Strange Collected Sycamore Ideas

[Wizeeerrrddd]

Collected this sycamore last October, i'm wondering if any of you have any ideas for the design long term.

I've thinking of cutting back the branch in the first picture, eventually. I feel it cuts the flow of the trunk off too much in the angle i'm thinking for the front which hides the inverse taper.

what do you think?

I'm unsure what to do with the long thin branches though. Maybe thread graft them in the future.
I don't want them to bulge too much though. So I could cut them back and start from a clean trunk or shorten to the first node.

Theres quite a few buds coming through so ill post again at the end of summer.

 

[leatherback]

I think you will end up cutting the main trunk back to one of the downward side-branches. But for now, I would just let it grow and get settled. Look at it, and make soe sketches for the future before you decide anything drastic.
Nice material

 

[Wizeeerrrddd]

I think you will end up cutting the main trunk back to one of the downward side-branches. But for now, I would just let it grow and get settled. Look at it, and make soe sketches for the future before you decide anything drastic.
Nice material

I've got a few more ideas for it. Maybe a penjing slab raft style or a more traditional bonsai style in a hexagon pot where I could split the trunk instead of cutting back to a lower branch to deal with taper issues. Or angle the tree upwards more and work towards a exposed root style. I'll draw up some sketches like you said.

 

[M. Frary]

Maybe wait until it's about 20 feet tall to get those giant sycamore leaves into some sort of scale for the size of the tree.
Sycamore trees have cool bark but those paper towel sized leaves are going to he hard to near impossible to reduce.

 

[Shibui]

That is a nice trunk but it is still a sycamore - large leaves and difficult to ramify. Do you really want to fight with that for ever?

If you really want to go on with this I think the current trunk is way too long. The lower trunk has the interesting and natural bends but then it is just one long, untapered curve after that.
How about cutting back to the first small branch? (last pic) That angle looks like it complements the lower bends nicely and adds some much needed taper. You should then be able to put some bends into the smaller branch to continue the theme of abrupt bends where you can't alter the larger trunk. New branches can be grown from the new buds popping out now. Might seem like a backward step but sometimes that is necessary to climb to a higher level.

 

[sorce]

Too much nice movement to stop and notice reverse taper.

Lol...paper towel sized leaves!

Sorce

 

[Wizeeerrrddd]

That is a nice trunk but it is still a sycamore - large leaves and difficult to ramify. Do you really want to fight with that for ever?

If you really want to go on with this I think the current trunk is way too long. The lower trunk has the interesting and natural bends but then it is just one long, untapered curve after that.
How about cutting back to the first small branch? (last pic) That angle looks like it complements the lower bends nicely and adds some much needed taper. You should then be able to put some bends into the smaller branch to continue the theme of abrupt bends where you can't alter the larger trunk. New branches can be grown from the new buds popping out now. Might seem like a backward step but sometimes that is necessary to climb to a higher level.

The problem I see with cutting back to the first branch is it will compact the tree way too much, keeping the long trunk will help with showing the trunk more when the paper towel leaves appear. Now I have thought about it more I do not think it will suit a raft style at all because of the leaf size. My best bet would be keeping the tree long to show more of the trunks movement. My idea for splitting the trunk would look something like this. Splitting the trunk slowly would brink the two largest branches roughly the same size.

I do not want to necessarily continue the theme of abrupt bends that was just a part of its life. (the tree was growing on the side of a slope on a old train track so I am imagining someone had slid down and snapped the branch slightly to start the bend).
I could even take this design further and create a root over rock style where the rock is leaning towards the left behind the trunk but I think it would suit a pot like this more.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

That is a nice trunk, too bad it is sycamore. Or at least that is the first impulse those from USA, Canada and Mexico will have, because we think of the North American native sycamore, Platanus occidentalis. Huge leaves, totally impossible for bonsai. If you used it for bonsai, it could only be displayed in winter, without the leaves, and even then would have to be a large meter plus tall tree to get the coarse branching in scale.

However, you are in the UK, Manchester to be exact, and your "sycamore" might not be the same as our "sycamore". Which sycamore are you working with? Platanus x acerifolia? Platanus orientalis? or Acer pseudoplatanus? Or something else?

All the others listed are at least a little better for bonsai than Platanus occidentalis. The "London Plane Tree" is P. x acerifolia, and has slightly smaller leaves than the North American Platanus. Though it has all the bad habits, coarse branches of our species, it is just "marginally better" for bonsai.

Platanus orientalis - Oriental plane, Has leaves that are somewhat smaller than both the North American Sycamore, and the London plane tree. Still the leaves are large, and don't reduce enough for to make a believable bonsai.

