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Tree shaping, known under a variety of names, is the art and technique of growing and shaping trunks, branches and roots of trees and other woody plants. By grafting, shaping, and pruning the woody trunks, or guiding branches, trees are made to grow into ornamental or useful shapes. Tree shaping is similar to espalier, Bonsai and sometimes includes some topiary.

Method

Tree shaping relies on the ability of plants (trees) to be united together by approach grafting and the ability to retain a new shape when new layers of wood form to hold a desired shape.

Approach grafting is accomplished by wounding two or more parts of a tree or trees by cutting off the bark, to or past the cambium layer and then binding the wounded parts together so good contact is secure while the wounded tree parts grow together.

Stems or branches, are shaped and temporarily supported for a year or more. Depending on the size of the design and the time frame the supports are need. During that time, The design swells with each additional layer of wood grown. Once the tree is able to support the shaping the temporary supports can be removed.

Pruning may be required to remove unwanted branches and direct the growth into the desired shape. Pruning may also redirect stem growth. A pruning cut above a Leaf or Node can steer the plant. If a leaf points to the right, then a cut above that leaf will produce new growth that grows to the right side. Likewise, a cut above a leaf pointing to the left, produces new growth that grows to the left.

Another technique is to grow trees in the air rather than in the ground. The roots then remain flexible and may be shaped as they grow to form art or functional structures. It is suggested that such techniques may develop into eco-architecture which may allow the growing of large structures such as homes.

Using these methods (also used in Arboriculture), items like benches, chairs, etc., can be formed from trees by shaping, merging and manipulating Plant tissue.

Tools

A few of the tools used in tree shaping are similar to those used by a Gardener, an Arborist, or a Horticulturist. These tools include handpruners (Secateur) and a pruning saw.

Shears (Pruning shears or a Hedge trimmer) are used less commonly. Shears are used more often for topiary or a Hedge (barrier).

The tools, materials and items for growing and shaping are varied. Basically, this is whatever a tree shaper chooses for creating the design, and could include wood boards, pipe, rope, wire, string, tape, etc.. Even an item like a metal patio bench could be used as a pattern or mold (Molding (process)).

Time required

The time to grow and construct a tree shaping project varies, depending on the size of trees, the species rate of growth, cultivation conditions, the height of the design and methods used. It is possible to perform initial grafting and bending on a project in an hour (eg: the peace-sign tree below) using the Arborsculpture's methods, removing tape or material that holds the grafting or shape in as little as 1 year and following up with minimal pruning thereafter. "With the Pooktre's methods it can take as little as one season of guiding the trees growth to form the design, and then longer for the tree to thicken to the desired size. For example, see the harvested mirror below. "

Taller, architectural projects like the archway by Axel Erlandson may require 10 years or more to grow the trees tall enough to accomplish the grafting.

Different styles of tree shaping have different time requirements. When growing a tree intended for harvest and drying, there is a defined point at which the piece is finished. When growing a piece intended to stay alive the piece is never finished until it dies.

Styles

Architectural

Planting and shaping trees into structures such as archways, rooms, houses, tunnels, gazebos. There are two methods within this style. Only using the trees to form the structures, or using trees and inclusions form the structures.

Living Art

Shaping trees with the intention the design will continue to grow for the tree's live span. This style includes, abstract, symbolic and functional.

Intentional Harvest

Designs where the tree(s) are cut from the ground, dried and finished.

Inclusion

Where an item, often inert is positioned so the growth of the tree includes and holds the item. Examples, table tops, stained glass and mirror.

Choosing a tree type

When choosing suitable trees, research is needed. Look for the mature trees that grow well in the area, are less prone to insect damage, and are less susceptible to disease. Any tree species has the potential for shaping. Each type of tree has its own quirks, but they can be understood with time and experience.

Tree species

Here is a list of some of the trees that have been shaped.

• Box elders (Acer)
• Sycamore (Platanus)
• Ficus
• Cherry (Prunus)
• Black cherry (Prunus serotina)
• Crepe myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica)
• Maple (Acer)
• Ash (Fraxinus)
• Guava tree
• Oak (Quercus)
• Poplar (Populus)
• Teak (Tectona grandis linn. F)
• Wild Plum (Prunus myrobalan)
• Weeping Willow

Notable tree shapers

John Krubsack

John Krubsack planted 32 Box Elder (acer nugundo) seeds in 1903. He shaped and grafted the first known living chair. Dubbed "The Chair that Lived" is the only known tree shaping that John Krubsack did. He harvested and dried the chair 11 years after planting.

