Wanted to showcase an idea of my wife’s we brought to life today. As I’ve fallen deeper and deeper into the abyss of the practice of Bonsai she’s watched with a mix of amusement and bemusement. I had a bunch of Loblolly saplings that sprung up in an old container I had discarded terrarium substrate in. They showed a will to live so they got some excess fertilizer and water all throughout last year. I wasn’t sure why I was keeping them around but something really cool came of it. Somehow the idea of clump style trees like Bjorn’s came up and I was telling her about them. She expressed it might be cool to braid some together. Thus was born the Loblollh braided clump. 7 trees braided into one. Will be really interesting to see where this goes. Could fail spectacularly! Who knows, eventually if they survive and thrive the fusing could render the braiding invisible, but it could be a cool little project to have around. I picked the wood “pot” up on clearance at Homegoods thinking it’d be a cool starting point. Drilled drainage/wiring holes and went over with liquid rubber to waterproof. I’ll document progress here!
ERCLover’s Loblolly Clump with a Twist
- Thread starter ERClover
- Start date
Leo in N E Illinois
The Professor
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I've seen a fair number of these types of projects started over the last 20 or more years. I don't recall seeing many 5 or 10 year updates. The trees with a simple twist seem like it should work. Lack of follow ups suggests people run into problems down the road. Please update even if it is a failure update. For a while about a decade back there was a fad of Fusion Bonsai, where a few people made complex frames out of woven hardware cloth of a fairly large trunk. Then they would tie 50 to 200 or more seedlings around the frame to completely cover the base. as the trees grew, the trunks would fuse and hide the existence of the frame behind the trunks. I did see 5 year photo updates, that looked pretty good.
Of course there is the braided Ficus usually Benjamin fig. Here I don't think the 4 trunks will ever blend enough to look like a single trunk. But I could be wrong. I live too far north to get year round growth out of Ficus. Mine always go dormant in winter and are slow to get growing again, usually not until summer.
But this is an direction worth exploring, if there is enough room on your bench.
Of course there is the braided Ficus usually Benjamin fig. Here I don't think the 4 trunks will ever blend enough to look like a single trunk. But I could be wrong. I live too far north to get year round growth out of Ficus. Mine always go dormant in winter and are slow to get growing again, usually not until summer.
But this is an direction worth exploring, if there is enough room on your bench.
