hornbeam

jackied

I dug up this european hornbeam this morning: it was planted as part of a group some time ago at my son's school (by me!) but a couple of years ago either the council mower or vandals broke the trunk. I pruned it off neatly at the time but it just looked a mess. It occured to me I could salvage it in the hopes it would make a good bonsai.

http://duckworths.fastmail.fm/DSC00002a.jpg

The base is at least 3" across and appears to have been grafted. There are some nice wide roots as it was planted in shallow soil. I haven't got as many roots out as I would have liked though - it's solid clay round here and my spade snapped in half! There's a bit more trunk hidden by the plastic (which is keeping the moisture in its very temporary home). I will be growing it on in a huge pot or bin as the soil is so rubbish here (and my garden so small).

My plan is to cut most of the top off, deciding which way round is the front based on which direction the graft and roots look best from. I think that one of the lowest 'tuft' of branches could make the first branch, so I'd need to cut off the trunk just above where I want the second one to be. I'm aiming at about 30" final height, since it's got such a nice fat trunk and hornbeam leaves are quite big.

Does this sound like a good plan? Should I reduce/remove any of the branches below my main chop - I don't want to overburden the rather limited remaining root system. And... is this too ambitious for a beginner!

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