A, B, or C?

[Bonsai Nut]

Any would work... depending on how you style the branches. People are choosing "B" because it looks static and balanced like trees growing on a hillside... because the stock you are using is static and balanced.

However A or C would work if you styled the branches like a slant or windblown.

 

[Michigan Tree Murderer]

Here you go!

D.
View attachment 517316

Yeah, now that I'm seeing it... it's a bit too much. Thanks for taking the pic. I should've just tilted my laptop.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Love those trees!

Based upon many years of hiking in the mountains, not sure the tops of the trees in any option would hold the slant position for long In the wild. Even trees severely pistol butted from a landslide or avalanche will return to the vertical very soon.

That said B2 above is making the most believable design out of the clum… yet it might actually look better with more of a slant, perhaps wiring the tops vertical, or let the tree tops just do it themselves.

Yet, there is a discordance in one of the lower trunk shapes that makes all options somewhat frustrating….. (At least in these photos)… See the second trunk from the left in the photos.



Normally all tree trunks would bend successively in a similar direction. Could be just the view shown, yet one might consider doing something, blocking, wiring etc to bring the trunk into harmony.

Maybe bringing the trunk back and closer to the ground and then broaden downward and strongly sharpen the natural bend already there…. so the entire design simulates an avalanche event.

Just my two bits

Cheers
DSD sends

 

[Gabler]

Love those trees!

Based upon many years of hiking in the mountains, not sure the tops of the trees in any option would hold the slant position for long In the wild. Even trees severely pistol butted from a landslide or avalanche will return to the vertical very soon.

That said B2 above is making the most believable design out of the clum… yet it might actually look better with more of a slant, perhaps wiring the tops vertical, or let the tree tops just do it themselves.

Yet, there is a discordance in one of the lower trunk shapes that makes all options somewhat frustrating….. (At least in these photos)… See the second trunk from the left in the photos.

View attachment 517324

Normally all tree trunks would bend successively in a similar direction. Could be just the view shown, yet one might consider doing something, blocking, wiring etc to bring the trunk into harmony.

Maybe bringing the trunk back and closer to the ground and then broaden downward and strongly sharpen the natural bend already there…. so the entire design simulates an avalanche event.

Just my two bits

Cheers
DSD sends

The "problem" trunk is smaller. Perhaps the avalance was early in the life of the bigger trunks, and the smallest wasn't there yet?

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Lots of exceptions in nature, yet this phenomenon is normally caused by a frequently occurring event, rather than a one off.

In this example of pistol butting it looks like it would be more likely caused by surficial creep commonly experienced by trees on an unstable slope, (caused by the expansion and contraction of the slope sediment creating a progressive, creeping, downward movement of the slope) rather then a landslide, which would leave scars on the uphill side.

Another possibly is the presence of a snow shoot where avalanches normally occur. (Avalanches often occur in the same areas, sometimes multiple times in a year.). Yet this is just a bit less likely as shallow rooted conifers (looks like a Fir clump?) don’t survive as well in a snow shoot… maybe behind or on a rock outcropping between shoots?

Anyways just some thoughts

Cheers
DSD sends

 

[0soyoung]

B1: more tilt to make middle tallest tree straight.
View attachment 517320
B2 with even more tilt to put it past vertical. Growing on a steeper slope.
View attachment 517321

More

 

[Cruiser]

More

Here you go, my friend.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Now you are cooking with gas!

One might hop on Michael Hagedorn’s blog and check out some of this slanted breadboard designs

cheers
DSD sends

 

[0soyoung]

Here you go, my friend.
View attachment 517464

Yes!

You could nail a sheet of wood across the right side of the box to keep the pumice from washing out for the next few years, while the upper trunks of all will become a bit more vertical. Should the right-most tree develop some strong roots, you might choose to expose the right-most of those like happens on subsiding hillsides. Maybe it goes on a slanted slab similar to that famous Kimura composition. Maybe not, but this has the makings of exciting possibilities, that would make the process of getting there be great fun IMO.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Another method that we use would be to use window screening material.

Doubled plastic under load, single plastic with little load. In the case of wood boxes double edges and staple.

Here’s an example on a ceramic pot. Note 1/3 of the pot in barked in.



Best,
DSD sends