Axel Erlandson

Axel Erlandson started shaping trees as a hobby on his farm in Hilmar, California in 1925. In 1945 he opened a horticultural attraction called the Tree Circus in Scotts Valley, California. He shaped over 70 trees during his life. Erlandson’s trees appeared in the column of Ripley's Believe It or Not! twelve times. Erlandson's "Telephone Booth Tree" is on permanent display at the Baltimore, Maryland American Visionary Art Museum. Erlandson's "Birch Loop" tree is on permanent display at the Museum of Art History in Santa Cruz, California

Extreme Nature

Dan Ladd started shaping trees in 1979. He has a current project where he has grafted eleven trees next to each other up a hillside, to form a long banister. He also uses glass, metal and stone, as inclusions for trees to grow around and hold in place.

Grownup Furniture

Dr Christopher Cattle, thought of the idea, to shape trees in the late 1970s, but it wasn't until 1996 that he was able to start his first planting of furniture. He has grown 15 3-legged stools to completion, using various species of trees. He has multiple plantings in at least 4 different locations in England. Besides the growing sites, he has taken part in several woodland and craft shows in England, and at the 'Big Tent' at Falkland Palace in Scotland. He also displayed his stools at the exhibit at Nagoya in Japan for Expo 2005. He uses wooden jigs for the shaping of his trees. He main aims appear to be, to show that it's possible to create genuinely useful things without adding to the pollution that industry inevitably seems to produce. And to encourage the revival of such simple and ecologically sound methods, and to promote and encourage new thought along these lines.

Arborsculpture

Some artists such as Reames use the word Arborsculpture to describe tree shaping in general, whereas other artists use the term to refer to a particular style of tree shaping. The term first appeared in the book How to Grow a Chair- The Art of Tree Trunk Topiary 1995 by Reames and Delbol ISBN 0-9647280-0-1 where Reames coined the word in an attempt to give a unifying name to the practice of shaping the growth of tree trunks. The word has since been used in media around the world, and appears in at least one published patent. Controversy exists about the branding of Arborsculpture, as some of the practitioners Reames presents in his book ("Arborsculpture Solutions for a small planet") don't accept the term, or agree to be tagged by it, whereas others do.

Richard Reames was inspired by the works of Axel Erlandson to attempt his first experiments with growing trees into chairs, which lead him to writing his first book "How to grow a chair" before his experiments were mature.

Pooktre

Pooktre is a method of tree shaping that was developed by artists Peter Cook and Becky Northey. Their first tree shaping experiment was in 1987. In 1996, after nine years of experimentation without being aware of any other tree shapers, they called their work 'Pooktre'. Pooktre's methods involve gently guiding a tree's growth along predetermined design pathways over long time periods. The most common tree species used is Prunus myrobalan. Pooktre artists shape trees that are harvested, dried, and finished for indoor art, as well as trees that are intended to continue growing.

Since it was first debuted in public, there has been worldwide internet and media interest in Pooktre. It first gained widespread attention at the world Expo in 2005 Aichi Japan at the Growing Village Pavilion, where Peter Cook and Becky Northey showed eight of their art pieces for six months, two of which were "people trees".

Pooktre practitioners claim to have created the first shaped trees grown like people. Some examples of functional artwork created in the Pooktre style include:

• a growing garden table,
• a harvested coffee table,
• hat stands,
• mirrors and
• a gem stone neck piece.

Tree Chair

Mr. Wu, who lives in China, has successfully grown a harvested chair. He has six more growing in his garden. He uses elm trees which are pliant and do not break easily, He says it takes about five years to grow a tree chair.

Differences from topiary

Topiary may include the manipulation of stems, but is primarily the art and skill of producing shapes with leaves (foliage). By contrast, shaped trees is primarily the practice of manipulating stems and bonding trees together by grafting. Shaped trees may include some topiary effects, but topiary is not the primary feature and consideration of the practice as a whole.

Although it is possible to use grafting for topiary, its use is rare.

