Beech group.

I got these from the dragon auction. I have moved a couple of them and reduced the height to try and get the canopy to be a bit tighter than it was. I am a probably a bit premature in potting them as they are, but i wanted it to look nicer on my shelf than in the plastic tray. I would like to have used a bigger tile but it was the biggest i could find for free, and I do bonsai on the cheap.

Lookin good Smithy. Keep you eyes open for a queen sized slate and nibble the edges with pliers, for a suitably sized slab.

I do like the group, but think you're right about the slab needing to be bigger. If it were mine, I'd certainly have it on a longer slab with the trees planted lower on it.


PS: Is that the slab you dragged the missus out to find on Valentine's Day then? If so, it was worth it!

Thanks Kev. I have a friend who is a stone tile roofer and this was the biggest he had in his rubbish pile. I used a hammer and a sharp edge to get this shape. I had to take a big lump off the bottom and was just waiting to do that one too many taps and the thing breaking in half.
I will be on the look out the next year or two for the right one.some of his big stone tiles for the roof were £100 each. expensive roofs .
When you say queen size is that a proper measurement or is it just big.

fiona wrote:I do like the group, but think you're right about the slab needing to be bigger. If it were mine, I'd certainly have it on a longer slab with the trees planted lower on it.


PS: Is that the slab you dragged the missus out to find on Valentine's Day then? If so, it was worth it!

Yes this is the love slab, I'm sure she feels it was worth it too.

These are the "Official" slate sizes - in inches

Queens 24x40
Empresses 26x16
Princesses 24x14
Duchesses Mawr (Large) 24x12
Duchesses Bach (Small) 22x12
Duchesses Cul (Narrow) 22x11
Countesses Mawr 20x12
Countesses Deg (Ten) 20x10
Countesses Bach 18x12 a 10x9
Ladis (Ladies) 16x12
Ladis Llydan 16x10 and 16x9
Ladis Dwbl Dwbl Cul (narrow) 16x8 and 14x10
Ladis Bach 14x12 and 14x8
Ladis Dwbl Cul 12x6
Ladis Single 12x4.5
Ladis Single 10x5

I was really lucky to find a couple of Queens in an outhouse at my house when I moved in. Ooer, that sounds odd!

I'm saying nothing!!

Nice one Smithy. Hope to see it in green. and on a bigger slab.

Cheers,

Faisal

I like this! It's very natural yet graceful looking. The very picture of a group of young beech. Look forward to seeing more of it in the future.

Thanks for the comments , some of the credit must go to Jeremy for originally putting it together. Or is like the Kofufu that i get all the credit being the new owner.

Smithy,
It's all your vision my friend. You flatter me.
My input was to find and put the beech together, in a way that pleased my eye' one Wednesday evening.
I had a idea of leaving the group for a good number of years to allow the group to evolve together and remove / add trunks as needed.

As for a future slab, Dan Butler made a fine ceramic slab for Chris T's larch groups. Coud be an option


FYI. Dragon bonsai are having another auction and spring show at Bonllwyn this Sunday.

Vern nice group. I do like beech!

Have you considered shortening the group (but especially the main tree) just a bit?

Jeremy i will down on sunday. I have made a space .Looking forward to it.

Jim i reduced most of them quite a bit already. I have pondered on the main one for quite some time. I'm going to see what its like in leaf. Iwanted to get the effect of the big one above the rest.
I've tried to work with it for the moment. I did find it a bit bulky at the top.

Kev Bailey wrote:I was really lucky to find a couple of Queens in an outhouse at my house when I moved in. Ooer, that sounds odd!

In the colonies, we practice the "don't ask don't tell" policy, well at least until Obama gets rid of it, then everybody is out of the "outhouse", winkwink, nudgenudge!

Jay

I don't find the primary tree to be annoyingly tall. I like how it dominates the group, that it is a twin trunk, and the movement at its base. The top could be made less bulky by shortening some of those upper branches - something you will want to do anyway to get some ramification going. Actually given the thickness of some of them you may want to eliminate and regrow them entirely... don't know cuz I don't have much beech experience.

Like the group Smithy, good work and agree with the larger slab thing. Some good moss there too

Hi Smithy,

Nice group setting. What do you think about adding a background tree on the left hand side? The two trunks you have on the left dont give me any sense of depth or perspective, something you have managed to capture on the right hand side.

What size is the slab you've planted this on? I agree with you and others that a larger slab would be better, but you've done a great job getting all those trees on to that slab.

For what its worth 'love slab' is the best phrase I've heard all day, best phrase for a while actually!

Paul

Velodog2 wrote:I don't find the primary tree to be annoyingly tall. I like how it dominates the group, that it is a twin trunk, and the movement at its base. The top could be made less bulky by shortening some of those upper branches - something you will want to do anyway to get some ramification going. Actually given the thickness of some of them you may want to eliminate and regrow them entirely... don't know cuz I don't have much beech experience.

I haven't got a lot of experience with beeches so i have been easy on cutting back and just going back to clear buds. I guess i can chase them back along the branches over the years.

will baddeley wrote:Like the group Smithy, good work and agree with the larger slab thing. Some good moss there too

Thanks Will. There is no shortage of moss in Wales. I got paid to scrape some of it up.

paul burke wrote:Hi Smithy,

Nice group setting. What do you think about adding a background tree on the left hand side? The two trunks you have on the left dont give me any sense of depth or perspective, something you have managed to capture on the right hand side.

What size is the slab you've planted this on? I agree with you and others that a larger slab would be better, but you've done a great job getting all those trees on to that slab.

For what its worth 'love slab' is the best phrase I've heard all day, best phrase for a while actually!

Paul

There are actually three trees on the left but the back one could do with moving to the right a bit. While moving the whole thing i caught that one on the lead to my light and it fell out
so I will move it next time.
The slab is 20in by 15in.

nice looking group/forest Smithy, - are the beech green or purple variety? I have two single beech trees - one a purple air-layer that I got from the bonsai boot fair in birmingham about 20 years ago now root flair about 25 cm in diameter and about 60 cm high the other is a green beech that has a root flair about 20 cm and about 30 cm high (i'll post some pics when I have my camera attached to my laptop) both are very slow to bud this year - I guess it was the cold weather - just swelling buds and a few small tentative leaves appearing - that was until this afternoon - knock on door from a friend who is a garden designer - would I like this beech hedge she'd just grubbed up all 19 of the b*ggers -all bare rooted - so emergency planting needed - only thing left was a large plastic black bread tray that had to suffice as a pot - no decent growing material left - only thing was normal compost and a bag of left over koydama which had to suffice - a quick chop down to a 30 -40 cm - that will be it for the year - if they all survive if might look like a forest - but you can't look a gift horse in the mouth


BTW any advice/quidance on growing a beech group?

Hi,
If you got a beech 20 years ago i don't think theres much i'll be able to tell you about growing a beech forest. 20 years ago i couldn't tell an oak tree from an apple tree.

This will be my first year with this one as i got it near the end of last year. Mine is just starting to leaf out now and i'll put a pic up when it does.

ah one is easy LOL!! but 19 of the beggars!!!

Looking good on the bench Smithy! Time will refine that into something you will be extremely proud of. GJ!

Smithy wrote:

This will be my first year with this one as i got it near the end of last year.

Just let it grow this year to settle it after the transplant.
Beech are lovely trees but slow. Take your time and this group will reward you.

To help inspire you a couple of pics' of one of mine.



Collected and assembled 02.



2009.