Windblown Chinese Elm Shohin

[Chuah]

I defoliated and wired this windblown (windswept) Chinese elm shohin about a week ago, new buds already popped up along the branches. I like windblown broad-leaf trees after defoliation; one can see the branch movements clearly but it also requires a lot of maintenance to keep them in the blown direction. So I just do windblown shohin. This one is grown from seed

Photo taken this afternoon:


7/17/2017, before cutting back, defoliation and wiring:

 

[MACH5]

Very nice work Hoe!

 

[Wilson]

Awesome design! I love windswept trees, so many people stay away from this style. It is definitely a favourite of mine.

 

[Anthony]

@Wilson ,

lovely and believeable when not in leaf.
BUT when the leaves come in ?

Our windswept eastern beach coasts have all the branches and leaves going in the same direction.

Master Chuah is a brave man, hats off to him
Good Day
Anthony

 

[Tieball]

Nice tree. I like the windswept look. Makes me smile seeing the growth....trees like to grow up, straight up, most of the time. The growth helps the tree health. I guess the tree didn't read the windswept memo. So I get your challenge and appreciate the beauty of the view without leaves...as well as the beauty of healthy growth that continues to provide windswept options.

 

[VAFisher]

Very cool tree. I have a question concerning the windswept design. Is it considered ok to have the trunk leaning into the wind while all of the branches are going with the wind?

 

[Wilson]

Very cool tree. I have a question concerning the windswept design. Is it considered ok to have the trunk leaning into the wind while all of the branches are going with the wind?

It is often the natural appearance of windblown trees. Much like when a person walks into the wind, we bend into the wind. Branches being the weaker more flexible part, the follow the wind. That is just my observations growing up exploring the great white north.

 

[JudyB]

I love the way the pot acts with the feel of the tree, as if the wind also was blowing rain drops or ocean spray onto the green of the glaze base. Thanks for showing this tree in progress.

 

[Chuah]

Thank you everyone. I will try to answer the various comments and questions in this post.

Awesome design! I love windswept trees, so many people stay away from this style. It is definitely a favourite of mine.

@Wilson ,
lovely and believeable when not in leaf.
Anthony

Nice tree. I like the windswept look. Makes me smile seeing the growth....trees like to grow up, straight up, most of the time. The growth helps the tree health. I guess the tree didn't read the windswept memo. So I get your challenge and appreciate the beauty of the view without leaves...as well as the beauty of healthy growth that continues to provide windswept options.

People stay away from windswept perhaps it is one that is easy to make but hard to come up with lively and dramatic movements. There are so many variations on how trees survive in windy locations. Branches of some trees are blown horizontally or bent downwards, some upwards like this hawthorn from Pinterest. I like the way it is nearly bared. It suggests a struggle to survive the harsh environment and the merciless winds. This one is my inspiration for this elm with the rising and bared branches, I only restyle this informal upright elm into windblown last year, hopefully I will be able to keep the branches in this direction without the wires.

Very cool tree. I have a question concerning the windswept design. Is it considered ok to have the trunk leaning into the wind while all of the branches are going with the wind?

It is often the natural appearance of windblown trees. Much like when a person walks into the wind, we bend into the wind. Branches being the weaker more flexible part, the follow the wind. That is just my observations growing up exploring the great white north.

Tree trunks tend to either go a little straight up and bent, or just simply leaning in the wind direction. Rarely does a wind blown tree has the base rising up against the wind direction. I have searched a lot of windblown tree photos on the internet to get the inspirations, only found a few with trunk rising up opposite to the wind direction, perhaps a tree fallen by a disastrous event and rise up again. They indeed very rarely occur that way in nature. According to the Chinese penjing master, Mr. Liu Chuangang, whose windblown penjing are probably unsurpassed by others, having the trunk rising up against the wind direction is to create a dramatic effect, not necessary accurate portrayal of natural states. This is one of Mr. Liu's windswept landscape penjing, taken from Penjing Shijie (Penjing World), a net publishing site run by my friend, Mr. Liu Shaohong, not related to the master. Note also the fallen leaves on the pot.

There are a lot of windblown or windswept tree photos on Pinterest, great for inspiration if you want to try one.

