Carpinus Betulus

recent project, European Hornbeam.
Field grown, raw, cheap material...first styling




The tree went through a series of reductions and thinning out, before finally coming to a preferred image..













Going for a multi trunk naturalistic design, will clip throughout the growing season to build taper and ramification, thinning out the trees structure as i go along, little by little.
The field soil is a little mucky, no worry as it will be re potted in a couple of months. will update in spring

I think you made the best choice getting rid of the top and reducing it to this size. If it were mine, I would keep it at this height and just create density with the current trunks/branches.

It looks like you will have some decent nebari too, so I wish you the best of luck finding a good situation under that ball of clay.

Hello Bobby - I really like what you are doing with this tree! It is evident from this work, and others you have posted lately, that you are looking at trees in nature and paying attention. Thanks for posting.

Thanks guys, got a few projects on the go now so will share some more over next few days...i do use trees in nature as inspiration and try to follow the natural growth patterns where possible.
Arthur, ive been following your thread and your stuff on youtube for a while-good stuff and very informative

Hi BobbyLane, I don't want to start a fight but I would like to just put my point of view across. It's all very well to study nature and try to emulate it. But shouldn't we keep in mind that not everything in nature is necessarily desirable?
Taking the natural tree as an example, we can clearly see that it has some of the features which have been included (or remain) in the bonsai. But it also has areas which are much more elegant. Shouldn't we strive to include as many of these pleasing features (green cirlcle) as possible and at the same time eliminate as many of the undesireable features (red circle) as possible?
If they are not done away with in the formative stages they will only grow in their obtrusiveness (IMO)
It is certainly the ''long way home'' to cut off all undesirable branches and start again, but in the end the result is a more pleasing work to my way of thinking. In this respect, I guess I must disagree with Arthur, Walter and others' approach...

On the tree below we have a couple of areas which I believe should be avoided when we go about styling a deciduous tree. Rather, we should include as many of the interesting features as we can. (green) Even if that means cutting hard and re-doing.



These are problem areas which I would seek to rectify were the material mine.




In a nutshell, I would always seek to avoid straight lines longer than about 1 inch (depending on the tree size)
Hope you don't mind me putting my view across.

Regards
Mike

Hi Micheal, The image of the Oak is a general type of image im aiming for, the shape, the multi trunk and negative areas. Hornbeams in nature generally are a more angular tree. the trunk that breaks into two or three is a common feature on deciduous that i love to see. one of the reasons i bought the material. for that reason i wouldnt do any of the cuts you mentioned. the material probably wont be as graceful as the Oak, i dont mind that the trunks are a little straight in areas, i like the angles and i think the tree has some character.

Here is a Hornbeam showing similar features
https://flic.kr/p/6dAMik
https://www.flickr.com/photos/14919622@N02/3425173614/in/faves-138823275@N03/

Agree with you 100% Micheal.

All a matter of taste and what you see in the material, this Horse chestnut i see every time i open my front door, is another example of what i saw in the material



and i'd say my avator pic is pretty much what Micheal is suggesting. but if i was planning to cut back that hard, i'd have chosen something else

i agree that one or two trunks are a little straight and in future, depending where i get some back budding further down i can reduce one or two for more movement and taper. i have some options with the left most trunk, there are some secondaries coming off it.

This one was indeed cut back hard, as Micheal had suggested! a work in progress still, but it will be good in time;-)

IMG_0761 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

This one will go in the ground for further development in a few weeks


2016-12-22_09-27-28 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
2016-12-22_09-26-40 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr