Delve into a newbies garden! 😎

Looking at the styrax, the thinness of the right trunk compared to the left stump bothers me... @Leo in N E Illinois I remember you commenting on this a while back. Not sure what route to go with this - leave the right side to grow and thicken? Or do something about the left stump?
 

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I'd need to see photos from at least 4 sides, maybe 8 sides or a rotating video to really make sense of the left side of the the tree and consider a design. I'm not confident at designing other's trees from photos, and I trust even less those who think they can design trees from photos. Start a separate thread for this tree or post the link to the more complete set of photos.

Styrax. Most species in the genus are winter hardy in your relatively mild climate. (mild compared to mine).

Just going on what I can remember, first thing I would do is

BURY THOSE ROOTS - it is potted too high in its pot. It needs to be lower. You don't expose the roots until you are a much closer to exhibition condition. You have a nice radial arrangement that will be mostly dead 4 years from now if you do not bury those roots.

I like the movement in the right branch. You can tilt the tree up, and make that branch your "main trunk", and Jin or deadwood the left branches.

Or you can change the potting angle, making the left side the main trunk. But I would need to see better photos. You essentially have a "T" arrangement, and that is fixed by tilting the trunk to make one side of the "T" or the other the continuation of the trunk and the other side becomes a branch or a deadwood feature.

So given that it is hardy, I would plant it out in your nice new grow out bed, being sure to bury it deep enough that all those roots are covered. If it were mine, I'd likely tilt it so the right branch becomes the main event, and look at turning the left trunk into a deadwood feature.

Whenever you are not happy with a tree, often a good course of action is to plant it in a grow out bed, or container, and let it do its own thing for 3 to 5 years. Then re-evaluate. Of course before planting in the grow out bed, correct obvious problems, like in this case the " T " needs the trunk tilted so one side or the other becomes the dominant main event and the other is allowed to grow, so both sides keep contributing to the thickening of the trunk.

Hope this helps.
 
I'd need to see photos from at least 4 sides, maybe 8 sides or a rotating video to really make sense of the left side of the the tree and consider a design. I'm not confident at designing other's trees from photos, and I trust even less those who think they can design trees from photos. Start a separate thread for this tree or post the link to the more complete set of photos.

Styrax. Most species in the genus are winter hardy in your relatively mild climate. (mild compared to mine).

Just going on what I can remember, first thing I would do is

BURY THOSE ROOTS - it is potted too high in its pot. It needs to be lower. You don't expose the roots until you are a much closer to exhibition condition. You have a nice radial arrangement that will be mostly dead 4 years from now if you do not bury those roots.

I like the movement in the right branch. You can tilt the tree up, and make that branch your "main trunk", and Jin or deadwood the left branches.

Or you can change the potting angle, making the left side the main trunk. But I would need to see better photos. You essentially have a "T" arrangement, and that is fixed by tilting the trunk to make one side of the "T" or the other the continuation of the trunk and the other side becomes a branch or a deadwood feature.

So given that it is hardy, I would plant it out in your nice new grow out bed, being sure to bury it deep enough that all those roots are covered. If it were mine, I'd likely tilt it so the right branch becomes the main event, and look at turning the left trunk into a deadwood feature.

Whenever you are not happy with a tree, often a good course of action is to plant it in a grow out bed, or container, and let it do its own thing for 3 to 5 years. Then re-evaluate. Of course before planting in the grow out bed, correct obvious problems, like in this case the " T " needs the trunk tilted so one side or the other becomes the dominant main event and the other is allowed to grow, so both sides keep contributing to the thickening of the trunk.

Hope this helps.
Thanks very much for your help! Really useful stuff. Will make a thread at some point 👍

Yeah I've covered the roots - I think it was the heavy rain we've had that exposed them, wasn't intentional. Been meaning to do that for a while so thanks for the nudge.

I do agree that the right branch has nice movement, I just really enjoy the left side too. I had considered significantly reducing the right side to make the left the main trunk. But it would be a shame to waste the nice movement. Yeah I'll start a thread when I get chance and have a good ponder. I do agree that the 'T' is rather unattractive.
 
so much movement in the trunk, love those lines. It has the look of an old olive tree
Thanks very much! I do love it. Probably my most promising piece 😊 I've since wired a lot of the branches, missed a few, life got busy! Away from home for a week but will post an update at some point when I'm back
 
Incredibly busy/stressful year last year... So my projects were pretty much neglected. Just before life got manic, I did some pretty shoddy wiring on the potentilla. Hoping this year I can get it on track. Possibly starting by chopping all the branches and starting again 😂😂
 

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Looks like a nice bit of material @Clorgan ! I love the ribbed trunk lines.

Your doodle is nice, yet still quite a bit busy. I’m facing a similar situation, even more complex perhaps, with a Mt Hemlock clump/raft that will be posted soon.

One idea is to simplify the junctions to twos, ex the triple plus trifurcation on the low horizontal branch to the left in your draft.… branches growing downward, also perhaps vary the lengths of the Jin/stubs, if not eliminate some. The thought would be to create a more elegant trunk flow and taper, highlighting the character of the trunk. Then build new growth to complement the base design.

Definitely interested in how things go on this potentilla

cheers
DSD sends
 
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