American Hornbeam forest

[ABCarve]

This is the beginning of an American hornbeam- Carpinus caroliniana forest I started in 2016. All of the seedlings were taken from my woods. Oddly enough, the wire on the trunks was used to straighten them out as they were too contorted for vertical use.

 

[ABCarve]

This is from 2019 spring. I lost the fattest focal trunk in the center-left, but added a couple of younger seedlings around the outer perimeter last year. Pruning from the beginning has only been "hedge-trimming", other than removing lower branches. These were left on only to encourage more vigorous root growth.

 

[ABCarve]

This is a current photo. Once again, only hedge pruning, with the addition of cutting off the largest leaves every few days up until now. I think of this as a partial defoliation, not stressing the trees. They are starting to reduce. You may notice a pad of foliage on the left side. This is treated just as a smaller hedge and is comprised of a number of the other trees. I put it there to add some interest so you weren't looking at a single canopy. Next year I will probably do a total defoliation.

 

[cheap_walmart_art]

Good looking forest. I tried out my first forest last spring with trident seedlings, just used three and I had a hell of a time getting them all wired into the pot and looking right. It turned out pretty ugly. How did you get this many saplings arranged so well? Are they all wired in?

 

[ABCarve]

Good looking forest. I tried out my first forest last spring with trident seedlings, just used three and I had a hell of a time getting them all wired into the pot and looking right. It turned out pretty ugly. How did you get this many saplings arranged so well? Are they all wired in?

I installed a grid-work of wire which went around the entire pot before any trees or soil was put in. That grid can be used to hold trees in place while soil is added and new roots become established. Sorry I don't have a picture of it. It's fairly ugly and I took it off half way through the growing season. It's a fairly common technique and I would imagine there is a thread here demonstrating it.

 

[ABCarve]

A little fall color.

 

[Tieball]

Looking really fine...especially in autumn color. Mighty fine work!
Curiosity...how wide is the slab pot?

 

[ABCarve]

24 inches. Just fit in the kiln.

 

[t_fareal]

definitely gonna put this on the 'watch' list...
this is beautiful

 

[penumbra]

Super sweet!

 

[ABCarve]

Here is a before and after of this spring haircut. I know it kinda looks like a flat top but the inner tree tops were getting a little too strong and needed shortened up to maintain taper. This year I will do a full defoliation.

 

[KiwiPlantGuy]

Here is a before and after of this spring haircut. I know it kinda looks like a flat top but the inner tree tops were getting a little too strong and needed shortened up to maintain taper. This year I will do a full defoliation.

View attachment 289387View attachment 289388

Hi,
Can you give me an idea of scale as in size of slab and height of forest?
Such a cool progression over the last couple of years or more .
Charles

 

[ABCarve]

Hi,
Can you give me an idea of scale as in size of slab and height of forest?
Such a cool progression over the last couple of years or more .
Charles

The slab is 24 inches or 61 cm

 

[james]

Beautiful development

 

[ABCarve]

Here is this years development after a partial defoliation while reading @markyscott thread. I did get some leaf reduction and a bit more ramification compared to post #3 but I think next year will be the full monty. This species really responds to defoliation. I don't know how small I can expect these leaves to get. I tried searching here for a developed tree to no avail. I've seen trees in the woods with smaller leaves than this. I have one I'm trying to make into shohin and not sure if that's a good fit because of leaf size. Also had to show off the new stand I just got done. Black lacquer, tinted glass, golf leaf. Doesn't really fit with this forest......but.... there it is.

 

[coh]

That's really coming along nicely!

I'm not really familiar with the species. You had posted that one photo showing autumn color - was that at peak or did the colors intensify further (more reddish)? I like the fact that there is variation in the autumn color within the group, makes it look more like a real forest to me.

 

[ABCarve]

That's really coming along nicely!

I'm not really familiar with the species. You had posted that one photo showing autumn color - was that at peak or did the colors intensify further (more reddish)? I like the fact that there is variation in the autumn color within the group, makes it look more like a real forest to me.

This was the peak. It really didn't last much longer till everything went yellowy brown and fell off. I visited an eccentric nursery guy up in your neck of the woods (Victor) who had some 6 footers in nursery pots. I queried him if anyone bought them. He said no, that he kept them around for fall color. Got me??????? I've never seen this, including the ones in my woods.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Wow, I love the stand. The gold leaf is a really nice touch.

I collected an american hornbeam, Carpinus caroliniana back in 2017, and have not done much with it yet. I would think you could get fine branching, fine ramification from the American species as easily as any of the EU members get with the European hornbeam, Carpinus betulus. The branching might not be quite as fine as Korean hornbeam, Carpinus coreana, but should be "good enough" for your current forest.

I searched for Carpinus caroliniana - and only got 2 hits. I searched for "hornbeam" and got 5 pages worth. Reading through, maybe 25% of them are American hornbeam, Carpinus caroliniana. So by using the botanical name, you miss many of the posts. But just using hornbeam, you got to read a bit to figure out which species they are talking about. Korean hornbeams are much more popular by counting posts.

I like the C. caroliniana, American hornbeam, because for me it is a much easier to work with "stand in" for American beech. I love the smooth bark of the trunk.

I love what you have done with your forest, I see nothing I would change. Well done.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Johnson Nursery, near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has "cloned" a number of cultivars of Carpinus caroliniana for use as shade trees, and autumn color features. Some of theirs get quite red in autumn. They are grafted. I do not think they do mail order. So the American hornbeam is somewhat popular for landscaping in the Midwest. But you are right, not common to see just anywhere.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

a thread where you can see ramification possible in just a couple years

Zach Smith American Hornbeam

With the recent resurfacing of the thread about the Hornbeams in Chicago, I thought I would post an example of what Zach has available. There seemed to be an idea being put forth in that thread that there were not a lot of commercially available broadleaf trees in the USA. All it took was one...

www.bonsainut.com

american hornbeam started in 2017

Hidden Gardens American Hornbeam Progression

I picked up this American Hornbeam from Hidden Gardens in Willowbrook, IL in winter 2017. A holiday present to myself. It was worked on by the guy who collected it out east. His name escapes me, but there is reference to group of American Hornbeams (including this specific tree and other...

www.bonsainut.com

another

American Hornbeam

Starting a thread to track progress of the american hornbeam I got a few years ago. It's the first tree I've put into an actual (albeit cheap) bonsai pot. Current goals: - Thicken middle portion of the trunk to improve taper - Continue developing branching, particularly in the empty space on...

www.bonsainut.com

OKay, I went through one page of search results where only 'hornbeam' was the search term, these were the only relevant threads. I'll let you peruse more, as there were at least 10 pages of results. I'm sure some of the older results have some very nice hornbeams from the "old regulars" that don't post here anymore.