Hartinez
Masterpiece
I created the first planting of these trees in 2015 from 6 Japanese boxwood I purchased on clearance from Lowes, due to their wonderful root spread. I was inspired by John Geanangels Boxwood forest and thought Id give it a go. But through the years, the forest has never taken on the look I've wanted and needs to have a complete over haul to take on a much more pleasing appearance.
When purchased, I knew the trees themselves needed work, and figured I would do so after they were planted together. Since they were purchased in fall 2014, I put them in the ground, pots and al,l through winter to keep them alive. In 2015, I put them together in a large saucer initially. While the base of each tree looked great, the canopy was straight broccoli and each tree was far to similar in size. I also planted them a bit too evenly spaced at first. I needed some variation moving forward.
The same year 2015 I planted a group of 3 much smaller trees to balance out the design with proper asymmetry and trunk variation. 1 died. in 2017 I purchased a much thicker and larger tree to be the new focal point and primary tree. I put that one in the mix in 2018 and planted the whole group and a custom built box and I could start to see the balance I was going for. But it was still off. The box kept the elevation of the trees bases at roughly the same height but I decided that I wanted to add height in the landscape to the composition and the following year, I planned on doing so, using muck and more substrate and a much more shallow pot.
In spring 2019 The mound i planted them on looks contrived and fake. The root balls of each need to be reduced to randomize the layout better. The mound also made it harder to show the trees proper height differences and take advantage of that difference. But even then, too many of the trees are too similar in size in both height and trunk size. The pot I planted them in was far too small and should never have been used. It forced me to cram things together, throwing the angles all out of wack. I wired out many of the trees to begin building a far more pleasing structure, but the overall composition still looks messy. I purchased 2 more smaller J. boxwood this last summer and began prepping them to replace 2 of the larger trees in the planting and to begin a full overhaul of the forest itself.
Some trees will be removed and planted in their own pot, others moved around and rootballs cut to get them closer together. I decided to build a slab out of concrete to emulate the undulation and land flow I wanted and to also wire the slab and trees to a much larger pot. The slab was to be made to look like the granite rock forms I find in the foot hills of my neighboring Sandia Mountains, with cottonwood trees growing in and around. I purchased the pot from a seller I found on facebook. Its a 23"x14" chinese made pot that was relatively inexpensive and had just the amount of detail I was going for to pair with the slab I made. I did a simple drawing at the end of this last year that has been my inspiration so far. Final composition will end up a bit different but you can see the idea. For funs sake, I made a tunnel or cave of sorts that will go underneath the rock formation. Not necessarily something you'd see in the Sandias, but whatever.
here it is in its first year of creation in its original saucer. You can see the 3 small trees that I added on the far left
Here it is 2 years later in its box with the new larger tree front and off center right and the 2 remaining small trees far left after 1 died.
Here it is in september 2019. There is a tree in the way back middle that will become its own planting. The tree on the far right will also probably be replaced or moved. All of the rocks will be removed as well.
Here was my insparation
And here is the rock/pot combo I will be using
I will also be doing a map or layout of the trees before hand to be fully prepared for the planting. The soil, moss and muck will travel from the slab in to the pot area and underneath the slab.
Updates to come, spring 2020!!
When purchased, I knew the trees themselves needed work, and figured I would do so after they were planted together. Since they were purchased in fall 2014, I put them in the ground, pots and al,l through winter to keep them alive. In 2015, I put them together in a large saucer initially. While the base of each tree looked great, the canopy was straight broccoli and each tree was far to similar in size. I also planted them a bit too evenly spaced at first. I needed some variation moving forward.
The same year 2015 I planted a group of 3 much smaller trees to balance out the design with proper asymmetry and trunk variation. 1 died. in 2017 I purchased a much thicker and larger tree to be the new focal point and primary tree. I put that one in the mix in 2018 and planted the whole group and a custom built box and I could start to see the balance I was going for. But it was still off. The box kept the elevation of the trees bases at roughly the same height but I decided that I wanted to add height in the landscape to the composition and the following year, I planned on doing so, using muck and more substrate and a much more shallow pot.
In spring 2019 The mound i planted them on looks contrived and fake. The root balls of each need to be reduced to randomize the layout better. The mound also made it harder to show the trees proper height differences and take advantage of that difference. But even then, too many of the trees are too similar in size in both height and trunk size. The pot I planted them in was far too small and should never have been used. It forced me to cram things together, throwing the angles all out of wack. I wired out many of the trees to begin building a far more pleasing structure, but the overall composition still looks messy. I purchased 2 more smaller J. boxwood this last summer and began prepping them to replace 2 of the larger trees in the planting and to begin a full overhaul of the forest itself.
Some trees will be removed and planted in their own pot, others moved around and rootballs cut to get them closer together. I decided to build a slab out of concrete to emulate the undulation and land flow I wanted and to also wire the slab and trees to a much larger pot. The slab was to be made to look like the granite rock forms I find in the foot hills of my neighboring Sandia Mountains, with cottonwood trees growing in and around. I purchased the pot from a seller I found on facebook. Its a 23"x14" chinese made pot that was relatively inexpensive and had just the amount of detail I was going for to pair with the slab I made. I did a simple drawing at the end of this last year that has been my inspiration so far. Final composition will end up a bit different but you can see the idea. For funs sake, I made a tunnel or cave of sorts that will go underneath the rock formation. Not necessarily something you'd see in the Sandias, but whatever.
here it is in its first year of creation in its original saucer. You can see the 3 small trees that I added on the far left
Here it is 2 years later in its box with the new larger tree front and off center right and the 2 remaining small trees far left after 1 died.
Here it is in september 2019. There is a tree in the way back middle that will become its own planting. The tree on the far right will also probably be replaced or moved. All of the rocks will be removed as well.
Here was my insparation
And here is the rock/pot combo I will be using
I will also be doing a map or layout of the trees before hand to be fully prepared for the planting. The soil, moss and muck will travel from the slab in to the pot area and underneath the slab.
Updates to come, spring 2020!!
