5 years ago i started with bonsai, from scratch but with a rather good horticultaral knowledge.
As it goes when you first start you see bonsai everywhere.. I passed a farmrer who was pulling an old hawthorn hedge with a bulldozer out of the ground. I asked the man if i could have some and he agreed. In my enthousiasm i collected the thickest/heaviest stumps , just chopped them off and loaded them in my car. Needless to say they had little fine roots left due to the brutal pulling out.I planted them all in my garden and watched them bud enormously the next spring
Picture right after collection



by the end of the summer it looked like this





Although it grew very strong i still had no idea where to go with this one, mainly due to lack of knowledge and fear of cutting off something valuable...
After another year i finally made the decision to cut away one of the two stumps and carve it up a bit .It looked better but i still wasnt happy, i kept having problems with the triple top.

So, i finally made a big decision and cut off everything that was bothering me, and start fresh





At the end of last year it looked like this



Early spring i cut off the long growth, and wired it.



A month ago it already looked much better











today i had to take off all the wiring because it was already biting in the branches...
It has still a long way to go ( at least 5 years thickening branches and building ramification) but i already start to see the bonsai..

Hey LucR, I love all about this tree!
The trunk, the uros, the deadwood, but mostly the direction you are giving to its development.
Very, very nice. But...
I guess it needs a more aggressive approach regarding the deadwood. As the branches develop in the right places, there is too much uneeded wood that for sure could be carved, transformed into jins or simply deleted from the movement of the tree.
I am sure you will find the best approach and please show us your results!

After looking at it all winter i decided to take it another step further( or backwards if you want). I cut off one of the three "tops" and extended the shari /deadwood to that former top/branch. Cut off a major part of the highest one and wired a small branch upwards. Also damaged the bark at the base of the top hoping on a new bud there so i can start over completely with that top, which is already looking better. The rest of the tree i rewired, shortened some parts, cut away other parts, bended other parts... slowly getting where i want...As usual the picture doesnt do justice to this tree, which i am starting to like...

So nice to see progressions like this - thanks!