Example Of A Good Pigeon Breast

Remember that guideline to avoid pigeon breasts? A strong movement of part of the trunk toward the viewer?

Well. Here is a tree that just begged for that guideline to be ignored.

  • (Somewhere in Bonsai Heresy I wrote about the looseness of the pigeon breast guideline, but I’m far away from home—Chicago—and haven’t the faintest idea what chapter it’s in.)

So here’s our tree. A Sierra Juniper. The deadwood is the key feature, only problem is, it’s on the “wrong” side of the trunk. The side with the pigeon breast.

Here is the “correct” view for a front, if we were to take the pigeon breast guideline at face value. Sadly, it has none of the deadwood interest. The next photo should clarify the puzzle…

This is the right side view. The lower left is a classic pigeon breast. The concave curve on the other side suggests the ideal, approved-by-tradition front. (Shown in the previous photo.) But there’s no deadwood.

This photo was taken after a repot, where we tried to show off the deadwood from the front. The only way to accomplish this was to tip it strongly forward. To the deadwood side. And have that be the front.

As you can see it still leans back, but it’s better than it was, which was falling back. The crown still needs resolving, but that is work for later in the year.

Closeup of the deadwood to show what all the fuss was about.

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