Acer pseudoplatanus - called "sycamore" in the EU, and "sycamore maple" in North America. It is a maple, with very large, sycamore like leaves. These leaves will reduce much more dramatically than a Platanus leaf will reduce. These have occasionally been used for bonsai. Large scale trees, over a meter tall are needed to get foliage into proportions. The one or two photos I've seen were pretty nice. This is the only "sycamore" with some bonsai potential.

So which one you got?

I do like the trunk, just wish that trunk were on something like a hornbeam, rather than a sycamore.

 

[AJL]

Us Brits call Acer pseudoplatanus a Sycamore and thats clearly what this is. Its often considered a weed because it seeds every where- Nice movement but its going to be hard to control leaf size
The American ''Sycamore'' (Platanus ) is what we call a Plane tree !

 

[Wizeeerrrddd]

If you used it for bonsai, it could only be displayed in winter, without the leaves, and even then would have to be a large meter plus tall tree to get the coarse branching in scale.

Acer pseudoplatanus - called "sycamore" in the EU, and "sycamore maple" in North America. It is a maple, with very large, sycamore like leaves. These leaves will reduce much more dramatically than a Platanus leaf will reduce. These have occasionally been used for bonsai. Large scale trees, over a meter tall are needed to get foliage into proportions. The one or two photos I've seen were pretty nice. This is the only "sycamore" with some bonsai potential.

So which one you got?

Showing it in winter is probably the better idea. I might as well keep all the branches and work from here.
I will post some photos of the leaves when they are all out so you can see the size they are now.
I believe it is Acer pseudoplatanus they are everywhere here I found a variegated one in my garden last summer.

Which photos did you like for the face of the tree?
Do you think the design idea I showed suits the trunk?

I will have to look into branch splitting a lot more but do you think that could work in the design?

 

[leatherback]

I will have to look into branch splitting a lot more but do you think that could work in the design?

Nah, better trim back and grow out new branches. These are weeds after all.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Very few of your photos are useful for design. You need to take your photos with the lens of the camera on the same plane as the upper rim of the pot. And be back far enough to include all the branches. Photos looking down at the tree, or on angles are not useful for seriously considering design.

That said - you did get a good shot of what I think needs to be the back of the tree. So I would take a look at the opposite side of this image as a possible front.

 

[just.wing.it]

Not a True Sycamore. As Leo mentioned.
Interesting tree, hope to see it in leaf!

 

[leatherback]

Not a True Sycamore.

odd comment. In the UK it is a true sycamore?
Unless you mean, not a mulberry, so not a sycamore?

Sycamore - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[just.wing.it]

odd comment. In the UK it is a true sycamore?
Unless you mean, not a mulberry, so not a sycamore?

Sycamore - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

My bad....in the American definition of a Sycamore....like what M.Frary was referring to with the huge leaves, white and gray exfoliating bark.....they grow large and beautifully.


Platanus occidentalis is what we call Sycamore.
I think one of the trees that is referred to as a Sycamore in the UK is actually a Maple called Acer pseudoplatanus.....aka Faker!

 

[Wizeeerrrddd]

Very few of your photos are useful for design. You need to take your photos with the lens of the camera on the same plane as the upper rim of the pot. And be back far enough to include all the branches. Photos looking down at the tree, or on angles are not useful for seriously considering design.

That said - you did get a good shot of what I think needs to be the back of the tree. So I would take a look at the opposite side of this image as a possible front.

Thanks for your help. I'll keep that in mind

 

[leatherback]

Platanus occidentalis is what we call Sycamore.

Know the species well. I have one in my yard, which I trim back about.. 9ft every year to keep it managable in a Euoprean yard..

 

[Wizeeerrrddd]

New front idea and sketch, I was thinking the apex could lean towards the front slightly in both ideas.

Continuing the theme of abrupt bends might be the better idea after all.

I know these trees are pretty fast growing but I have no idea how many years it would take to create a structure like this.
Does anyone have experience working with Acer pseudoplatanus?

Tried to get the level better for the picture

 

[Wizeeerrrddd]

.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Okay, better photo. I think if you turned the pot about 45 degrees (anywhere from 30 to 60 degrees, you need to experiment) turn it 45 degrees toward the viewer and I think you will have a "better front". You want the tree coming toward the viewer to some degree. It it just "runs straight out to the side" the viewer is "ignored" and the tree looks to be moving away. Not a big deal, and remember, often the choice of front will change several times as the tree is developed.

I like these 2 possible plans