What To Do With Trees That Will Never Become Show Quality

D3rutat

Ever had the feeling that 1/2 of your trees aren't show quality.You have been trying to do something nice with them for a long time but still, they don't look that good? You go restyling and see that you've cut a branch too many?Well, i sometimes do and started wondering what you can do with these guys.

1: Make a forest. Forests are the best way of hiding individual flaws and turning them into collective beauty points.

2:Go big and dense. I am reffering to foliage. Some trees that have a thick, dense foliage hide defects such as reverse taper, scars,too thick branches, ugly trunks.

3: Start all over again. This works for non-conifers.Do a trunk chop and go for a broom.

Any other suggestions?

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RonMartin(deceased)

Lets try these one at a time

1. As many of you know I do approach forest plantings a bit differently than a lot of you do. I consider them a finished product. A work of art if you will. Not a place to throw in things in to grow out or because they are flawed.
I do think that if you put junk in you will get junk out. A forest with flawed trees will look like a forest with flawed trees. A group of seedlings will look like just what they are. A clump of seedlings.
To me a forest planting is a thing of beauty. Something that is not easy to bring off. It takes talent to do a good one.
If I asked most of you to name one of John Naka's best works I would imagine that the word Goshin would be used a lot. Needless to say that is "just" a forest planting.
So would I consider the those lost souls you are talking about. Maybe, but they would have to have something going for them.
No reverse tapers or other major flaws.

2. Massive foliage will hide a lot off flaws. That could work I guess. But then you would know it. It is hard to do something good when you know in your hearts of hearts that what you have to work with is junk.
But it is a viable choice.

3. If you can, starting all over again is always a good choice. Just don't make the same mistakes you did before ;o)

4. Most importantly don't buy, collect or steal bad or flawed stock anymore 'o) It is a lot cheaper to take your time selecting the right tree in the first place. If you can't see a tree in it then pass it up for something that does. Trying to make a mistake work will just be a waste of time. Time is one thing you don't have enough of to waste.
My opinion for what it is worth

D3rutat

very nice comments.This is a photo which i will use to support my forest statement. You can clearly see that the trees have no taper and a poor branch structure.Individually they should've been trunk chopped a long time ago, but collectively they make a very nice composition.

Attached Images

pict0429.jpg (41.4 KB, 427 views)

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D3rutat

and here's another one i found on my hdd. Same things. I respect your opinion Ron, it is argumented very good. I think that your answer has something to do with your new Taxodium Forest.BTW, how's it going?

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stewardia-bos-boek.jpg (43.0 KB, 373 views)

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RonMartin(deceased)

It is doing quite nicely. Should be ready to show maybe next year.
But that forest has nothing to do with how I feel about forest plantings. I have been interested in forest plantings for at least 15 years. Just about every time I do a demo it is a forest that I am asked to do. They are what I think I do best.
Now as to those two forests that you showed. Ask your self could the have been done better. Would taper had made a difference. Do they look like an afterthought compared to what they could have been.
But then I do really like forests. Maybe to you they are a curiosity. To me they are something else

Attached Images

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D3rutat

The forest is very very beautiful.Now, leaving aside this topic, and since you are a Forest Master, if i can say so, no irony into it, aren't forests supposed to have a triangular shape? Or is it too early to ask? Thanx.

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Jerry Meislik

One thing I would add is that material that I despaired of ever being bonsai has miraculously over time transformed into decent trees.
My suggestion is to get rid of things that seem impossible to turn into bonsai but keep in the back of your mind that with time things change including our own perceptions of what is good or great.
Jerry

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http://www.bonsaihunk.us/

RonMartin(deceased)

For the most part they do have a triangular shape. And this one will go a bit that way.
But in this case the forest is a swamp. The trees are bald cypresses. So that triangle won't be that noticeable.

kvnharv29

When I look at Rons' pic, I see a great forest, when I look at the other two pictures, I see a "group planting."

-Kevin

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