Long awaited elm grove

bonsaial1

I have been talking about this grove for a few months now. I planted it on Feb. 11th. I had come back from LA with some new trees that I wanted to use in the forest. A contorted elm, that I was to use as an end tree. and a large tree that was to be the mother tree of the whole forest. This is the original grove that I started in 1994. I built the pot with my son who was in high school at the time. The grove was just three trees, and they were taken from single trees that had been in seperate pots.

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I have always wanted to have a large forest, and this seemed like it would not cost a fortune to do, boy was I wrong. On Sunday when I got back I took this pic of all the trees and the pot. The pot is 30x20x3".

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Another pic of the trees that will be used. I also included a pic of the pot with the drain holes covered with screen. You have to make sure that you put a big enpugh screen on the hole with a strong wire staple to hold it. In the end I had 12 pairs of wires going thru the holes in the pot. This was to anchor the trees firmly, so they wouldn't move around.

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The first couple of scoops of soil go in. The mix that I used goes like this. I used 1/4 red pumice, 3/16 red pumice, 3/16 black pumice, plaster sand, and bark. I used appx. 35% bark in this mix. I wanted to be a little heavier on the organics than usual.

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As I started to place the trees in for design possibilities, it became apparent that I may not use all the trees. I had too many! how could this be. I wanted to have 11 trees, but some were quite large. I had to prune some down to be more in scale with the other trees.

I left the wire long that I pulled thru the holes. I do this because after I tie in a tree, I can use the ends to tie in other trees. I don't need as many wires that way. I still pulled 12 pairs. The hard part is coming up with a design that works with the trees you have. I am sure there could have been other combo's since I had 11 trees but I wanted certain trees in specific locations and this is what I came up with.

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bonsaial1

After moving the tress about a bizillion times, I was finally happy with the locations of all the trees. I began the arduous task of wiring all the tress firm. In went the soil, and I used a custom chopstick to move the soil in and around the roots. This is very important on forests, since you have alot of roots and trees intertwined, and you don't want air pockets that may cause root death.

I also planted a small boxwood that was in the previous forest, along with a few groupings a grass and mondo.

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bonsaial1

Finishing touches on the grove were placement of the moss. I collect my moss from a secret location. It receives full sun and does not seem to die back in the summer like others. This is a close up of the soil top. I use 1/8" black pumice as a topping after I place the moss. This seems to "bed it in". I like the moss to be flush with the top of the soil. I like the way the soil is mounded in the pot. It seems to draw your eye right down the middle of the grove into the hollow that I created there. the moss is on the slopes of the hills.

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bonsaial1

The close up of the soil.

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Real men don't wear coats with "happi" in the title.

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The final product. I took this pic in front of my garage. My wife had to help me carry it, it weighs 200 pounds. Did that on a bathroom scale. I will do some tweaking on the final pruning when all the leaves come out. The buds are just beginning to break now. The tree will take on a beautiful lime green color when all those new leaves bust. Please feel free to critique the tree and tell me if you fell something looks out of place. My wife feels that the sides stick out to far from the pot. I feel she is wrong.

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Real men don't wear coats with "happi" in the title.