Hornbeam forest

[mds_1978]

Afternoon everyone. I've been wanting to put together a forest planting for a while. I bought some hornbeam bare root trees last year and had a try, but the roots were so poor that I gave up and stuck them in pots for a year to develop.

Today I got round to putting them together as a forest, using Corin Tomlinson's video as a guide. I didn't wire them into place, but used a compost mix instead of organic soil.

I need to do some pruning of the trunks to bring them down to the right heights, but I'll do that once they've started growing. I'm wondering if I should put a couple more trees in as it looks a bit sparse at the moment.

Any tips or suggestions very welcome!

Raw material


Hornbeam forest

 

[Crimsontide1970]

I think it is a good start. As you get more branching it will not look as sparse. I would work on developing more differences in the trunk girth to add more depth. Also you can alway add more next repotting

 

[jason biggs]

i was watching that video in the early hours of this morning and was mesmerized by his artistic eye for the forest concept...
gonna definitely try 1 .
your attempt looks good: pot is correct, mounding looks realistic, definite sense of depth...

 

[mds_1978]

All the trees have started to grow, so it's starting to look a bit fuller. My plan is to just let everything run until summer and then cut back into a general silhouette.

 

[hinmo24t]

i was watching that video in the early hours of this morning and was mesmerized by his artistic eye for the forest concept...
gonna definitely try 1 .
your attempt looks good: pot is correct, mounding looks realistic, definite sense of depth...

his stuff is quality

OP nice forest and species

 

[mds_1978]

Gave this one a trim today, it has grown pretty well this season. Any advice very welcome.

Before


After

 

[BobbyLane]

Thats a good start! also, for forest designs the roots dont have to be anything special.
this is a good watch if not seen already

note how Ryan leaves a lot of the nursery rootball intact apart from the outer edges, this is just typical material you'd find at any hedging nursery or garden centre. what most would class as 'rootbound' but it really isnt.