Especially in historical gardens, you can find trees that have been artistically cut into shapes, mostly coniferous trees that recreate geometric or fantasy figures, even living sculptures. You can do this yourself at home - and it's best to start with a simple ball or another round shape to practice.
How to cut a tree into a round shape?
To cut a tree round, choose a slightly rounded young plant (e.g. B. Boxwood), remove side shoots at the base, limit the height with a round dome, cut away upward growing side shoots in an arc and shape side surfaces into a spherical shape.
Various round shapes
Species that tolerate pruning, such as yew or boxwood, are best shaped into the desired shape. But Thuja (Western arborvitae), false cypress, Leyland cypress or privet are also suitable.
- Sphere: simple, evenly round ball made of boxwood, yew or privet, without a visible trunk
- Ball on a stem: Here the ball is on a stem without any other side shoots.
- Multiple balls: Here there are several balls on top of each other on a stem, without any other side shoots. Clearly visible trunk
- Pompon: A multi-branched tree or shrub has several “crowns” cut into balls.
- Drop: The teardrop shape is wide and round at the bottom and becomes increasingly narrower towards the top until it finally ends in a point, no visible trunk
- Beehive: The beehive is cylindrical-wide at the bottom, tapers only slightly towards the top and finally ends rounded, no visible trunk
For the round shapes with a visible trunk, you should use softwoods such as juniper, false or Leyland cypress.
Cut a ball – this is how it works
You can get stable balls that don't fall apart so quickly by training young plants at an early stage. You should cut this to size as a container plant and only then plant it out. In this way, the bushes branch vigorously and thus stay in shape. However, bushes that are less branched and cut into a ball tend to fall apart later - for example as a result of a snow load. Training to become a ball takes about two to three years and requires regular corrective pruning.
Cutting instructions
- Select a slightly rounded young plant, such as a box.
- Now cut away the side shoots at the base so that a more or less round shape is created.
- Now limit the height in a second step.
- To do this, cut a round dome.
- In a third step, shape the sides in the upper area by cutting away the side shoots growing upwards in a round arc.
- Finally, the side surfaces are cut to create a beautiful, spherical shape.
Cutting an exact ball shape takes some practice. Some people find it easier at first to create an egg or tear shape.
Tip
It is even easier to shape the tree into a rectangular box shape. To achieve this, tie several bamboo sticks together to form a makeshift template.
