Crepe myrtle

[melbrackstone]

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[melbrackstone]

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[melbrackstone]

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[melbrackstone]

Love to hear your thoughts, and suggestions.

Not styled a tree before, and it's been a treat.....but not sure what I'm doing.

If anyone can help me understand how best to upload the images so they are in the right order, that'd also be great.

Cheers!

[anthonyW]

Hi Mel, very sorry for you with your mum,mums are the most beautiful and special people on God's green earth,this a very special tree to you and beautiful tree it is.

Your styling looks very good to me at this angle,you said maybe your front,I do like this it shows off the little tree perfectly,to make it easier I have numbered the branches.

No 1 and 2 perfect you have them on plane,you have the branch rising above the horizontal/180 degree, then the branch/branch lets or foliage area on plane,no foliage or part of will come under that line if that makes sense,spot on mate,you will repeat this on all areas...how you present the foliage above the line is up to you,just try and keep it a little bit regular if possible.

No 3 branch good,pick up foliage part to plane.

No 4 branch good,push down foliage part to plane

No 5 branch has to come up past 180 degree line then foliage realign to plane.

No 6 branch has to come up past 180 degree line then foliage realign to plane and obviously this goes out to back for illusion of depth (just easier to draw like this)

I feel your tree does not need any more height,you have every thing in the right place,no 5 branch is a heavy branch but we need it,it is what is and use what we have, no tree is perfect.
I like how the little tree comes in the void/picture under branch No 3 looks real good.The length of foliage is your call,trial error suppose,can not really help there sorry.

Well done Mel you should be very happy with yourself....some rough pics to help,hope this can help....cheers Anthony

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[Kevin]

Hello Mel,

Love your tree, sorry, cannot help on improvement.
Personally, i love the Lagerstroemia and hope to get my own next spring.
Isn't Anthony brilliant and so generous with his time - i do like his vision for your tree.

Uploading here - is an experience and very confusing first up, with practise it will become clearer. At times i do find it very slow and i also find it important to watch the process to learn the sequenced events.
Anyway, it's been awhile for me so i'll upload and describe my routine - then hopefully delete before posting.
Click - Upload attachment (just below text box to the left)
Click - Choose file (this then scrambles back to your computer)
Select your photo - then once the photo's file name appears in the white box
Click - Add the file
Now, this is where i find a delayed response at times, but do only click once.
You will soon see the file name appear - a white text box above - it's good to write here as it also appears on the enlargement for members viewing eg. Front. My example says Just a Funny
Now where the photo lands depends on where your cursor is. I want this photo to appear on the next line below - so i press enter in the text box now
You will see the cursor flashing for you to write a new line - but instead
Click the box under your image's file name below the text box titled - Place inline
Remember drop your cursor to a new line and / or where ever you want the photo to appear - the cursor needs to be where you want the photo to appear as you press - Place inline
If you do not drop the cursor, the photo will appear at the top of the text. You can cut and paste it wherever if you forget to position your cursor within the text box.
Lotsa words, hopefully understandable.
Here's the funny.

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Happy Easter,
Kevin

(EDIT) P.S. With multiple image uploads, at first i found it less confusing to only upload one at a time

[melbrackstone]

Thanks so much Anthony, for your wonderful sketches and suggestions. I'll sit down and study what you've done, and hopefully my old brain will be able to make sense of it. Much appreciated.

Kevin, thanks, I think I can see what I was doing wrong. I thought I was putting the cursor in the right place for the next pic, but it seemed to jump back to the start a lot...and I was trying to upload too many images, I think, for my brain to be able to work out what was going where. I only shot these with my phone, and made them medium size, so they didn't take long to upload, thankfully!

Edit: And yes, after three mess ups that's why I went back to just putting them into three separate posts. Thanks again.

