Howdy,
I was so taken by the Beech forest Mirai created that I decided I had to try and create the concept I had in mind. To try and create a group or forest made of the species which grow locally; of course not to mix too many together but at least 3 different species.
I was not able to find really suitable stones/rocks, so after visiting every nursery in the area, I settled with 3 that I though meshed together okay and that their positions would make sense in a landscape. They are lava rocks but they must be also made up of something else as they are not the typical red or extremely porous type and some parts were hard to drill through even with a rotary hammer.
Also, the nurseries here, for some reason, have stopped suppling simple pure species and many now only offer cultivar varieties. This was an uphill battle just to find a pure European hornbeam or pure euro beech.
Lastly, I wasn’t able to source a big pot from anyone due to the physical limits of their ovens and I was running out of time to ask some people that could do it. I also couldn’t afford a pot that would be worth several hundred or even thousands of Dollars. I then looked for a big clay undertray, which I could drill holes into and make it work. That exactly happened, and it took several hours to get the several wire and drainage holes finished.
The largest beech still hasn’t opened, which is beginning to worry me as my other two beech have just recently opened and a couple of the smaller trees seem to be struggling. The best I can do now is like Ryan says, “watch the balance of water and oxygen.”
After placing everything, I can still see that there are similar spaces between the trees in the middle. I still have room on the back for another tree next year and that, along will a slight tilt to one of the trees could correct this symmetry.
