Oriental hornbeam (Carpinus orientalis)

Hi, everybody!

This is a hornbeam I collected in 2006 near Sochi after generations of sheep grazed on it. ) It was was very little I had to do on top of it.

The first post-sheep styling of a bushy something.... Where is the front?

I was too impatient to make it look like a bonsai. Hence, repoting into a bonsai pot the same season. There is a bulb under the soil level that is impossible to cut, so the height of the pot tried to accomodate it. The question remains - where is the front? ...

Hi Andrei, nice tree

From what I can see, I think that the nebari looks better on second picture, the same goes for the trunk. If the tree would be mine I would take the second picture as the front.

Than I would work on the branches in the lower section of the tree, especially on the left side to make the movement of the trunk more visible.

regards, roland

In the followign years I concentrated on branching, jinning and repotting in a flatter pot. That was the final choice of the front that seemed more dynamic. Tilting the tree to a viewer to accomodate the new front allowed to make the underground bulb parallel to the bottom of the pot. Ramification is still sort of weak though....

rolandp wrote:Hi Andrei, nice tree

From what I can see, I think that the nebari looks better on second picture, the same goes for the trunk. If the tree would me mine I would take the second picture as the front.

Than I would work on the branches in the lower section of the tree, especially on the left side to make the movement of the trunk more visible.

regards, roland

Roland, thanks! As you can see my thinking went in the same direction!

I like tree very much, excellent moving!

I think it looks more powerful in the original planting. The wide pot gives it a "maple" look.

Marija Hajdic wrote:I like tree very much, excellent moving!

Marija, many thanks!

Peter E. wrote:I think it looks more powerful in the original planting. The wide pot gives it a "maple" look.

Peter, thanks for your comments. I agree that earlier the tree looked more powerfull. However, it seems to me that these two trunks are too interesting, they have too much movement to push them into a "powerfull" image that would hide much of this interest. In addition, I'm not sure that I feel a critical difference between a "maple" look and a "hornbeam" look. Also, to get adequate ramification in a more compact design would be next to impossible...

Best,

Andrei