Grey Alder

henrykiser

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Dad dug this apparent grey alder in late winter at my folks’ property along a stream in North Georgia. We scouted around looking for hornbeam and based on the trunk thought we had found an interesting one growing upright on a slope. He researched more based on the buds and looks like it is grey alder.
Base is around 1”. Gonna let it grow for a few then start to shape but really excited about the character in the trunk...would like to keep both trunks and shorten them in a few years. Thank you for any suggestions!
 

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Bayard

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Nice one, give it plenty of water and it will go boom! This is one of my grey alders that I collected a couple of months ago. Just waiting for them cones =)
 

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just.wing.it

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Nice one, give it plenty of water and it will go boom! This is one of my grey alders that I collected a couple of months ago. Just waiting for them cones =)
I'm not terribly familiar with Alder.....but the OP's tree does look like one.
Your tree looks like some kind of cherry.
Note the bark difference
 

Bayard

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I'm not terribly familiar with Alder.....but the OP's tree does look like one.
Your tree looks like some kind of cherry.
Note the bark difference

It's an alder though, at least it was before we chopped of the "top" ;)
 

henrykiser

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Nice one, give it plenty of water and it will go boom! This is one of my grey alders that I collected a couple of months ago. Just waiting for them cones =)
Thanks for the response! Yours looks fatty. I'll pop some updates on here when it leafs out. I was so fixated on finding hornbeam which I still would love to do, but now I'm excited to work on a similar tree that is less commonly utilized for bonsai...
 

Orion_metalhead

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I'm not terribly familiar with Alder.....but the OP's tree does look like one.
Your tree looks like some kind of cherry.
Note the bark difference

I tend to agree. New shoot color isnt right and appears, though picture is tough to see, oppisite leaf pattern. Alders are alternating. Have any pictures of the cones you mentioned?

Either way looks like a nice tree.

Henry, I like the multiple trunks in your first picture. I would work with this as front, and now start your branching from this angle to make a realistic looking natural styled tree. If you want something more drastic and interesting, the movement in your second picture is really nice. You could chop back to an upward bud and grow on with a lot of lower trunk movement in the future.
 

Igor. T. Ljubek

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His or mine? ;)

Yeah the ridged leaves that are less lengthy and narrow than wild cherry is what makes me think it's alder...

henrykiser, your tree is an alder (i think so), Bayard's one is a Wild cherry or sour cherry or any kind of cherry. Just look at the bark :) Sorry about confusion ...


Grey Alder: 1589458007077.png

and Wild Cherry: 1589458125805.png 1589458150091.png
 
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Bayard

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I tend to agree. New shoot color isnt right and appears, though picture is tough to see, oppisite leaf pattern. Alders are alternating. Have any pictures of the cones you mentioned?

Either way looks like a nice tree.

I have nothing against being corrected and I must say that the leaf pattern is as you say not alternating, thanks for the input. I´m gonna have to update you in a couple of weeks.

I was so sure it was an alder since it was growing just under a big grey alder with some smaller ones.
 

Wires_Guy_wires

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I own a forest full of alders, they're super variable in bark type.
Some of them don't make real barky bark for the first 30 years.

To my knowledge, all cherries have little nubs on the base of the leaf, sometimes a bit further down on the stem of the leaf. Most of the times they start out reddish. Those show as soon as the leaf pops out. If your tree doesn't have those two opposing nubs, then it's easy to say it's not a cherry.
 

henrykiser

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I tend to agree. New shoot color isnt right and appears, though picture is tough to see, oppisite leaf pattern. Alders are alternating. Have any pictures of the cones you mentioned?

Either way looks like a nice tree.

Henry, I like the multiple trunks in your first picture. I would work with this as front, and now start your branching from this angle to make a realistic looking natural styled tree. If you want something more drastic and interesting, the movement in your second picture is really nice. You could chop back to an upward bud and grow on with a lot of lower trunk movement in the future.
Thank you for the time and notes my good man! That's the one that I pictured as the front first off. I'm thinking I may go in between the two angles, I'll find a better picture and put it up here. Also dug up some sweet birch and a little beech that might be cool in 25 years...👌
 

henrykiser

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Letting this sweet baby grow out, will revisit structure after a few years. Last pics of the leaf-out...
 

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