Mattbonsai

Hi All, By the Name of the thread, I don't mean Schefflera, I mean my new project, I purchased this Acer Callipes / Davidii from the Local (Back Home) Wyevale Garden Centre for £2 (after several reductions) in the summer, I've had it a while sitting in the garden, until I could get around to it, but when I went home at Christmas I managed to find the time.

I purchased some Bamboo canes and tree stake from a garden centre, and had some bale string already in the garden, after alot of bending branches, a couple of the dreaded cracks, and lots of string I've ended up with the photos attached.

The idea of the tree is to, when it has matured, create a dense square of foliage which is high enough for someone to sit under and therefore be shaded from any strong summer sun and the worst of any downpours. I've seen the idea before in Holland where they love this kind of thing and pleached trees, and at work where we have a few tillia trained like this, but I can't for the life of me remember what the correct terminology for it is, so if anyone does please shout.

What do you guys think?

Cheers,

-Matt-

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T.S.Wheeler

What a funny idea; I've never heard of growing a tree with that specific purpose in mind. So are you going to keep it in a pot or plant it in the ground? And how thick do you plan to let the canopy get? This could be an interesting way of bringing a sense of formality and structure to a garden; and it does seem like such a European thing. I may have to try this some day, and yes, I would also like to find out what this technique is called.
I actually have had the idea to grow a tree up through the umbrella hole in a table, more for shade than for protection from rain. The only problem is that the table would eventually strangle the tree unless there was a way to enlarge the hole.

Thanks for sharing this and keep us updated!
Travis

AlainK

Very interesting. I didn't know the verbs, but we would say "palisser" in modern French, and this is the definition I found online :

" • verb entwine (tree branches) to form a hedge or provide cover for an outdoor walkway. — ORIGIN Old French plaissier, from Latin plectere ‘plait’."


We usually "pleach" fruit trees vertically to facilitate picking the fruit apple-trees, pear-trees, but also peach-trees near Paris : being against a wall that kept the heat from the sun during the day, it enabled king Louis XIV to have peaches, that grow more naturally in warmer climates.


But since this umbrella shape is not frequent at all, we would just use the same word as for the vertical forms.


Trees in Japanese gardens (pines) are formed with this technique, and we use "palisser", "pleach" too.


For instance, the photo linked is from "One of Japan's most famous Zen gardens located in the Daisen-in (Great Hermit's Temple), a sub-temple of the main temple of Daitoku-ji in northern Kyoto." :


http://farm1.static.flickr.com/29/61...0e3416.jpg?v=0

(main page : gardens-to-visit.com: June 2008 )

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Alain K.
http://www.rdb45.fr
http://ak2.apinc.org/bdB

Mattbonsai

Hi Travis, I'm going to keep it in a pot for the next couple of years, there's talk again at home of moving house, so the last thing I want to do is plant it after all this work. I'm going to keep the canopy quite open, let the leaves create a solid mass, but prune the twigs to keep it somewhat open, and not become a block of wood. Depending on the rate of growth I get from this tree, I might extend the frame another 2-3 foot on each side to make the crown wider.

Hi Alain, vertical Pleaching is done on fruit trees over here as well, but doing it to normal trees such as Tillia is becoming more popular, I will ask about at work to see if anyone knows the correct term for it, they normally just refer to them as the umbrella trees

Cheers,

-Matt-

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Mattbonsai

I Finally remembered to ask at work what this style of tree is technically called, and they simply refer to them as 'Parasol' trees, had a close look at a few we have, and we've got Liquidamber styraciflua in this style, very very good species to do this with!

-Matt-

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