Chunky Korean Hornbeam

[Scrogdor]

Picked this up the other day. Seemed like a cool project. Thinking an informal broom type.

1. I do need a little advice on how to carve this and whether to shorten the first main branch. The side where the main branch jets out to the right is my preferred front as the base and nebari are better on that side. I’ll have to live with a large scar, just wondering how to carv so it looks more on the natural side.

2. Something I didn’t take into account was that there are no live horizontal nodes until the end of that first main branch, curious if I should leave it that length or cut it back to one of the vertical nodes and try to work it that way. There is one dormant horizontal bud it looks like that I circled. Thanks .

 

[Wood]

Mostly watching this for the advice that others give. I've got a KH in a similar situation -- there are no active buds where I actually want to cut back to.

I chatted with the curator and assistant curator at the national arboretum the last time I was there and they were both skeptical of cutting behind the last active bud and relying only on dormant buds. I removed basically all growth I don't want and then cut every branch back to one visible bud. I'm planning on making hard cuts mid-summer after a strong first flush