Commentary


October "Claft" Workshop,
by Dierk Neugebauer

The focus of the October meeting was a workshop on "clafts". A "claft" is a forest type of planting where all of the trees of the forest come from the buried branches of one plant. The candidates for this workshop were a number of blauwii junipers that had been laboriously prepared ahead of time by John Ambrose, our president. He not only potted them up on their sides in home-made boxes, but spent many hours on the previous TBS Show weekend wrapping the bases of most branches with several layers of raffia so that the bark would be protected from the extreme bending that would happen as we worked on creating our claft plantings.

At this meeting there was only enough time for workshop participants to begin the wiring and to bend their "trees" into the upright position. the rest of this will have to be done by members at home. At some future time in the spring these plantings would be returned to a meeting in order to have the actual planting of the "clafted" branches take place. The idea here will be to hide the connection of all newly clafted trees with the main root system of the original.

Below are some of the pictures commemorating the event, as well as a couple of others who worked on their own trees. If you have not lately participated in one of our club workshops, you should give doing so some serious consideration. Not only do you end up with a tree, but also with help from other club members.
The lineup of some of the blauwiis prior to the start of the workshop. The raffia wrapping can be clearly seen. It will protect the branches from wire damage.


Grace is helping one of our new members with the selecting and wiring of branches. I see a lot of enthusiasm for the task at hand!


A closeup of wire being applied to a branch. Our assistant editor, Ben, is working on another tyoe of juniper. At most meetings members are encouraged to bring their own trees for advice and help.


Another Grace, not to be outdone working on her dwarf Scots pine. The towel on the left in this picture keeps the roots from drying out during the "operation."




A closeup of a branch that has been wired into a vertical position. Heavy wires attached to the box itself hold it in place. John lending a helping hand and some advice.