Page 28 - BSAM 2017 Q1

Sketches and proposed arrangements by members.
The next step was to plan and sketch
the possible arrangement and position of the trees based on the Thomas Baines group.
26 | BCI | January/February/March 2017
at tree is still alive today and as it would clearly add interest to the planting, we had to nd a leaning trunk to represent that particular tree.
Pruning and wiring
e next step was to prune and wire the primary and secondary branches of the selected trees. We wired and bent the branches into gentle downward sloping curves to represent the growth habit and
tendency of the heavy branches to curve downwards in nature.
e branches of baobabs are extremely exible and therefore easy to bend and manipulate into desired positions. With this exibility comes an added chal- lenge. e branches of baobabs can take forever to hold their positions.
Wiring and bending the branches into exaggerated positions are necessary to combat this exibility. It is