Hornbeam material-The Four Brothers

BobbyLane

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European Hornbeam from hedging nursery stock, picked up march 2018

reducing at the nursery to make it more manageable
20180320_121723 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
20180320_122923 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
20180320_124031 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

A lot going on
20180320_160303 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

starting to uncover a very good nebari, it took two days to get through the top soil properly. I didnt have to reduce the bottom half of the soil again
20180320_220505 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

The plan with this material is to build a tall tree will minimal big cuts, no unnecessary chops, pruning wounds that will be healed in a few years...this section was a bit of a dilemma(the left trunk), to start with there were four emerging at the same area, the blue dot is where i removed the first offender, cutting at the green line would of left a big gaping wound visible from the front, but would also result in a very natural looking flow where the trunk splits into two and both branches flow left
20180320_205808 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

so i went with the yellow cut, less intrusive although i think the branch looks a little awkward now with the abrubt movement, but i think it will work as the tree fills out, no unnecessary scars is the plan here.

concaved the wound slightly and sealed all wounds with cut paste
20180321_103501 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

this is the main trunk where i started some small reductions and began trying to get some gradual taper
20180321_145247 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
20180321_145833 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

the right trunk has probably the biggest wound on the whole three, being so high up this should heal over, there is a lower leader that could potentially be a new apex once it thickens, for now the transition and scar would be too abrubt
20180321_102819 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

all bar branches were removed, dont want problems in the future. i choose the branches that leave the smallest wounds,
20180321_100906 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
20180321_101053 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

took two days to get the root ball like this, was like digging for treasure with a fine tooth comb. i could of got it into a shallow bonsai pot. but development and wound healing is key so it went into a training tub. i still had to cut around the edges some more...

20180321_175048 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
20180321_175008 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

I call it the Four brothers, the youngest is hiding behind his big brother atm :grin:

20180322_211437 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

ah there he is
2018-03-22_10-25-05 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

2018-03-22_10-22-38 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

2018-03-22_10-20-36 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

the nebari is outstanding imo
2018-03-22_10-23-36 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

20180322_204537 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr



the plan now is the let the low bits fatten up and keep the top in check

there is some subtle taper in the trunks that i think can be enhanced with careful pruning and development. some may say to chop lower for better taper. but i see no point. because there is no visible bulges or bad inverse on the tree. just needs time now

ps

I began working this tree around about the time i watched Ryan neil dissecting a field grown Tilia on a bonsai mirai stream, so i'd say there was some influence from watching that, especially in the way i sealed all the cuts on the tree and where to make chops....
 
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BobbyLane

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latest images taken today, there's been no die back, all wounds are beginning to callus well
20180729_173021 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
20180729_173040 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

this is a scar in the base, at the front,
20180729_173029 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

growing out a apical shoot in the main trunk for taper
20180729_173106 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

top of right trunk
20180729_173116 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

top of left trunk
20180729_173131 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

im still growing out some low shoots, so earlier, i trimmed back some shoots on the right side of the right trunk, to allow a free run in the first right branch there.....
2018-07-29_05-32-53 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

the top is ramifying all the time while the lower shoots become stonger and thicker

from here you can see how the vigour is balancing out
2018-07-29_05-34-08 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
 

WNC Bonsai

Omono
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Love it. I wish I could find a nursery that does those over here. Anyone know of a source in eastern US?
 

Sn0W

Shohin
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Nice looking tree! I'm jealous of your hedging nursery finds. Do you get them from a chain or independent place?
 

Hack Yeah!

Omono
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Love it. I wish I could find a nursery that does those over here. Anyone know of a source in eastern US?
Not sure if he has European hornbeam, but he has several types of hornbeam, have you ever been to Tim Weckmans, Berea Bonsai? Super nice selection, just south of Lexington, Ky
 

BobbyLane

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Nice looking tree! I'm jealous of your hedging nursery finds. Do you get them from a chain or independent place?

these are from an independent. i used to be jealous of what folks were picking up in the north of england too, until i started doing my own research and travelling to various tree/hedging nurserys and realised i was wasting money at garden centres. because over the years ive bought a lot of crap too.
 

BobbyLane

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Not sure if he has European hornbeam, but he has several types of hornbeam, have you ever been to Tim Weckmans, Berea Bonsai? Super nice selection, just south of Lexington, Ky

nice of you to help out, be great if you guys can continue the convo via private message:cool:
 

coh

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Looking good, Bobby! That base and resulting fine root mass is really impressive for this kind of stock.
 

BobbyLane

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Looking good, Bobby! That base and resulting fine root mass is really impressive for this kind of stock.

Cheers mate, i think the fine root mass is a result of these being in air pots for the last 4 years according to the nursery, believe me these pots were bursting with fine roots but extremely matted, was a real job to get the root ball to that stage. paid off though!
 

WNC Bonsai

Omono
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Hidden Gardens, South of Chicago. They have a couple dozen of thsisquality.
I will contact them and see if they ship. Their website had very little information about bonsai trees. Mainly about classses and upcoming seminars like ours. Do you ever come to the WNC Bonsai Expo in Asheville, NC? It would be good to get you here for a seminar in association with it.
 

just.wing.it

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I will contact them and see if they ship. Their website had very little information about bonsai trees. Mainly about classses and upcoming seminars like ours. Do you ever come to the WNC Bonsai Expo in Asheville, NC? It would be good to get you here for a seminar in association with it.
Please pm me if necessary, about your experience with Hidden Gardens and ordering...
 

WNC Bonsai

Omono
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I heard back from Jeff Schultz at Hidden Gardens Bonsai. They do not ship plants. He will be at the National show with plants for sale so that is your your best bet to see what he has and purchase one.
 

BobbyLane

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Hello folks, a little update,

this one had some editing over the summer, but more recently, i made a drastic decision to reduce the right trunk.
this has resulted in even less visible scarring for the material and puts more emphasis on the other two trunks with better movement.
I removed one or two lower branches and raising the canopy enhances the nebari....
i think the basic structure is set now.....
On the main trunk, the right side is a little bare, this will fill out next season
IMG_7141 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
 
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