Japanese Maples forest

RKatzin

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This is a start. These are seedlings going on their fourth season. There's 25 trees in this planting.IMG_20220326_125354671_HDR.jpgIMG_20220326_125308120_HDR.jpg
 

Shibui

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A very extensive forest planting.
Does 4 seasons old mean a year? They seem pretty thin for 4 year olds.

Some observations from an experienced group grower:

Spacing appears very even. I found that was hard to avoid unless I specifically concentrated on mixing up the spaces. Maybe we are hard wired to space plants evenly? Groups look much better if we perceive randomness as in nature so a few stems really close together and some spaced further apart helps that feel.

Trunk thickness is also uniform. Not surprising when these are all from a single batch of trees. I would germinate more each year to add some variety to the trunk sizes eventually.

Height. Maybe just the photos but it appears the tallest trees are near the edges. The overall form in leaf is better when the tallest trees are near the centre and shorter ones near edges and back to give a rounded or triangular canopy. Pruning can fix most of that as the trees grow but I have noticed a strong trend for outer trees to grow much faster than inner trunks. I guess the outer ones have access to more soil and inner ones have most competition for roots and light. The outer trees in some of my older groups have grown thicker because of this despite them being the thinner ones when the groups were assembled.

Group plantings can always be taken apart and reassembled in future. Having the trees growing together for a year or 2 can help the trees look like forest trees and that helps with the overall forest feel.

Feel free to completely ignore the advice if you don't want it.
 

RKatzin

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Thanks for the input, I really appreciate it.
I meant growing seasons, going on their fourth so they are three years old. I grew them from seedlings I collected from a friend's tree and they were grown in an Anderson flat. There was 50 to begin with, 25 in each flat. They were mostly over two feet tall and last year I docked them all to the cuts you can see and the whips are what grew out last year.
As they grow out together I will prune to suit the position. I tried to plant by trunks size rather than height.
This is only an initial planting and I'll take a picture looking down from above so you can see the arrangement. I feel pretty good about the layout, but there's always room for improvement. Once the trees root in and start growing I'll do an initial trimming and styling to bring everything into perspective and then let it rip for a few growing seasons.
 
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