Meditation On Bark

D3rutat

after reading a post here if whether keeping the old bark on a juniper is good or bad, i decided to do an analysis on whether the bark falls or stays in nature....


THEORY:

BARK on OLD trees should fall off in nature. Why, due to environmental factors. And the most important is winter. When snow enters the cracks in the bark and freezes it expands and this makes the bark fall off.Another factor is wind which can shread it apart.....




PRACTIC:

many trees still have their bark, even if it should fall off.I tried to post photos of conifers mainly because these guys usually have bark that can be easily taken off and they have the winter factor.




Comments:
Basically, a tree can have it's bark on or off.it's up to you if you want to keep it. I consider that it should be left on bcos it adds a little more mystery to the tree, and it also emphasises the appearance of age. But what should you do if the tree has a gray bark, but the fresh bark is a beautiful red.... Should you keep it?? OR not.... I think that the answer on this should be given if you want the tree to look really old or old.If you would like it to look really old then you should probably leave it on, as it makes the tree look even thicker and adds some mystery, but if you want an old tree you could take it off as long as the new bark looks nice( i am reffering here to maples, and their ugly green fresh bark...seems that this is the only downside to maples so far). Waiting forward for your replyes

__________________
Bonsai Club Romania

Advertisement

thejimmyrigger

First I'll field Matt's concern, somehow I beat him to it:
1 picture per post please, it loads alot quicker for those of us on dial up. And I believe it makes his server work better. Also I believe he prefers a max of 600X600 for photos, again you must imagine loading that on a 36.6 modem at 5 pm (ouch ). We don't want to shut out anyone who must wait 5 minutes per picture.

Now for me:
Bark on or off? It definetely depends on the tree, I've seen some good trees with old thick bark, and they looked quite nice. But then when I saw the tree barkless, it was a masterpiece. The structure of the tree said "long, hard life", but the young bark made it look like the tree was loving it and still had a youthful vigor. The lack of bark didn't decrease its apparent age, just its health.
jim

__________________
Jimmyrigging is much like jerryrigging, just go a bit lighter on the duct tape and wire coat hangers, and hit said broken item more. Remember: if it isn't broke don't kick it.