I can't remember which site I got these pictures from but after a quick Google I think it must be this one Flickr: The strange, weird, odd and unique trees Pool
The last picture is known as a The Baobab Tree.
Some great links left by hitmewithit in the comments.
Arborsculpture - Wikipedia
Axel Erlandson - Wikipedia
Arborsmith Studios - Axel Erlandson Tree Circus
Pooktre Tree Shapers
Tree Sculpture
And thanks to anonymousfor Bonfante Gardens Family Theme Park
And thanks to Becky form Pooktre for the following links
Circus Trees by Axel N Erlandson
Tree shaping - Wikipedia
Tree shapers
A few more sent in by email
Posts
13 comments:
ive seen the top trees before in an article. seems like i remember it saying that this one japanese man would 'grow' them that way, but no one could figure out how he did it, and when he died, the secret to how he made them died with him.
and i'm pretty sure the last tree is a boabob (spell?) tree of africa. their trunks are full of water
Yeh they are great. I hope the secret did'nt die with him. That would be sad. :(
I'll stick a link up to baobob trees.
Axel Erlandson (1884-1964)
was an American arborsculptor who opened a horticultural attraction in 1947 featuring his unique shaped trees. The attraction was eventually named "The Tree Circus".
So not japanese but he did consider his methods secret. It is a combination of grafting the limbs and sculpting by forcing/encouraging growth in a particular direction. I have had a go at this on a small plant and it eventually bcame a sturdy young plant with a spiral hole in the main stem...just by slowly, over the weeks, bending and tying the stem around until it had gone a full circle...then I got ambitious and went around again...and again. try it!
Some links you will really enjoy about this art of Arborsculpture:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arborsculpture
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axel_Erlandson
http://www.arborsmith.com/treecircus.html
http://www.geocities.com/aharonaveh22/index.htm
http://www.pooktre.com/
Very informative thanks.
u'r pix of the trees r so freeky i love it
The Circus Trees are Located at Bonfante Gardens, Hecker Pass HWY
152, Gilroy, Ca. I Live In Gilroy.
Mr Bonfante's Gardens started as a hobby then flourished into a great theme park.
Excellent articles and photos. Where from do you bring all these
Most of the links have been provided by the readers and I'm not quite sure but I think the images came in an email from someone or other.
a Baobab tree indeed is from Africa, and is considered to be valuable not because of its wood, nor because of being full of water. it is used however by the local populations to collect water, in holes found in between the branches. rainwater stays nice and cool, and is collected via steps cut into the trunk. Baobabs are also called Devils tree,because they resemble an upside-down tree in the dry season, when they have no leaves.
Thanks.
The readers of this site are far more knowledgable than me. :)
Anyone can manipulate a tree like that.. all you have to know is how the tree works and be able to predict what reactions your actions will cause. For example in the first picture - If you top a tree.. it will send out many shoots.. you pick which buds you want to keep.. and you pick which stems you want to keep.. cut the rest off... I'm not describing the whole process it would take too long. Also certain species of trees work better than others. It all just takes patience and many many years.
Hi this is Becky form Pooktre
The work of Axel N Erlandson is unachievable to grow using Aborsculpture's methods. To see more of his trees go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axel_Erlandson or http://www.treeshapers.net/axel-n-erlandson.html
Axel Erlandson name for his trees is Tree Circus, and not Arborsculputre.
Arborsculpture relates to Richard Reames's method of shaping trees.
At Wikipedia there was a consensus that a neutral name was needed for the artform, and Tree shaping was decided upon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_shaping
You may be also interested in visiting this website http://www.treeshapers.net which shows photos from all the different tree shapers from around the world.
Thanks. I've put the new links you gave me up above. :)
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