.
Bare-rooted in new pot (this is the repotting that eventually caused a near-death experience for the tree).
Newly potted.
Two months after root pruning, some dieback, leaf fading.
Deterioration since January root pruning.
Recovery, new growth (view from back of tree). The Lazarus oak!
beginBonsai 
Reblogged this on Wolf's Birding and Bonsai Blog.
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