• LAVA Moderator: Mysterier

What is your favorite kind of tree?

You have great taste in trees. I'd love to bonzai an oak or a Scots pine. I have an oak sapling I grew from an acorn, its only about 2 foot high, I should look into it. My old next door neighbour who was about 80 had a bonzai Horse Chestnut, he and his son pulled the sapling out of a wall where it had started growing when his son was small, he's about 60 now. He'd be a good one to ask. <3 native British trees.

Thanks man, I thought the Beech photo you posted was lovely!

British trees are my favourite, probably as I love spending time in the woodlands here, but I think they have some charm in general.

You should definitely look into making a bonsai from it. Oak bonsai need to be quite large as the leaves are broad and larger than most bonsai'd trees, but at 2 feet that might be perfect for you. If you plant it in the ground for a few years, to thicken up the trunk, and keep the branches pruned, it'll start to bonsai itself.

I have a few deciduous British trees of my own thickening for the bonsai process.

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Cherry Blossom. :)

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Yes way babe! The bottle tree Busty posted is the QLD equivalent.... Brachychiton rupestris :)
 
Just can't beat the aesthetic weirdness of the weeping willow.

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The only tree that resembles a waterfall.
 
I have some trees 5 minutes walk away that have looked exactly like that, due to frost/snow, all week. I really should take my camera to work. Lovely photo
 
Weeping willow

I was going to say the weeping willow but looking at some of these tree's im not so sure anymore. The tree of souls or whatever is beautiful.
 

FYI: This is actually made up of 2 plants in symbiosis. It was explained to me by a French man who was passionate about about it: this is a "strangler" fig (the spindly stuff) living off the host tree's structure, sometimes eventually killing off the host altogether. IIRC, both are actually the same plant, except the "strangler" germinates high in the host's branches (for the light) and grows its roots down the trunk. They look even more impressive when both are choking and crushing monuments of a long-gone civilizations (I'm thinking of Angkor) :). Powerful symbolism right there.

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For favourite tree? Difficult to pick one - trees are amongst the noblest of all beings to me and are therefore all beautiful in their own way.

My vote for favourite though definitely goes to the Giant Redwood. Most trees in the same family (Cupressaceae) are graceful IMO (think, Lebanon cedar?) but the Giant Redwood definitely wins the awe award... and I say this and my only encounter with them was a baby specimen in the university arboretum, haha. One reason I'm so excited about the West Coast soon is seeing the real thing.

Other contenders include Tamarack, weeping willows, and all the Aussie aliens that N3O posted :)

Btw, Olive and Grapevine, particularly when grown on each other in symbiosis, is a definite winner, as was traditionally done in mediterranean countries and can be counted as a premodern idea approaching permaculture, IMO..
 
FYI: This is actually made up of 2 plants in symbiosis. It was explained to me by a French man who was passionate about about it: this is a "strangler" fig (the spindly stuff) living off the host tree's structure, sometimes eventually killing off the host altogether. IIRC, both are actually the same plant, except the "strangler" germinates high in the host's branches (for the light) and grows its roots down the trunk. They look even more impressive when both are choking and crushing monuments of a long-gone civilizations (I'm thinking of Angkor) :). Powerful symbolism right there.

That is positively amazing. Thanks for the info Jam!
 
Japanese Maple Tree off the top of my head. Incredibly elegant trees, will add some photos when I get a chance. Really miss seeing them everyday.
 
^ alasdairm posted some pics of japanese maple trees on the first page (post #4)

for me, its easy choice and it has nothing to do with appearance. aquilaria tree infected with mold produce http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agarwood

the scent is described as feral, pungent, skanky, fecalicious, medicinal, band-aid. i have some real in a vial from india. lot of history behind it, been used since ancient times. in the wiki it says "being mentioned throughout one of the world's oldest written texts – the Sanskrit Vedas from India."

the resin is a medicine produced by the tree to cure itself from the infection/illness, very fascinating... people burn it while meditating its like it cleanses/cures the mind/body/spirit of unwanted infections =)

can learn more about it in this vid if it sounds interesting to ya...

 
Japanese Maple Tree off the top of my head. Incredibly elegant trees, will add some photos when I get a chance. Really miss seeing them everyday.
They are very beautiful, in fact I have one in my front yard.

I love the great Sycamore trees. Their beautiful white batch and gnarly, twisted branches speak to me :)
 
I don't have a favourite, but lagarostrobos franklinii (huon pines) smell good and look pretty cool

mtreadhuoncb.jpg
 
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