Tree of the Day - Monday March 14

TreeBay

Here's today's TOD - a European White Birch. You can use the pencil tool under the attachment to make notes or sketch.

Attached Images

birch.jpg (36.7 KB, 248 views)

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mkonig

Strengths:

Natural silhoutte that coresonds to the shape of the tree in nature
Good colouring to the trunk
Strong surface roots

Weaknesses:
Planted too low in the pot (soil level too low)
Little basal flare
Ramification of the brances needs to be improved, which would also allow for some of the many branches to be removed to refine the image

Not sure about the colour and shape of the pot.

Regards

Mike

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Ian_Homer

Very natural looking tree and I very much agree with ALL the points made by Mike.

Perhaps the lower left branch could be lowered more to open up the canopy a little, but generally planted in a slightly larger more suitable pot, this just needs some refinement over the next few seasons.

Matt,
It might just be my taste - or have ALL of the trees so far been UNDER-POTTED ? I will have to photograph more pots at this rate

Attached Images

totd14-3.jpg (47.4 KB, 36 views)

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John Dixon

Too busy to do this today.


Must...... get back.................to work....arg!!! Too many.....dirtbags..........not enough.....time.

John

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Lesley

Hi All! I have tried to critique this based on design class and again I'm trying to suggest changes but I fear that I may be too lacking in experience to do a complete and accurate re-styling.

This Birch is styled as a formal upright. The trunk line is vertical and perpendicular to the soil. Which suggests masculinity, strength and confidence. The canopy and pot are rounded which implies feminity and maturity. The branch structure is static. The trunk taper is almost not preceptable and needs work. I would work to increase it and remove a few branches and wire them down with the aim of suggesting more age and curving to increase feminity. The static branches and the thin telephone pole trunk make me think this tree is young but the roundness of the canopy is more mature. Re-style? to be more broom-like? Plant in grow box or in the ground to work on trunk girth and taper and later choose a lighter oval pot with sculptured feet or a larger round pot?

Attached Images

TreeofDayMar14.jpg (62.9 KB, 18 views)

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Ladybug

mkonig

Lesley

I think there are always exception to the rule and this may be one of them.
The mature Birch in nature does in many cases not display the drooping main branches that you see on pines or some deciduous trees like Beech and Oak.
Taper is not easy to achieve as the tree is naturally slender and light.

I see this tree more as a broom style (or even a loose flame style) rather than a formal upright. This is not really evident yet as the ramification is not developed.

Masculine or feminine? To me this tree says feminine all the way.

Just my thoughts
Mike

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rowan57

I feel that this tree is very attractive to me. The slender trunk correspobds perfectly with those in nature, as does the canopy. The tree is obviously of a relative age as it can take 5 years + in the open ground for Silver Birch to gain their silvery bark. Unfortunately i agree about the tree being potted too low, this hides the nebari under the rim of the pot which is unfortunate.
The tree itself is very feminine, the slender trunk and feminine, subtle, curves give this impression. I feel this tree is informal upright and styled very successfully as such, the bark is not ramrod straight as with a formal upright, these subtle curves can trick the eye into thinking this though.

I would personally be overjoyed to have this tree in my collection, the ramification i think is good, in nature silver birch do not have very finely packed canopies and i think this one has a beautiful canopy that with a little more work could be even better.


Regards
Rowan

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Jonny D

Hi everyone,

Yes I'm alive!

This is an excelent example of a silver birch and is very similar to what is seen in nature, you either see this type of "airy" broom or weeping. I personnally have a good weeping silver birch (which a good bonsai artist made an attractive offer on recently - I turned it down) and I think that anyone who has perhaps seen this (but who hasn't posted) and thought thats not great, should think again (silver birch should only be in the naturalistic style not bonsai style).

Silver birch a pain in the A£$E, they don't back bud easily, do die back easily, can produce huge eve with good ramification, hate to be wired - will never stay in position and swell really quickly and also come with another multitude of problems. But that Silver bark is worth every second. This tree deserves respect.

Mike excellent points, whats with that pot? (I can't talk I had a silver pot made for mine this year and its to small - i'm so stupid some times, but got a reasonable replacement).

Jonny.