Kuromatsu on Volcanic Rock

A couple of years back I planted this older black pine (approx. 30 - 40 yrs) on a large black volcanic lava rock, and then let it do it's thang... This past winter we finally styled it for the first time (originally it was a very straight tree, over the years we just chopped for trunk direction to eventually get a literati vibe going).

Photo below is from 2021, maybe a year after planting it on rock.

And the images below are winter 2024 after giving the tree it's first styling. Added some acompanying shrubs/succulents to the planting (meuhlenbekia, hebe's, succulents).

We're letting the tree grow freely this summer, and likely decandle it summer '26.