Korean Hornbeam Forest

Fore wrote:Iris, plant 5 is directly behind plant 1. And 2 being so close, with only 5 plants, looks to me a bit clustered together too much. Plus they look to be to similar in spacing b/w the trees. Just my opinion of course ;-)

Of course. I agree completely. Is this better? Also I improved the directionality.



Remember, this is not a finished product. This is still a progression blog. Regarding placement, I chose to err on the side of caution, based on past experience & the fact that the trees were already leafed out. To get the placement exactly right, I would have had to prune the roots too severely. Next spring I will make adjustments.
Iris

I have a technical question for Iris or anyone else who is experienced with forests like this (I've never put one together yet). Is the base grid - in this case the hardware mesh at the bottom - intended to become a permanent part of the planting? Or is it removed once the tree roots have grown together (but before they become completely entangled in the mesh, if that's even possible)?

It probably doesn't matter. In my case, the old forest was five years old. As you can see, when I ripped out the dead trees, the grid came away intact. It also depends on the rooting habits of the species. I don't recall reading anything on the subject. With an older established forest, the roots might get entangled in the grid, but by then your placement is finalized & you just repot the whole shebang as a single unit (cutting wedges from time to time). Of course if a tree in the middle dies or gets broken, you may have to tease the roots apart.
Iris

Alas, the best laid plans of mice & men don't always lead to a progression. The forest I planted last spring died, probably because I planted it after the trees leafed out. Some species are very strict about that. I had a few trees left over, & I bought a few more from Bill Valavanis. This time I am starting with mostly trees that have been repotted once and had their roots trimmed. I started again with five trees. I am waiting to make sure they survive before I take a picture.
One observation. When you are placing the trees, you can attend to their general height and direction, but it is no use to wire any branches. You won't know until the composition is done which branches you will keep, where they will be facing, and which ones need wiring. Korean hornbeam has strong apical dominance, and you will have to trim the upper branches frequently. Don't forget to turn the pot regularly, or you will have branches growing backwards.
Remember I sort of apologized for the pot, because with its wide rim I wasn't sure it was appropriate. I don't know what happened to the original pot. It may have broken. The Osiga pot is what I had on hand last year. Well, I have been rereading some of my bonsai books. Here's what I found in The Japanese Art of Miniature Trees and Landscapes by Yoshimura & Halford. "A pot with a wide rim, rather like a soup plate, is suitable for the display of a group planting..."
Iris