I love the way the pot acts with the feel of the tree, as if the wind also was blowing rain drops or ocean spray onto the green of the glaze base. Thanks for showing this tree in progress.

Thanks Judy.

 

[justBonsai]

Great tree Hoe! I need to try styling some deciduous windswept trees when I get a chance.

 

[Chuah]

Great tree Hoe! I need to try styling some deciduous windswept trees when I get a chance.

Thanks, just love those movements.

 

[ConorDash]

A very very attractive tree.
I'm interested in its life's work, as it's been grown from a seed.
How old is it now, and what work did you do to get that trunk?
It has very good taper.

 

[Giga]

I'm not really a fan of windswept, but I do appreciate the work and the style is there. Great job

 

[Chuah]

A very very attractive tree.
I'm interested in its life's work, as it's been grown from a seed.
How old is it now, and what work did you do to get that trunk?
It has very good taper.

Not too sure about the age, probably 8-10 years.
To get good taper, best way is still the good old method of chopping the trunk and growing new leader to the size you want, then chop again. It takes time but you get the taper you want. Below is a Japanea maple shohin being grown this way. The leader is thick enough and I will chop it off soon and use the bottom small branch as a new leader. Once that branch is thick enough, I would have the final height, the rest is building branches etc.



I also do the chop and grow for larger tree. This is a Chinese elm I got from a landscape nursery. It has a nice root flare and a gradual bend in the main trunk. It was at least 12 ft. tall when I got it. Chopped it down around May this year, let it budded out and selected a new growth as leader which has thickened quite a bit. I put a chopstick next to It and a 4" pot near the base for size comparisons. It will take may be another 4-5 years to reach the desired thickness before working on the branches. There is no shortcuts for growing good taper, one can accelerate it by directing all the energies to thicken the leader faster. The envisaged final height would be about 24-26". Look forward to seeing it as a resonably good looking tree in about 10 years.

 

[ConorDash]

Not too sure about the age, probably 8-10 years.
To get good taper, best way is still the good old method of chopping the trunk and growing new leader to the size you want, then chop again. It takes time but you get the taper you want. Below is a Japanea maple shohin being grown this way. The leader is thick enough and I will chop it off soon and use the bottom small branch as a new leader. Once that branch is thick enough, I would have the final height, the rest is building branches etc.

View attachment 154812

I also do the chop and grow for larger tree. This is a Chinese elm I got from a landscape nursery. It has a nice root flare and a gradual bend in the main trunk. It was at least 12 ft. tall when I got it. Chopped it down around May this year, let it budded out and selected a new growth as leader which has thickened quite a bit. I put a chopstick next to It and a 4" pot near the base for size comparisons. It will take may be another 4-5 years to reach the desired thickness before working on the branches. There is no shortcuts for growing good taper, one can accelerate it by directing all the energies to thicken the leader faster. The envisaged final height would be about 24-26". Look forward to seeing it as a resonably good looking tree in about 10 years.

View attachment 154822

Wow, no kidding on the base flare of that elm! Lovely.
Big old trunk that is.
Ok thanks, good old chop and grow.
I need to get me a few of those projects, long term. Have a beech but it's not looking good.
Thanks.

 

[Chuah]

Wow, no kidding on the base flare of that elm! Lovely.
Big old trunk that is.
Ok thanks, good old chop and grow.
I need to get me a few of those projects, long term. Have a beech but it's not looking good.
Thanks.

I was not going to add any more tree especially a big one, but seeing it and with the winter 70% off sale for $45, could not resist the buying impulse.

 

[drew33998]

Very well done windswept. Super dynamic movement.

 

[Phillthy]

Awesome tree! I would love to try the windswept design one day

 

[defra]

Nice !
Comming back to the trunk growing against the wind you can imagine a tree growing towards the sun in the younger years and reach a certain height where it catches the wind because low on the ground there is a rock or something else blocking the wind and then cause the part of the tree catching the wind go windswept style !

 

[Adair M]

Personally, when I see a windswept moving the branches in the opposite direction as the trunk, it appears like it's in a gale, a temporary storm.

Trees that grow in permantly windy locations, like the divi divi trees on the island of Aruba, have trunks moving with the wind.

So, a "storm" windswept should have some branches growing into the wind that then make a U turn because of the storm winds.

Windswept are very hard to make and maintain.