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This Cedar elm (Ulmus crassifolia) I collected back in April just about croaked, but I took extraordinary steps and it appears to have pulled through. You can see why I worked so hard to save it. That shari running from near the base most of the way up the tree is 100% natural, and makes for a great feature worth designing around. But what’s the right planting angle?

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This is another choice, which does have some positives going for it. But you just can’t see the feature as well.

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I figured out that the tree had way too much slant in it, so I wedged it up for this photo. Still looks nice from this angle, but now I’ve pretty much lost sight of the shari.

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Now I think I’m getting somewhere. There’s still a slant to the planting angle, but it’s not as drastic and makes for a more natural impression (in my opinion). I think this is something I can work with.

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It’s not always easy to see the tree in these collected sticks and stumps, so I often take pencil and paper to the task to come up with a plan. This is one of those cases that really lends itself to this technique. Here’s the result.

It’s a masculine tree, of course, with that big gash ripped into it, so a rectangular pot is called for. In order to emphasize the lengthy shari, a narrower silhouette is in order too. Given the tree’s gentle taper, making it look taller is also called for. So I need the branches to remain close in to the trunk.

This was a great exercise. Don’t be shy about taking pencil and paper to any of your trees in development. You may be surprised at what you come up with.

Leave me a comment below and let me know what you think.