Hawthorn Raft yamadori. Also I'm sitting on a Hawthorn goldmine.

[Cypress]

Ok so, went for a winter walk on my parents' property today, trudging through snow and getting rained on. But what a Beautiful day! I was going around scouting possible trees for collecting in the spring and Hawthorn has been on the top of that list for a while. I knew they were growing in the area but was unsure about how numerous they were on our property, but to my pleasant surprise I found TONS of hawthorn growing in this large strip of woods on the far side of the property. Went around marking the most interesting ones with hot pink flagging tape, and plan on collecting a few of them come spring.

I happened to run into an especially unique hawthorn specimen and thought I'd share a few pics with y'all. It's a raft that was formed when the original trunk was completley knocked over.


you can see really clearly in the second picture that the base of the trunk literally split in half it seems, yet the original roots held fast in the ground. The entire raft is actually a few inches above the ground, so the original trunk is the only place where the roots are. You'll see that there are two main trunks, with a third quite smaller one that looks like it popped up relatively recently. For something like this it appears to be quite vigorous and in good health. Definitely not your average tree, I'm looking forward to seeing where I can go with this. Something along these lines I would imagine: http://bonsai4me.com/AdvTech/ATdamagedhawthorn%20page2.htm

 

[JudyB]

And bonus, your hawthorns are like the ones on my property, they have rough bark as they age a bit instead of smooth. Be prepared for the tree to sulk, (maybe for more than a season) after collection. That's what I've found with mine. But they're cool, and I like your raft!

 

[Cypress]

Yea, the hawthorns around here are very wild looking. The older ones almost look like their dead when you first glance at them, even if their doing fine, because their bark is so gnarled. I haven't looked into it much yet, but it seems identifying hawthorn to a specific species can be a little daunting? Looks like there's a lot of individual species in NY state and at least 9 hybrids, haha. I just have one leaf I was able to recover at this time of year to go by, it's quite tiny and I really love the heavily lobed type hawthorn leaves. Pic:

 

[daygan]

Looks like a really interesting piece to work with! I think I would want to cut down that thicker trunk, let it grow some new shoots to train with more movement and taper, and possibly carve a hollow in it as well. Definitely try to preserve as much of that dead trunk area as possible.

... And now I'll have to make a mental note, for when I'm back in America, that the finger lakes area is good hunting ground for hawthorn to use for bonsai!!

 

[Cypress]

Looks like a really interesting piece to work with! I think I would want to cut down that thicker trunk, let it grow some new shoots to train with more movement and taper, and possibly carve a hollow in it as well. Definitely try to preserve as much of that dead trunk area as possible.

... And now I'll have to make a mental note, for when I'm back in America, that the finger lakes area is good hunting ground for hawthorn to use for bonsai!!

Haha, yea always worth a visit. Beautiful country up here. This spot is actually right by the shore of Skaneateles lake.

When you say you would cut down the thicker trunk, how far down do you mean? Like almost remove it? Of course I will chop it and pick a new leader to put some taper into the top half of it at least. But that thickest trunk in the center really is the kind of centerpiece of the tree. And I really like that all the trunks vary greatly in thickness, really helps add to the asymmetrical feel. Right now I see it as just being a three trunk raft, but once I chop things back it will be interesting to see if any new shoots sprout from the raft itself, which could change things. I made a "virt" of sorts, just to demonstrate what my initial thoughts were. The proportions aren't quite right since I just freehanded it in paint, but I think you'll get it:



So there are three main trunks of varying thickness, I figured I would chop them at varying heights proportional to their diameter as denoted by the red lines. Thickest trunk the tallest, thinnest the shortest. This would just look natural and proportional, and with the tallest trunk in the middle, would really help with all the trunks working together to form an ideal silhouette. The blue arrows indicate the thinnest trunk and the small shoot coming out of the base of the largest trunk, which I would probably grow out for some time so they could thicken up a bit. The green on the small shoot indicates that I would probably just use this as a sacrifice branch to add taper to the largest trunk and remove it later. Since an even number (4) of trunks isn't ideal. Though I would consider keeping it if more shoots pop from the raft giving me the option of using more trunks in the final design.

But of course the first step is getting this tree out of the ground alive and healthy! Always good to brainstorm though.

 

[daygan]

Sorry, I just saw your reply today. The below image will give you a better idea of where I'm suggesting making the chop and placing branches (of course, branch placement will also be dependent on what actually grows where).

Of course, this is only a crude representation. You may find better angles and better ways to manipulate the smaller trunks. The thought about the larger trunk was largely inspired by a hawthorn that Harry Harrington designed.

 

[Cypress]

Oh yea, I like where you're going with that. The two main trunks are so straight I was just thinking formal uprights at first, but with the more sort of wild sideways movement it sort of matches the feel of the raft itself better. Thanks for the input.