Carpinus "The Wild Boar" naked

Carpinus betulus "The Wild Boar"

We are having terribly hot weather during last month or so. Every day is over 35°C and it is not funny anymore. Man has to be really brave to go outside during the day. During heatwave like that you have to take care about your drinking regime. So, when I was working toady on this hornbeam, I had to be careful not to lose too much water and minerals by sweating. 

There is hardly anything better for the job as Czech beer. We have been living in one country with Czech brothers long enough to learn how to recognize good beer. 

So, tree was defoliated two months ago, mainly on top of the crown. Since then new foliage appeared and new shoots emerged. After last trimming there were little stubs which I leave on purpose. I'm trying to avoid cutting branches to close to the last bud. I think it is much safer, you just have to go around the tree when new shoots grow from bud and are strong enough. Then you just cut the dry stubs off to create nice transition between old and new part of the branch. 

Some new shots grow in wrong direction, and are too dense, so it must be cleared.

Shots get quite long in top section of the crown. 

Where I see those I cut them off. My favorite bonsai job.

And tree looks like this after one beer and few cuts. Only low point is moving this beast around. 

Carpinus betulus "The Wild Boar"

During last few days I was working on this hornbeam. Now this is lucky tree, it grows well and it is producing a lot of foliage as you can see on "before" picture. Tree was partially defoliated, on top mostly and shoots were shortened. You can find few words about its history and some pictures from its development since 2010 here. 

before works

Here you can see reverse tapering, must be solved in future

New growth appears already on top

As one can see, it is challenging tree. One point is that it is terribly heavy, moving it around in the garden is nightmare. When I do it I always wonder if I will not leave this hobby and go back to collecting stamps instead.  

But this is minor problem compared with design challenges ahead. Tree has revers taper as you can see on some side pictures. I think about solving it by embedding rock into nebari and grow new roots over it, but that's just idea for now. Nebari from front is too wide and I think I will narrow it in the future. And big wound on front needs carving but it is not so problematic, just needs time. 

Carpinus betulus No.12 "The Wild Boar" in autumn

Carpinus betulus No.12 "The Wild Boar" in autumn color