Some years back we planted some Silver Birches in our front yard. They mostly failed to thrive, along with the rest of the yard – partly it was lack of watering, but also partly rather water-phobic soil. We are finally getting the yard fixed, which means the dead trees are going. But one of the silver birches survived, but it not the right type of silver birch: it’s Betula pendula rather than Betlua alba. Which is to say, it’s more weeping that wanted. So that tree has to come out. It’s mostly dead, but somewhat alive. And I got permission to gather it.
The tree was in full sun all day, which is probably why it still has leaves. If I leave it in shade, it will probably go immediately into winter hibernation.
For the longer run… as bonsai stock goes, it’s very upright. There’s some taper in that first half, but not much. I’ll need to reduce the height. I’m thinking about splitting the tree to force some tapering and creating a deadwood feature at the top.
Other development will be to encourage every branching I can. I’ll need to get high sun from all sides, which should be doable.