Checking up on a Beech Forest

Created this last year and haven’t touched it until now as it needed a long recovery period.  Some of the thinner/sparser trunks at the back are still weak and unfortunately I have lost one trunk in the middle.

Before work.

Evidence of neglect

Side view

After pruning the tallest trunks and shortening their height.  Weeds cleared.  Dead trunk cut down.

I’m relying on a lot of backbudding on the thinner trunks at the back and in future I need to wire or reposition a lot of the individual trees.  The past year has been about letting them establish.  It’s no coincidence that the two healthiest trees are the ones I grew in my garden whereas all the others were bought last year as a hedging bundle from the garden centre.

Moved to a new position in full sun on the bench.  It’s crowded, I may need to build another one!

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Creating a Forest Bonsai Part III

Finally! This was the project as assembled at the end of the last blog post.  The last step was to complete some pruning and adjust some crossing trunk lines.

Before

inverse taper and an unattractive kink in the main trunk to be removed

Various wires used to loosely secure trunks

From the side

From the opposite side

After.  A new beginning.

Some things to improve in the short term future:

1. Shift the planting to the left at the next repot so that more negative space is to the viewers’ right.
2. Encourage back budding on the thinner trunks so that they can be reduced in height.
3. Perhaps add an extra minor trunk at each end in future.
4. Encourage thickening of the two major trunks.

Any other suggestions would be welcome.

Forest Chump (Creating a Beech Group Part 2)

An apt title given that I thought it would be a good idea to start putting the forest together at 8:30 last night.  Chump indeed!  Anyway, I was raring to go and one of the saplings was breaking out in leaf so I went ahead, naively thinking that it wouldn’t take that long.  Here’s a photo timeline of the composition so far…

8:30 – 9:00pm Looked for this wire rack that I knew was somewhere in the garage.

9:00 – 9:30pm secured rack to the tray and filled a base layer of soil.

9:30 – 10:00pm sketched the tree positions on paper to give an idea of how to proceed.

10:30pm First three trees in rough positions and secured.

More added. A slight windswept look beginning to emerge.

11:30pm Only a few left to add.  The original plan abandoned long ago…

Post midnight. The forest assembled.  Soil was added outside in floodlit conditions.  Well watered in.

I don’t mind admitting that it was a demanding project but I enjoyed it.  The biggest headache was doing it in the kitchen (garage is full of baby related items…)  I underestimated how long it would take me to secure each tree in the right position and how much concentration was needed to ensure spacing was appropriate, perspective developed and all the other ‘rules’ suggested for creating a bonsai forest.  The project is a bit rough and ready at the minute but will hopefully look better when I get a chance tomorrow to prune tree heights and some long branches.  Have to keep reminding myself   that this is only the start of a project which will take years to mature, develop and improve. Part 3 later in the week.