(Some of you may have already seen this, in a slightly different form, on my blog.)

Andy Smith is coming to Ft. Wayne in June for a Styling and Refinement ("B.Y.O.T.") workshop. I'm strongly inclined to take the ponderosa that my wife got me two years ago. But, having also been inclined to rush things with ponderosas in the past  , I would like some feedback on whether other ponderosa lovers think the tree is ready.

I'd like Andy's opinion as well; so I've sent him pictures,  and a brief account of the last 2 years.

The tree has been in its growing box for two years now, and budded fairly well last spring. These pictures were taken within the last few days.

I'm having trouble attaching multiple pictures, so let me try with just one.

Continued:

Closeup of some new needles. (Sorry about the quality of this pic.)

seems to be alot of good healthy growth on there.  I would say you could go ahead and do some work on it - wiring and so on, but do not remove very much foliage in the process.

- bob

Looks good and healthy Steve.  Good Luck with it!!

btw, I have my replacement PP downstairs still wrapped in burlap that just arrived last night.  Gotta wake up and have some coffee, then I'm off to pot it up!  )  It's not as large as I would've liked, but it's a really nice tree. 

Andy sees no reason not to style the tree next month.  He was a little surprised that my tree is as far along as it is; his are waking up. But then he's at both a higher altitude and a higher latitude.

I liked the strobili, but I broke them off; no point in letting them use resources.