My pink slab larch forest

[crust]

At last spring has settled down and my larches are growing. This one is planted on a pink flagstone I got from the mason yard by the pound, probably 12 bucks. I did some shaping and glued on some 1'' tubing chunks to elevate it. The original planting was started on a plywood slab then peeled off and put on the slab after a couple years. Its about three and half feet long.

 

[JudyB]

What a great color to see these on. I can only imagine how you can move something like this.

Really need to see a closeup of the sitting person....

You say did some shaping, how do you do that with a stone slab? Love the root run in the front.

 

[crust]

Hi Miss Judy!
The slab is not the brittle style stone thus the edges can be strategically broke using a big pipe wrench. Slip it on the edge and carefully pry and crunch . Also a diamond blade and a 4'' grinder followed by chisel chipping was done. The slab is holding up well. The planting is about 12 years old and never repotted (made a few holes and did some rooting around and soil packing a few years back). The photo is not the best. I will try for one on a sunnier day and include a close up.

 

[tanlu]

This is such an awesome planting! You've done a great job capturing the natural form of larch. I like it because it gives me ideas of how to shape my pitch pine clump I collected last year.

 

[amkhalid]

Really nice and wild looking. When I saw the pink slab title I was like "whaaa?" but when I saw the pic I wasn't scared away.

I like the somewhat haphazard angles of the tree. It reminds me of the ancient trees I see growing in very shallow rocky soil that start to tip at when they grow too tall for their own good.

 

[crust]

Really nice and wild looking. When I saw the pink slab title I was like "whaaa?" but when I saw the pic I wasn't scared away.

I like the somewhat haphazard angles of the tree. It reminds me of the ancient trees I see growing in very shallow rocky soil that start to tip at when they grow too tall for their own good.

Exactly! Of course the trees were all swamp collected and they tended to be tall and thin but with the good bark due to there age.

 

[Joedes3]

How long did it take to train these into a forest? I have 7 in a training box now for 2 years, they were seedlings when I got them.

 

[MACH5]

Beautiful!! It is a very natural and wild looking composition. Very well done indeed!! Kudos!

 

[edprocoat]

Very nice. The slab is reminiscent of Georgia red clay and it looks a lot like a stand of pines amongst the clay.

ed

 

[daygan]

Really cool composition!

 

[Ang3lfir3]

that is one fantastic looking larch forest....

 

[Smoke]

Awesome composition. Natural.

 

[the bonsai kid]

Very nice forest

 

[Gene Deci]

Exactly! Of course the trees were all swamp collected and they tended to be tall and thin but with the good bark due to there age.

But forest trees are tall and thin.

 

[crust]

But forest trees are tall and thin.

What I was referring to was that the original larch material were plain upright trees typical of larches collected from sphagnum bogs, ones that have fairly open forests. The larch usually grow straight up but do so very slowly due to nitrogen starvation primarily because of the low pH of the bog. Out of the thousands of perfectly straight trees I chose the ones with rough aged bark and a few small branches.

 

[Bill S]

I like it tooo.
Thanks for the look.

 

[Ron Dennis]

Wow! Absolutely stunning planting! Thank you for sharing this one.

 

[Gene Deci]

What I was referring to was that the original larch material were plain upright trees typical of larches collected from sphagnum bogs, ones that have fairly open forests. The larch usually grow straight up but do so very slowly due to nitrogen starvation primarily because of the low pH of the bog. Out of the thousands of perfectly straight trees I chose the ones with rough aged bark and a few small branches.

Exactly. That is just what I was trying to point out. One reason I like your composition is that it looks like real larch forests around here which are full of trees that are pretty plain, straight and thin in spite of being very old. You have captured that.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

What I like more than the slab is your arrangement of the secondary stones. It really brings a very natural sense of scale to the composition. It is rare to see nice stonework that isn't hiding a flaw, or isn't part of a root-over-rock. I'm not such a fan of your mudman tho

 

[barrosinc]

Nice one!

What I like more than the slab is your arrangement of the secondary stones. It really brings a very natural sense of scale to the composition. It is rare to see nice stonework that isn't hiding a flaw, or isn't part of a root-over-rock. I'm not such a fan of your mudman tho

Yeah, nice stones on the base! I have 7 spruces which are getting a slab next year... this is great inspiration