Five Year Native Tree Challenge: Gabler's Ironwood #2

Gabler · Mar 30, 2021

I found another last-minute addition to collect before leaf-out. It's a small Carpinus caroliniana with decent nebari from the front and an interesting movement to the trunk. A potted picture to follow.

Gabler · Mar 30, 2021

Gabler · Mar 30, 2021

Found it. I thought I had another picture of the tree in the ground, but it eluded me for some reason.

Gabler · Apr 9, 2021

Gabler · Aug 25, 2021

Gabler · Mar 11, 2022

The tree seems to be faring well.

Gabler · Mar 11, 2022

Gabler · Jun 25, 2022

A quick update.

Gabler · Mar 25, 2023

I repotted the tree into a grow bag, hoping to thicken the leader a bit faster over the next two years. I’ll need to apply some wire to the existing branches before they thicken up too much. I tried to bend that large lowest branch, but it snapped back into position even after a year under heavy wire. In the long term, I may need to cut it back anyway and direct new growth to be less upright.

Gabler · Jun 24, 2023

Evidently, I haven't done a very good job documenting this tree this spring. Some time after I took the above photo, I chopped back the large lower right branch. I had tried to wire a bend into it, but that attempt failed, so I figured I'd redirect the branch by "clip and grow," or should I say "chop and grow." Unfortunately, it appears my prior attempt at wiring left the branch too weak, as it never produced any buds while the rest of the branches grew vigorously. I've been allowing the uppermost branches to grow unrestrained to thicken the new leader, and I have been pinching the lower branches in order to limit the primary branches' thickness. It was also a good opportunity to practice ramifying the lower branches and to see how this individual tree responds to pinching.

Anyway, the tree had gotten fairly bushy, so today I cut back the lower branches back to inner buds to start building ramification a bit closer to the trunk. I left the leader and its branches mostly untouched, so it can continue to thicken, but I did remove a few large leaves close to the base of the leader which would have otherwise shaded the lower branches too much. I'm not sure which of the following angles will be the eventual front and which will be the back. The way the leader forks, I can develop either side of the fork into an apex leaning toward the viewer. I'm reserving my decision about the "front" of the tree until I need to chop off one side of the fork or the other.