Pinus sylvestris – Niwaki

A mature Pinus sylvestris is a magnificent thing. Divesting itself of the conical Christmas tree blandness as they soar upward, their mammoth boughs arabesque themselves into characterful poses, all unique, and strike breathtaking silhouettes. We’ve all whooshed past stands of these growing ramrod straight for timber production (they’re good wood) but a truly characterful mature specimen tree, grown with space and patience, is an entirely different beast. Now clearly this does take time. 40 years or so. If I were to plant a sapling now my tortoise Luther might enjoy it but I’d be gone. Instead of that we present to you these stellar Niwaki specimens, grown and trained by our very own magnificent Linda. Read about Niwaki, and Linda, here, but in the briefest terms it’s all about amplifying the personality and stylised architecture of an ancient tree through careful pruning and training of a much smaller and younger one. All the tough evergreen resilience of this pine (Scots, so you know) remains embedded in these smaller trees, while retaining all the visual and atmospheric qualities of their future-massive potential. With their elegantly composed gnarly-barked branches and pillowy clouds of needles, these ones have been teased into a manageable size for you so you can have instant architectural oomph. Distinctly posh and very special. Wasted on tortoises, though.