Saturday, March 10, 2007

The unusual hornbeam part 1

This European hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) was collected in Germany in 1996. I acquired it and planted it into this oval container by Derek Aspinall right away. It was always clear that this was just a growing container during the development phase.

This is a very unusual tree and it seems that folks who can only analyze bonsai according to what they think are the classical rules to style a 'godd', 'beatiful' bonsai, have severe problems with it.
Often the subtrunk at the right bothers people and they call it a 'branch' which is 'wrong'. The undergrowth at the bottom left seems to bother some. People keep telling me to style this tree finally. They tell me to take away what makes it unique, what makes it unusual. They try to tell me that it would be better if it appeared usual, ordinary. Good that I hear quite selectively.

1 to 3) spring 2001
4) spring 2003