Hackberry Style Competition

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Thought I would share my newly acquired Hackberry. Don't have a clue what kind? I am thinking good Ol' Americanos?

This weekend I participated in a 30 minute styling competition at Wigert's Open House, and these were the trees we had to style... The competition is a lot of fun! Is only $30 dollars to enter, and you get to keep the tree.

So, let me first say, that in 30 minutes you really are not going to get much accomplished, unless you just strip a piece of material down to the bare bones... It really is good practice though, I used to have 30 second human figure poses I would do in one of my art classes as a kid and they taught you how to establish the main line or action line of the pose, and quickly rough in a bit more. Which is about the same you are going to get with the 30 minutes styling competition.

I have won this competition before, and even though I have you still are able to participate regardless, seeing that it is for the most part all about the fun! The winner, does win an Award, and a $100 Gift Certificate for Wigert's which is nice.

This year, my good friend Adam Lavigne won! I did not...
Main reason being, that right off the bat, the only tree I saw within the material that I wanted to do, would take way to much time to do within a 30 minute, styling competition... So, just said screw it, and decided to make the tree I saw! My tree ended up being not even a quarter of the way finished, by the time the competition ended, I then was able to finish it off today!

I am not a huge fan of Hackberries... In fact to be quite Honest, I know very little of them, other than some of the cool one's I saw once in Europe, on a hillside, that were very old... They had very twisted branching due to the wind I am sure, and this is how I decided, I would style my tree! With some time and a lot more ramification, I think the tree will end up really nice. Tree's height is 13 inches tall x 14 inches wide.
Thanks!

hackberryA.jpg hackberryBeforeA.jpg
 
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rockm

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If these are locally sourced they're probably sugarberry (Celtis laevigata).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtis_laevigata

They make terrific bonsai and are radically underused native material. It's a shame as they're better than any Asian species of hackberry for bonsai culture. They are a deep south species. I'm just a bit out of there natural range in Va. They make finer bonsai than the "regular" hackberry (Celtis occidentalis) common in the rest of the eastern and Midwestern U.S.

Sugarberry Leaves can be reduced to 1/4" yeah, a quarter of an inch long. They are also capable of DENSE twigging.

I bought a shohin sized one from Guy Guidry a decade or so ago. Extremely nice little tree. It declined in my colder climate and dropped branches and finally died after a winter of sub zero freezes. I still mourn the loss.
 
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If these are locally sourced they're probably sugarberry (Celtis laevigata).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtis_laevigata

They make terrific bonsai and are radically underused native material. It's a shame as they're better than any Asian species of hackberry for bonsai culture. They are a deep south species. I'm just a bit out of there natural range in Va. They make finer bonsai than the "regular" hackberry (Celtis occidentalis) common in the rest of the eastern and Midwestern U.S.

Sugarberry Leaves can be reduced to 1/4" yeah, a quarter of an inch long. They are also capable of DENSE twigging.

I bought a shohin sized one from Guy Guidry a decade or so ago. Extremely nice little tree. It declined in my colder climate and dropped branches and finally died after a winter of sub zero freezes. I still mourn the loss.
Thanks for the info and the reply!
I have never seen or worked on them before. I know a lot of folks collect them down here.

My own take on them, is that suprisngly they bend really easy. I am not such a fan of more formal upright trees, for those that are, they seem to grow really nice to this type of tree. I personally would love to find one with a very low branch, and remove everything from there up and work them... but, that's just my own, Personal preference.
 

rockm

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You can probably prune off all the branching and wait for a low bud. They take chops very well, like elms. All that branching on yours is a direct result of the initial chop at collection
 

sorce

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Man, I love hackberry!

Judy's most.

I found a seedling this fall.

That's it!

Much is to be said of knowing you will lose to accomplish the "big picture".

Well friggin done!

Sorce
 
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You can probably prune off all the branching and wait for a low bud. They take chops very well, like elms. All that branching on yours is a direct result of the initial chop at collection
Thanks for the info!
This one I will probably just keep as is, but will try then to be on the look out for a very nice piece of material in the future!

I guess I will be calling around some of my buddies that collect them!
 
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Man, I love hackberry!

Judy's most.

I found a seedling this fall.

That's it!

Much is to be said of knowing you will lose to accomplish the "big picture".

Well friggin done!

Sorce
Well, sometimes the tree you see, is just the tree you see... Not, trying to take away from those who did with the material what they could in the amount of time given for the competition. There was some nice work in such a short amount of time.

I just wanted to put a lot of movement into the design, which I could not get right in 30 minutes... it takes longer than that just going through and repositioning branches to make a cohesive design and make right. And looking at my photos I still want to adjust some of the branches!

So, I made the decision at that point, that if I did design the tree this way, I would not be able to win. But, Cool with that!
 

sorce

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I still want to adjust some of the branches!

I hope you intend to keep this one!

I would love to see what you and Florida can do to this material!

You don't love the foilage?

I do. Man! This might have to be another tree climbing airlayer expedition!
I gotta get one!

Sorce
 
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We will see if I keep it... I have a lot of trees. The last one I sold from a competition was my Azalea.
Reason being, that they only flower for about a week if that, down here because of our heat... then the flowers all fall off and the tree is just a shrub.
I am not going to go through all the work trying to get them to flower, only for it to last a week.
 

Anthony

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That's weird Stacy. azaleas [ coarse type ] flower for about 4 months down here, but not as a big bouquet, just here and there all over.
Still very effective as blooming goes.
I hope you keep the Celtis, would love to see how you age it.
Good Day
Anthony
 

Giga

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I saw your tree on Adams blog, and was like "where did I see that before?" Don't really know the species but I like where it's going!
 
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I saw your tree on Adams blog, and was like "where did I see that before?" Don't really know the species but I like where it's going!
It was funny, cause neither one of us took any before pictures, and luckily we both ended up having the trees pictured on a photo Andrea took to help promote the event.
 

Eric Group

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This one reminds me of a smaller version of the Beech Grouper 52 posted pics of recently. Similar trunk movement, similar branche placement and style... Just doesn't have the large damaged/ I mean "character" spot his has. Looks good!
 
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This one reminds me of a smaller version of the Beech Grouper 52 posted pics of recently. Similar trunk movement, similar branche placement and style... Just doesn't have the large damaged/ I mean "character" spot his has. Looks good!
Thanks for the reply! I missed the Beech post and had to go look for it. It is a very cool tree... Mine is not so great.
This is not in reference to my work... but, merely the fact that for these type of fast competitions, the material is suppose to be not so good.
In 30 minutes, one would just end up butchering a piece of nice material.
 
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