Designing a uhm little olive

[Andrew Legg]

Hi folks,

I'd like to hear ideas on this tree. I'm going to repot it soon and am considering it's design. I have my ideas on it, but would like to hear any others. Bit of a challenge to photograph unfortunately, but please let me know how you would fix this little fella up.......

Cheers,

Andrew

image.jpeg

[CraigM]

Beautiful tree. Really like the movement, even the branch crossing the front doesn't worry me.

Initial thoughts:
- would reduce height to where the branches cross just below the blanket on fence (Jin the top, Jin should extend above fence)
- remove the thin branch to the right growing straight up, not sure this adds anything
- shorten the two long branches to the right a little
- then let it grow

Look forward to seeing what you do.

[shibui]

That is good olive material. To those who are collecting straight, thick stumps please take note of what GOOD olive potensai look like

My initial reaction was windswept - I think along the lines CraigM has outlined though I did not immediately think of jinning the top of the main trunk and would do that last when I can see the rest of the design.
I'm also happy with the small trunk crossing from left to right at the moment but it does interfere with the really nice negative space between the 2 right branches. If foliage can be reduced to very little so the space there is revealed it can stay. Otherwise maybe jin and incorporate into extensive dead wood shari down the left side?
The small trunk on the left echoes the main trunk nicely. It can be retained as a live trunk or jinned, possibly removed as a last resort when you see how the rest of the tree balances.
Small trunk coming up through the right branches appears to be dead. It appears to flow contrary to the rest of the tree. Consider removing it completely otherwise jin.
It is not clear where the small, upper left branch comes from. If from the main trunk try making a very short jin, otherwise remove it altogether.
All live branching trained severely to the right as windswept. keep it sparse to reflect harsh conditions.

Craig's idea for jinning the top of the main trunk has some merit. It will reduce the height and compact the tree quite a lot but there appears to be very little live material up there and most I can see is from the left side? Ideally I think a jin up there would also extend to shari down the left side of that trunk but if that wipes out the only living shoots I'd avoid that option.

You can see the tree better than us so I'll be interested to hear your ideas after you get some more of our opinions.

[Matt S]

Hi Andrew,

Great material, lots of movement and I'm jealous of all that aged bark that continues the length of the tree. Such strong right to left movement needs to be emphasised and I agree with the others that it would look better with the height reduced, something like this:

olive 1.jpg

You can muck about with the length of the 2 main branches on the right but you get the idea. Keep us posted!

Matt.

[kcpoole]

Something similar to mattS but without the let folaige mass ( it is in the wrong direction to the general movement,
The top needs to be a little higher. grown off the back branch there maybe and out to the right of the main top Jin

Ken

[Andrew Legg]

Right guys,

Thanks for the responses. What I'm pleased to report is that your thoughts on the top branch echo mine, and this was the main design decision I wanted to take soon. As for the rest, I'm going to repot soon as it is in a bad mix, and then just let it grow for a bit. The top left branch is actually the same one that comes up vertically. It runs behind the trunk and sticks out the back. I'm thinking of keeping it just to annoy people , but may also air layer it off as it will make a cracker of a literati trunk. It is live all the way up.

Thanks for taking the time to do the virt Matt. It's very much what I have in mind. Ken, yes, I agree that the left foliage mass is a bit big. I was thinking lower and smaller, and jin the top of that little trunk. I'll take a few more pics of it tomorrow when it's light. I'll try to sort out a better background.

Cheers lads.

[Raymond]

My Lord, talk about a gold nugget!