Salvatore Mameli, a very good friend of mine entrusted me with the styling of this cypress . The tree had already had previous shaping and the necessary branches and pads had already been selected. After an proper preparation of the vegetation, Salvatore asked me for the style giving me complete confidence…or carte blanche!

The main feature of this cypress tree is undoubtedly the bark: dark, old and cracked….it looks like an oak! The vegetation is strong and vigorous and, apart from the flowering, the scale has a good colour and texture.

The sore points though: the trunk is quite straight and the main branch grows horizontally within a curve.

To overcome this problem I decide to change the inclination of the plant and proceed to lower the first branch.

Once this is done I rearrange the vegetation trying to use as little wire as possible, using small guy wire but especially the use of pruning. In order to highlight the accuracy of the lines lines and of the black spaces, each pad is finished with a careful cleaning of the silhouette .

Finally the softness of the foliage is obtained mainly with scissors, leaving the natural vertical growth of the vegetation.

Thanks to Salvatore for the trust.

Now all that’s left is to find a suitable pot …. a right shoe for this elderly, elegant lady!

The cypress tree before:

And after:

Some close up: