Working on My European Hornbeam Bonsai – Decluttering the Apex & Making Key Branch Decisions

Hey everyone, welcome back to the channel! In today’s video, I’m working on my European hornbeam, which you might remember from earlier in this playlist. This tree was originally potted up in a pond basket that turned out to be too small, and unfortunately, that’s set it back a bit in terms of growth. I’m still planning to let this one grow out, but today I really need to get in there and do some important maintenance. The apex on these hornbeams tends to get pretty dominant – and this one is no exception – so a big part of today’s work is decluttering that top section. I’m also revisiting a decision I mentioned in the last video: what to do about the ladder branches. Picking the wrong one could leave a big, awkward gap in the canopy, so I’ll walk you through my thought process as I make that call. After that, I’ll do some light pruning in the middle of the tree and leave the lower branches to run a bit longer in hopes of thickening them up. While I’m at it, I’ll start shaping the tree toward a more conical silhouette. Hope you enjoy the video! If you do, please give it a like, subscribe to the channel, and leave a comment below – I’d love to hear your thoughts on how you’d approach this hornbeam. Thanks for watching, and see you in the next one!