Cheers
Mel

[kcpoole]

Lovley tree Mel and go with ANTHONY's image

Re uploading images.
as kevin says, Upload each image individually and edit the comment on each one then once all uploaded, submit post

Re ordering them. If you place them "Inline" like you do th4en you can rearrange the orger of them by cutting and pasting the links.
If like me you do not. then I always upload the last image first as the stack is loaded from the bottom

Ken

[melbrackstone]

Thanks Ken, I'm out on the deck refining the tree now, thanks to Anthony's directions!

I'm sure it will look much better with the tweaks. I'm so excited to see it emerge.

Thanks also for the tip about uploading, I'm sure that uploading backwards will be easier than cutting and pasting for me.

Cheers!

[Kevin]

Hello Mel,

Time permitting, I'm looking forward to the After Images - hopefully all's gone well.

Kevin

[melbrackstone]

Thanks for your interest, Kevin! I haven't done anything with numbers 1, 2 or 3 yet. A little concerned with the other front that there are no back branches until the absolute top. I'll keep my options open, I think.



Thanks so much to Anthony for his suggestions too. I'm sure I'll be able to bring the foliage closer to the trunk in time, and possibly develop a bit more back branching if I go with the "other front."

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Cheers

[Pearcy001]

Great tree and a beautiful gesture Mel, good on you. I personally prefer the second picture as the front (labelled 'one front').

I think it gives a better view of the tree and also hides the trunk chop scar at the bottom, which will be harder to hide. The one half way up the tree from my preferred view will be easier to hide with foliage.

I think you've done a great job and would be more than happy to have this one in my collection

Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk

[anthonyW]

Hi Mel,what ever way you go for fronts you must bring the branches up,the one front looks like it is falling away from viewer big time with all the foliage going with it,your call of course.

If you go with the front I have chosen there is depth,looks I left out a branch,but thats fine,the drawing will show what to do,but remember you have to get branches up over plane,the little tree has set the pace otherwise the tree is conflicting with branches going both ways,looks like some of the foliage can be split in two ie top,just something else to think about if you get enough growth, but of course it is your call for direction...cheers Anthony

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[melbrackstone]

Thanks Pearcy! I'm still learning, but yes, very happy with the tree, and the help I've been receiving!

I wouldn't have dared touch it without the information I've been harvesting from this forum, so thanks everyone!

Anthony, will have another go tomorrow. For some reason I thought the branches should be drooping down a little... but I can see that it looks weird in the photo!

Thanks again, and cheers for the new sketch! I'll add it to the ipad and take it with me when I try again.

Cheers

[Kevin]

Hello Mel,

Thanks for posting.
After work last night, i opened your images and sat for some time looking over them, into them, through them and while i can see a little of what's happening with your tree, i cannot (my brain cannot) visualise your trees true identity. I cannot see reality with many images that are posted on the forum, for me it gets lost, maybe it's the wide angle

While i don't own one, which probably doesn't help me, the cameras within mobile phones now take incredible images. For example - the other day Percy posted an image of a root appearing through the bottom drainage hole (good to see too Percy). Well, while the root wouldn't have been much bigger than a hair, the image he posted looked like 'The Loch Ness Monster' emerging from the depths.

What i can see with your tree, which i know is a work in progress are the two longest branches which appear almost opposite each other forming a massive T-shape across your plant (both images). Also hard for me to tell, i was wondering if you are trying to bring the Apex back to align over the trunks base.

I'm sure as you progress with your shaping it'll come clearer to me.

Maybe, if you can post the trees dimensions and pot diameter, this would aid my 'logical' brain in interpreting reality.

Sorry Mel, there's nothing wrong with your tree, it's just me, as others appear to see reality with images that i cannot. At times i'm blown away when looking at images, as my brain has developed the proportional values of someone's tree which is then completely smashed when the last image has the cigarette lighter standing at half the trees height - how could i get it soooo wrong?

Keep posting though please, i do enjoy watching your tree evolve.

Maybe get the big girl camera out Mel?

Kevin