I found these two interesting Hawthorn trees. First one is probably more expensive, being offered to me for some 300 euros. The second one is on an auction, so I won’t really know the final price, but it will probably be less than the first one (if I actually manage to win).
The first one is a clump, with the main trunk having a kinda uninteresting straight section. It’s got potential, but is it worth 300 euros (plus shipping)?
The second one is a raft, but I’m concerned with the upwards heading end of it. It’s been cut and any new growth was cut from it so I suspect it will likely die back to the nearest branch (basically turning the raft into a clump).
I personally like #2 a lot better. It has appealing curvature and could make a decent base for a raft maybe? But yeah that’s a reasonable concern about die back.
I’m not sure I would go for the first one. The lack of transitional taper is hard to reconcile for me. BUT I know Ryan and some others here have an uncanny ability to find beauty in any tree, so if you find it appealing, I’m sure there’s value there. Just personally, I think you can probably find something with a little more shape for that price.
I would go with no 2 as the multiple hard straight lines in no 1 would always bother my eye.
Personally, I would look for something that isnt trunk chopped. I think both of these will take a long time to look more natural, and 300 E for the first one is rather steep imho. If I was in Europe, I would be looking for yamadori scots pine. So easy to learn on, and you get results fast with the added ability to manipulate the hell out of em.
Yeah, I’ll probably go for yamadori come spring, but honestly, I kinda hate pines haha. I have a thing for deciduous trees and conifers don’t really make sense to me. Like I can appreciate a good pine, if it were well executed, but I dislike 99% of them and I don’t really know what I would do with one.
That said, if the opportunity arises, I won’t shy away from a pine (probably not Scotts, as we have our own Macedonian pine).
hahaha, people are so different! I dont really get deciduous, and pines are second nature to me! I havent heard of a Macedocian pine, and i’d love to see one if you ever collect.
