River's Edge
Imperial Masterpiece
This is a Mountain hemlock collected on Vancouver Island by a friend and given to me to style! I received it in fall of 2017 and repotted it into and anderson flat.
I chose a front and a planting angle based on the Nebari and the movement in the lower part of the trunk. The next step was to create three bends to shorten the tree and enhance the overall movement. The tree has a two and one quarter inch base with an overall height of 36 inches to begin with. The currrent height has been reduced to 28 inches. Still a slender tree with a ratio fo approximately 1 to 14.
The bends were placed in natural turn points and shifted to keep the movement irregular in angle and direction as well as distance between turns. This is very rough initial work with branching and foliage left to style next winter. I have attached several pictures to show the progression for the initial work. materials used included Raffia, #4 copper, #6 copper and smaller diameter for guy wires. Not to mention my favorite assistant " Jack ".
I chose a front and a planting angle based on the Nebari and the movement in the lower part of the trunk. The next step was to create three bends to shorten the tree and enhance the overall movement. The tree has a two and one quarter inch base with an overall height of 36 inches to begin with. The currrent height has been reduced to 28 inches. Still a slender tree with a ratio fo approximately 1 to 14.
The bends were placed in natural turn points and shifted to keep the movement irregular in angle and direction as well as distance between turns. This is very rough initial work with branching and foliage left to style next winter. I have attached several pictures to show the progression for the initial work. materials used included Raffia, #4 copper, #6 copper and smaller diameter for guy wires. Not to mention my favorite assistant " Jack ".
I am pleased with the progress and look forward to a much more refined look in two years. The basic branch structure is set, Some need to elongate , foliage will improve and pad definition and separation yet to come! New growth showing today so I also posted in the new growth thread.
