Formal Upright White-out Exercise: Part I
A white-out exercise is a fun way to explore design options. It helps see a new design without needing to cut off a branch.
This Ezo Spruce was designed in 2016 and has since filled out. It’s a skinny-trunked tree, and now there’s enough foliage mass that the design might be improved by cutting off branches.
Take a look and see what branches you think should be cut, if any.
Here’s the subject of our exercise, an Ezo Spruce.
We used white cloths as white-out in a recent Seasonal class.
The following are suggested branch removals, shown as digital white-outs.
Please review the options below and choose your favorite, putting the number of your choice in the blog comments. In Part II I’ll talk about my favorite, and in Part III I’ll comment on the other 9, many of which are fine options.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
A final option is to thin the foliage and not cut any branches off. Let’s keep that as option 11.
Let me know what you think in a comment on the blog (not as a reply). I’ll respond in Part II with my own option, and discuss it in detail.
34 Comments
At this stage, no. 2
9
#2
Brian picks “2
I love the rounded crown on image 7, and I would delete all but the upper third of the tree, in keeping with how big conifers grow around here. Maybe some jins, but taking off that bottom third gives the tree a look of maturity and towering that don’t come across with the branches below the 1/3 mark.
Not a fan of many of them but 5 seems to have more conducive distribution of foliage than the other ones. I would take more of the business out of the middle to give better airflow and light to the remaining branching.
Kim C.
Based on the pics, I’d go with #9. However, I also like it as is, with no cuts – to grow some more, perhaps with some needle thinning in the meantime, and to review later.
I like 2 and 8.
From these I prefer #9.
Though I would prefer to keep the bottom branch and shorten some of them like this https://photoshop.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:EU:74242e09-744d-4000-99c7-15f65a55e5e7
Number 6 well balanced and more in scale with the trunk.
7
I’ll go with 8 – good distribution, eliminating density and bar branches. #9 was a candidate, but that apex is off-putting…
I would recommend option five. This seems to be the most visually balanced and has the feel of an older spruce. The negative space on the left is very nicely balanced by the denser foliage higher up on the right. This makes the tree appear more natural to me and gives the tree a feel of age.
Design 10 looks the best.
I like option 7 as it gives the impression of a tall tree in the wild, revising the crown is a key part of that.
I don’t know how to grow an Ezo… but I think #9 shows a stately mature tree.
so many different picks! #5 here but honestly it started to blur together for me
#2 for sure, rival to #1 but the rest are removing too much IMO
I’d vote for option five. This option seems to minimize negative space between branches. I like the “pointer” top, but would thin its foliage a bit.
7 – I like the extra space provided by removing some of the lower branches as much as I like the openness of the wider crown. I think this option feels the least like a garden center Alberta spruce.
No2 for now but perhaps cutting the top as on No7
7
Tough one, but I’m leaning towards 7. There’s an old lone white pine in a field that i drive by frequently with a very similar silhouette.
I like 8 and 2!
I like #4
The rounded crown on number 7 and the removal of the lowest right hand branch in particular gives the appearance of an older tree so that is my preference
Option 11, while reducing the apex as in option 7.
# 1
#3 is my favorite
I like the tree most as it is: so, either #11 (thin a little only) or as original (#0?🤗)
9
I think #7 portrays a mature stately conifer, Interesting that Al, Erich, and myself (all PNWers) chose the same option.
I like 4.
Thank you EVERYONE for engaging with this exercise! So many great comments and choices. I’ll do a Part III soon—and hope I’m not beating a dead horse by that point—but I do have a few points to make about all of these. More soon—