Shaped Trees include furniture and items that were constructed exclusively using plant growth and grafted plant tissue. These items can be severed from the roots or removed from the ground; no longer being living organisms. But topiary is virtually limited to live organisms (plants) with leaves.

Topiary almost always involves regular shearing and shaping of foliage, whereas shaped trees projects can easily be formed without shearing.

Differences from espalier

Espalier is the horticultural technique of training trees through pruning and (or) grafting to make formal "two-dimensional" or single plane patterns with branches of trees or shrubs. But shaped trees projects are not limited to a flat single plane, nor a pattern. Either technique may use species of trees which produce fruit. But espalier-trained trees are not known to be shaped into benches, mirror frames, table pedestles or woven pillars.

Differences from pleaching

Pleaching is more similar to shaped trees than topiary or espalier. But pleaching is limited to flat planes and hedges, therefore it is not a 3 dimensional tree shaping. If a person chose to weave and graft several trees into a flat hedge, that hedge would be one individual shaped trees project.

Differences from bonsai

Bonsai is an art of growing trees in pots and containers, using pruning techniques to keep the trees at a miniature size they also use copper wire to shape the tiny branches. Bonsai avoids woven branch patterns or branches bent to resemble identifiable shapes. A bonsai project is intended to appear as if a human had not shaped it; like representation of a miniature tree, if one could be found in the wild. Shaped trees is almost the opposite concept, because the project shapes visually "announce" that a human had shaped it.

It is possible to make a miniature shaped trees in a pot like Bonsai, and keep it reduced to miniature size. But if it were to resemble a pretzel for example, that would not be the true nature of "bonsai". It would just be a miniature shaped trees in a pot or container. Even a flat slab of rock can work for a planting tray, with moss retaining the soil.

See also

• Topiary
• Espalier
• Pleaching
• John Krubsack
• Axel Erlandson
• Fab Tree Hab: Living Home of Shaped Trees
• Gilroy Gardens: Home of the Circus Trees

References

Notes

1. Eco-architecture Could Produce 'Grow Your Own' Homes, ScienceDaily, August 21, 2008
2. Turlock Journal p. 15, (Obituary) April 30, 1964
3. Magazines
   • Cassidy, Patti (January/February 2009) "Planting Your Future", Hobby Farm Home P.74
   • Cassidy, Patti (August, 2008) "A Truly Living Art", Rhode Island Home, Living and Design, P. 28
   • Cassidy, Patti (April/May 2006) "Art to Grow", Acreage Life (Canada) P. 17
   • Nestor, James (February, 2007). "Branching Out"., Dwell p. 96.
   • Fore, Joshua (Issue #20) “How to Grow a Chair” Cabinet p. 27.
   • May, John (Spring/Summer 2005) "The Art of Arborsculpture" Tree News(UK) P.37
   T.V. Broadcast containing the definition of Arborsculpture-
   • “Tree Stories”, Fantasy Trees show # 103
   • “Offbeat America” # OB310 (First aired Dec 4 2006)
4. (Axel N Erlandson as the inspiration) Arborsculpture Solutions for a Small Planet by Richard Reames. page 150. How to grow a Chair by Richard Reams. page 16. (First experiments) How to grow a Chair by Richard Reams page 57. (Writing the first book before having finished pieces) Arborsculpture Solutions for a Small Planet by Richard Reams, page 152.
5. Magazines
   • "TABURET" magazine in 2006 (Russia)
   • Farmshow Vol. 32 No. 4 2008 http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~blackash/pdf/09.pdf (America)
   • Queensland Smart farmer Oct./Nov. 2008 (Australia)
   TV
   • Appeared on national TV in Japan during the World Expo in 2005
   • Doug Murry from Extra did an interview on Pooktre in 2005
   • Australia's best backyard in Oct. 2007 (National show)
6. reports the China Morning Business View.
7. http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1268332.html - Ananova

Bibliography

External links

• World Tree shapers, history and links
• Arborsculpture in Published Patent
• History of the Tree Circus
• Extreme Nature Installations, Lectures, Art and Innovation
• Grownup Furniture
• Pooktre
• Technology and Art
• KinderForest Growing a Playground
• An introduction to Arborsculpture
• Richard Reames- Books, tools, installations, history and links
• Google Maps: Worldwide Constructions of Living Trees

• 2005 books
• Horticulture and gardening
• Trees