A Tree with a Name Ylang Ylang

[grouper52]

... at least that's what he called it. These trees are plentiful among the collectors/artists at the Manila commune, often huge, presenting delicate and nicely trained foliage cascading down from often huge, broad, monolithic walls of gorgeous grey trunk. This is a smallish guy, only about 2' tall, and looking to me like a fortress one would find, if one were unlucky, along the Mountains of Mordor.

With my die grinder and other good tools a long time from arriving, and nothing but horrible, unusable hardware store wire available at the moment, I decided just to trim the foliage back to it's foundations, and to use some small Ace Hardware chisel & gouge set, pounded with a heavy pair of pliers, to start to break through the black tar sealant put on the shorter cut top, and start to loosen up the wood so water will penetrate and start to rot the otherwise virgin interior wood of that stove pipe trunk, for later deadwood effects. A primitive method, but befitting my current situation, and strangely satisfying in that regard. )

Enjoy.

 

[grouper52]

Sorry for the multiple #2 images: I tried repeatedly to get the pix right - but to no avail. Either, A) Growing old ... can no longer keep up with all the technology, or B) The rudimentary Third World internet here is entirely clogged on a holiday like today with the entire population posting selfies on Facebook (I kid you not, it's way into the realm of psychpathology ...), or C) Some unfortunate combo, or D) I just really, really like that view!

 

[M. Frary]

Sorry for the multiple #2 images: I tried repeatedly to get the pix right - but to no avail. Either, A) Growing old ... can no longer keep up with all the technology, or B) The rudimentary Third World internet here is entirely clogged on a holiday like today with the entire population posting selfies on Facebook (I kid you not, it's way into the realm of psychpathology ...), or C) Some unfortunate combo, or D) I just really, really like that view!

I'll be good and choose D.
So I take it you have to learn all of these foreign trees without knowing what you're working with. Just a name for this one.
Can you look at examples of others there Will?
It would be like learning bonsai all over,not even knowing what the name of the plant is you're trying to work with.

 

[queenofsheba52]

I have some ylang ylang soap that smells heavenly; I must look for pics.

Nice tree!

 

[Cadillactaste]

I only envision the hardware store in our village in Honduras. Where it's about the size of a small bathroom...and large drums of gasoline ones may purchase for their motorcycles. Without a gas station anywhere near our location. One must drive 4 hours...to get to a larger place...and 10 hours to the city to find ususally what we need. We try and bring it all with us. But, at times...it's not feasible to know everything one might get into. I ponder if your area is as the third world country where I go...with such things.

You are finding some good material my friend...

 

[grouper52]

I'll be good and choose D.
So I take it you have to learn all of these foreign trees without knowing what you're working with. Just a name for this one.
Can you look at examples of others there Will?
It would be like learning bonsai all over,not even knowing what the name of the plant is you're trying to work with.

Hi Mike!

I actually like the challenge - and with all my trees in the States I never really initially knew what I wanted to do with them - I often used to say that I would just sit with them for days, weeks, months, seasons, occasionally years, until they sort of spoke to me in some way, telling me what they wanted me to do with them. These unknown varieties here are going to have to be even more that way. Fortunately, this is a forgiving environment in which everything seems to grow with wild abandon. Most things here have no trouble putting down roots at a moment's notice, or doing a spontaneous self-graph whenever two branches rub against each other for a few days. The operational word for vegetative growth in general here would probably be "fecund."

As for the styles I could go for, things seem far too predictably like Japanese/green-helmety clones for my tastes, although often nicely done - except, however, for an essentially unwavering fondness for using wrapped wire to create incredibly predictable pads of stereotyped and uniform "wavy curves" on evey last little branch on every last little tree ... boring beyond belief if it wasn't sort of endearing in an innocent way. I have no illusions that my stylings will be well-thought of here by most, although I've met several true artists here who've impressed me already with their creations, but mostly I'm not looking to create trees except as they satisfy my love of the hobby and my own creative needs. I just like working on trees, and this is a great place with great trees to do so.

 

[grouper52]

I'll be good and choose D.
So I take it you have to learn all of these foreign trees without knowing what you're working with. Just a name for this one.
Can you look at examples of others there Will?
It would be like learning bonsai all over,not even knowing what the name of the plant is you're trying to work with.

I only envision the hardware store in our village in Honduras. Where it's about the size of a small bathroom...and large drums of gasoline ones may purchase for their motorcycles. Without a gas station anywhere near our location. One must drive 4 hours...to get to a larger place...and 10 hours to the city to find ususally what we need. We try and bring it all with us. But, at times...it's not feasible to know everything one might get into. I ponder if your area is as the third world country where I go...with such things.

You are finding some good material my friend...

Parts of the Philippines are like that, but I'm really not safe in such places without a body guard, and my wife won't let me go to such places, even to collect trees with local collectors. Some parts are a bit better, but even the best of it is miles behind the US( except in its most backwards parts).

 

[grouper52]

Here's a bit of an update after the fine twigs, which sorely resented the attempt to manipulate with hardware store wrapped wire by dropping almost all their foliage, started to bounce back with mostly copious new buds. I took the wrapped wire off, but pulled a few stiff uprights down with some guy wires, which they tolerated better on the first application.

It may surprise people that I then did a bit of inital carving ... the new growth near the old cuts tend to heal over the edges robustly, creating a pleasing look where the old chopos were, and should also soften the current daedwood work.

I sort of like this view as well, crude photography notwithstanding. Enjoy.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Ylang Ylang is a name given to at least 5 different species of trees or vines. One is a tropical or sub tropical member of the Magnolia family, usually called by genus name Michelia. Michelia alba is one of the Ylang Ylang type magnolia.

The others are in the Annona family, related to sweet sop, cherimoya, and pawpaw. These tend to be heavy woody liana's. Cananga odorata, recently had it's name changed to Artaboytrys odoratissimus. Another is Artaboytrys hexapetalus. Both have been grown for commercial perfume production.

I can't tell you what you have, but it looks cool .

 

[grouper52]

Well, here's the latest, which I think is starting to show promise. Most of the folks here all do exactly the same thing with the foliage on these trees (- and most other trees as well, unfortunetely) which is to run every branch out in a uniformly wave line, such that almost every tree or trunk has an almost identicle "Green Helmet" styling throughout the country, or, more accurately, a "Green Vietnamese Rice Paddy Worker's Hat." Not my thing, certainly, and I kind of like the unusual look of the foliage on this tree just the way it is, which I think fits well with the natural grandure of these two momolithic, connected trunks.

Anyway, your milage may vary, but enjoy if you can.

 

[grouper52]

Just a bit of an update, almost a month since the last one posted. The foliage continues to grow wonderfully on its own accord, and I still haven't done anything to style it except manually and gently start pushing some of the foliage downward to a more horizontal orientation. The foliage is now so lush, however, that it is starting to obscure the dead wood areas, and I'll probably do some significant trimming/styling soon.

I'm surprised how well this tree is growing in the "red river sand from Ta'al" as its only substrate: I'm moving many of my trees to pumice now, since I found out how/where to get it, but this tree seems to love it where it's at.

You may also notice an upgrade to the attractiveness of the photography with this photo, largely back to the grade of image I used in my book: I'm still doing without the increasingly obnoxious Adobe software, and yet found a reasonably uncomplicated work around to get great High Dynamic Range images using just simple, largely free software I've had all along. Still not the best image, but getting close, IMHO.

Enjoy.