Customer Reviews

Arborsculpture: Solutions for a Small Planet

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Arborsculpture may well be the book on horticulture that gets your creative juices flowing. Author Richard Reames believes that trees hold the key to stabilizing the climate and, as he shows, this vital element of the environment can also be sculpted into a work of art.
Numerous photographs, submitted by many different photographers, illustrate the many creative ideas. Trees have been formed into outdoor furniture that is functional , such as gazebos, fences, and trellises, or odd constructs, such as trees growing with what look like antique bicycles or guns through their trunks.
Reames includes step-by-step instructions and clear explanations of the techniques of grafting, notching, and rubbing (notching is making a small notch above a dormant bud to encourage it to grow; rubbing is a form of pruning - the newly emerging bud is rubbed off by hand.) He says that once the trunk and branches are shaped, they keep their form and become stronger as the diameters increase.
In addition, Reames includes chapters on the history of arboriculture. Arborsculpture has been practiced since 1908 at least, all around the world. The huge tree sculptures of one influential arborsculptor, Axel N. Erlandson, are displayed at Bonfante Gardens in California.
The book Arborsculpture is a work of art in itself. The techniques themselves are simple and it is easy to start with a sapling. The trick is to faithfully shape the young tree for several years and to continue to prune it carefully after the framework is established. The examples presented by Reames are inspiring and you may soon find yourself outdoors creating your own arborsculpture.

This book gives lots of background history and trivia and is interesting in that sense, butI was hoping for more DIY-type information source. There are precious few pages that discuss methods.It is printed in a small b/w format so it's not that valuable for coffee table type that you can read and see beautiful pictures, yet they are interesting in a museum sort of way. The price seems a bit high for what it offers.

This book inspired me to try some arborsculpturing of my own, and I don't plant anything! If you've not heard about this field of arborsculpture, then you must check this book out! Thorough and well-documented, lots of pictures for us non-growing folk, and the auther has a great way of explaining the intricacies. He has been all over the world researching this subject, which is obvious once you read a little of the book. No where else could you get such a wealth of info on the subject, and it's all in one place. Guaranteed to make you want to try it yourself.

Seriously, I am back buying another copy of this book. Every time I repurchase this, 5 times now, I end up giving it away to a fellow gardener or tree lover. It is a fascinating look at what can be done for fun, beauty,function and love with trees. Very inspiring and thorough, despite the review that said it was lacking. The other favorable reviews are very good so I won't repeat.

It is such an exciting perspective anyone with a creative eye or interest in the landscape should buy this. If not for yourself, for that someone who has enthusiasm for the world of trees and natural things. Granted it is not a coffee table book and not an a to z methodology and I agree the price is a bit high but the material is such a gift and labor of love.

I will always be willing to pay a little extra to support passing along this kind of dedicated experienced information and inspiration. Now go hug a tree. LOL.

Cool Book to give you some crazy ideas but if your looking for a step by step guide to arborsculpture this is not the best book.