Trident maple group

[terryb]

I took the plunge today and made my first attempt at a group planting using Shibui trident maples. The largest trees have been growing on for a couple of years, while this year's batch provided the smaller trees. To say I was totally out of my depth is an understatement. Easy enough to read about putting these things together but when it come down to it, well... At least I will be better prepared for the next one.

I'm sure I've made some rookie mistakes and I think overall it is a bit tall given I still need to grow some branches. Comments and suggestions for improvement happily accepted.

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[tgward]

-I like the height - my preference for deciduous groups is taller not shorter--trunk placement looks fine-perhaps the thin front tree could be moved to the side and or back so main trunks aren't hidden--but looks like a good effort with potential

[LLK]

...trunk placement looks fine-perhaps the thin front tree could be moved to the side and or back so main trunks aren't hidden--but looks like a good effort with potential

Agreed. As to the height: the shorter the trunks are, the thicker they appear in relation to their height. I like tall trees too, but in this case the tallest is maybe a tad tooooooo tall. Also, any cuts you make while the tree is this young won't be visible in a few years' time. The older a tree, the more obvious big cuts are and the longer they take to heal.
It's your choice.

Lisa

[melbrackstone]

Nice job Terry. I tend to spread my trees out too much in groups, but have found they can be fairly easily moved for a year or so after first being placed. Having no idea sometimes produces interesting results, however I must admit to spending a lot of time looking at google image results after making a group, then changing things around the next repot.

[Keep Calm and Ramify]

That's a great start Terryb.
I left some height on my trident group when I potted one around 15yrs ago, and just recently had to reduce the tops down due to unforeseeable damage caused by pests (?)
I am now glad that I had kept some of that expendable height.

[Dibbo]

Looks good, I like the placement of the larger tress together on the left. I have seen deciduous forests with either all perfectly vertical trunks or with trunks angling out slightly from the center. I am experimenting with Shibui stock also and I saw/read somewhere a technique of drilling holes in a sheet of ply cut to the size of a grow tray and then threading the trees through the timber ply with soil underneath and also soil on top. The top layer of soil and the timber cause the trees to sprout roots out all at the same level above the plywood and are flat. After some growing time, simply remove the underlying root structure and timber and voila, instant forest with shallow spreading roots. Has anyone seen this? Would like to find out if this would work and if in fact it is a good technique.

[terryb]

Thanks all for your words of encouragement and suggestions

...trunk placement looks fine-perhaps the thin front tree could be moved to the side and or back so main trunks aren't hidden--but looks like a good effort with potential

The thin front trunk was something I saw in a treeman post and was mentioned to me earlier in the week by a fellow club member-supposed to add to the perspective and depth. I guess as it thickens it might become more of an issue.

Looks good, I like the placement of the larger tress together on the left. I have seen deciduous forests with either all perfectly vertical trunks or with trunks angling out slightly from the center. I am experimenting with Shibui stock also and I saw/read somewhere a technique of drilling holes in a sheet of ply cut to the size of a grow tray and then threading the trees through the timber ply with soil underneath and also soil on top. The top layer of soil and the timber cause the trees to sprout roots out all at the same level above the plywood and are flat. After some growing time, simply remove the underlying root structure and timber and voila, instant forest with shallow spreading roots.

The larger trees that I grew for a couple of years (and root pruned annually) were far easier to place than this years smaller stock with few roots. Th trees on the right were grown together in the same pot and had fused at the base. What you are proposing would work but for a whole pot wouldn’t give you much scope to fine tune placement of trees. I can see it working well for groups of 2 to 3 trees though which then make up the larger group.

[Ryceman3]

I like it terryb.
Forests are a great way to send yourself insane as you weigh up all the permutations and combinations but I can see the rationale behind your positioning of the trunks and I think it has a lot of potential to grow into something pretty cool. I wouldn't move too much around, there is a flow between then trunks which I like - live with it as is for a bit and see if anything is bugging you down the track.
I would most likely cut down the height a little to try and encourage a bit more taper - but that is really a personal taste decision rather than based on any objective design principle, so you do what you like in this regard.
I like the pot!

[TimS]

The beginnings of a nice little group there. With some branch development and further taper to the tips grown in, i think it will become a pleasing little group planting.

Forests are a great way to send yourself insane as you weigh up all the permutations and combinations

Truer words have not been spoken! I have a group made of of young trident maples i didn't know what else to do with, that i must have tried to plant in about 5 different combinations already without really having been satisfied

[MJL]

Hey Terry,

I reckon that's a lovely start. I too think you need the odd smaller tree at the front to provide context and perspective. Sure - have the majority of larger, older trees forward and create depth but the odd thinner trunk up front works well Actually, I have this fantastic Japanese book noting forest designs and there are so many ways of creating realistic group plantings. You're on your way and now the fun begins. I love group/forest plantings.

I too purchased a group of tridents from Neil and I dropped them in a grow box today. I'll start a seperate thread so as not to hijack yours.

Cheers,

Mark

[terryb]

Thanks Ryceman, TimS and MJL.

Forests are a great way to send yourself insane as you weigh up all the permutations and combinations

Truer words have not been spoken!

Totally agree. Spent far longer putting this together than I thought it would take. I suspect having a buddy to help place and hold trees while designing would help immensely.

@MJL - Which book are you referring to? I’ve found it hard to find good references for groups

[MJL]

@MJL - Which book are you referring to? I’ve found it hard to find good references for groups

Hi terryb,
Apologies for missing your question here - I have numerous books but I think the one I may have been talking about here is Kato's.

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That said, Penjing: The Chinese Art of Bonsai is inspirational for its photos too. Personally I am probably most influenced by penjing... but that's another story and I have to get to work.

Unrelated but this morning, I happened across this article too. http://www.artofbonsai.org/feature_arti ... ssance.php

Check out the beautiful scroll at the base of the article by the 17th century artist Lan Ying entitled Conversing on Antiquity. I love this extract: "Man belongs and is part of the natural world but his role is minute."

Cheers,

Mark