Japanese Maple forest.... two into one?

[MJL]

JM are rampant growers, without daily pinching of new shoots it will become wildly overgrown and look like total ass-biscuits ....

If your bother is it looks rough at the moment then put that feeling on ice as it will always look wrong in these months with the trees the size they are. A group is always best assessed in winter, until then the true shape of it isn’t visible and decisions made can become mistakes.

Wise council Tim. I'll pause my thoughts until winter ... as I note - I am enjoy the group and won't be doing anything drastic at this time.

By the way - fair chance I'll borrow the term 'ass-biscuits' ... simultaneously funny, gross and 100% illustrative.

[Keels]

Hey Mark your forest looked perfectly fine when I saw it. You should see the state of my ass-biscuit JMs. They really haven't taken well to the new joint.

[GavinG]

I don't get what your problem is, it's a fine and harmonious forest, with rich textures and a good balance. If you want to get picky, there's a gap just to the left of the top of the tallest tree - I'd try to fill that with something bent into place.

A line from the I Ching: "restlessness as an enduring condition brings misfortune". Be content. Attack when it's useful.

Here endeth the lesson.

Gavin

[MJL]

Lesson appreciated and understood. Rest and ponder I will.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MJL]

Another drenched forest ... this time the maples. In this instance, the people remove whatever illusion of size that I am trying to create - the leaves are the size of people! Lots of work to do on reducing leaf size and ramification. Peter Adams book will help.

IMG_8533.jpeg

I do like the photo below - it is of the rear but works ok.

IMG_8534.jpeg

IMG_8535.jpeg

Unfortunately no colour change yet but my big garden weeper in its big black pot has a lovely colour.

IMG_8494.jpeg

[GavinG]

I quite like the figures. They turn it from an arrangement of small trees into something that tells a story - lush green wet summer shade, folk taking shelter next to the stream. I am not sure of the politics of having a somewhat hidden group to the right, and the man on his own on the left in the open, but it is sometimes better to have the story open-ended. The relationship is there, what it means is up to you. The viewer becomes part of the story. Sucked in!!!

Nice work - is your obsession with forests a symptom of a need to control the universe? Should ASIO get involved? Just asking.

Gavin

[TimS]

I think the bloke in white sitting in his own is Pai Mei for sure

[PWC]

I think the bloke in white sitting in his own is Pai Mei for sure

He's taking social distancing seriously.

[MJL]

PWC, Tim and GavinG (not Gerard ) you've made my evening....somehow you've managed to include COVID adaptation, Kill Bill and control of the universe in one thread about a Japanese maple forest.

Gavin - my obsession with forests remains but it is not about control of anything, certainly not the universe anyway! If there is an allegory it is perhaps reflective of how often I get lost in my own confused thoughts and can't see the forest for the trees.

I do continue my fascination with forests and most of my ramblings in this earlier thread still stand. https://www.ausbonsai.com.au/forum/view ... ts#p263836

Still learning....

[GavinG]

Lost in your own forest... Not a bad way to go.

Keep going,

Gavin

[MJL]

Just a quick lunchtime update on my cuttings from August/September 2019.

IMG_8630.jpeg

IMG_8631.jpeg

It seems that as many at 75-80% survived Spring, Summer and into the Autumn - they are now quietening down for winter. (The ones I lost were of the larger size but even some of those survived. Probably wrong of me to do... but some of these had their first haircut on summer to reduce internodes as early in their cut-life as possible. I am thinking shohin forests, if such a thing exist. They will forever be the offspring on my main Japanese maple forest.

[TimS]

Very good results there mark, I’ve alway struggled to strike JM cuttings for whatever reason. You can begin the ‘progeny of 2 forests into 1’ and maybe end up with 3 forests into one!

[MJL]

The colours this spring seem way more varied and vibrant on this group than prior years. Or maybe it’s just my lockdown eyes... even in dull morning light. Whatever it is, I am loving it - one of my favourite groupings - albeit still young and developing ramification.





And remember I cut the tops .... why not start a new group with the children of the forest.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Raging Bull]

A very nice grouping of J.M.s , pleasing to the eye. They have come along very quickly, keep it going.

[Alex_B]

Thats a great grouping of Japanese maples, I really like the layout of the trees.