Making American Elm Trees Using Perennial Flower Autumn Joy

[Jim Donovan]

Last year I used a local perennial flower of Ohio (it grows in zones 3 to zone 8 for you gardeners), called Sedum Autumn Joy to make a batch of trees for my layout. At the time I simply followed a video on YouTube by Luke Towen called 'Five Minute Trees'. Even so I was able to make fairly realistic trees. These flowers bloom in September then go to seed. They will be ready to harvest by November.  The seed pods can be cleaned and made to look like the American Elm. They are 25 - 60 feet in HO height with a trunk diameter from 1-4 feet. Attached you will find pictures of an actual American Elm in winter to see the branch structure. The next picture shows the harvested seed pods. Next is the natural armature after it has been cleaned of the pods. These pictures are of the few seed pods I had left over. You can expect to get even better looking armatures with new clippings.

Woodland Scenics offers a natural armature tree product that looks better then average, retail cost about $9.00 for a dozen 'trees'. The stem structure looks something like Autumn Joy but much less robust. I've attached a picture of their package for comparison.

More in a second.
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[Jim Donovan]

As I said the method of actually making the tree follows Luke Towen's 'Five Minute Tree' YouTube video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSHC_T_w4C0

He calls it five minute trees but expect to take perhaps twice as long due to preparing the Autumn Joy cutting for use, still fairly fast for good looking trees. Watch this video for the method of making the tree, it is only a couple of minutes long. I have modified what he does to improve on the final result with this plant by experimenting with the few clippings I had left. The changes and additions are below:

The first attached picture shows what Autumn Joy looks like. If you live in zones 3-8 you or your neighbors may have them in your garden. They are fairly common as they come up every year and attract butterflies in the late summer.  You want to let the flower go to seed and dry out before cutting. By November this will have happened. Put them in a bag and leave in the garage until you are ready to make trees so bugs don't hop a ride into the house. They will look like the seed pods shown above at this point.

Next step in prepping the stem is removing the seed pods. I found using angled tweezers works great to remove the seeds from the branches without breaking too many branches.  Put the stalk upside down over a waste can, then use the tweezer to comb through the stalk towards the trash can. Be gentle. I have a picture showing me doing this attached.

Once the stems are dry and clean I used a A/I mix consisting of 1/2 cup 91% isopropyl alcohol with 20 drops of Bombay black India Ink. I let the stem stay in the solution for about two minutes. I have posted the picture of one before the wash and one after. The change looks even more pronounced then the picture shows. After the wash the trunk shows more detail and has a slightly darker gray 'bark' look to it.

At this point trim the branches of each armature so they are in the shape you are looking for. For my testing I left the branch structure alone but with when I have this years harvest I will work on trimming larger stems to look more like the real tree.

I use 3M Super Spray Adhesive for applying the foliage to the branches. Last year I used hair spray on some of my first batch and those trees are not holding their foliage and will need to be replaced.

As done in the video I used Woodland Scenics' Course Turf for the first application of 'leaves'. It provides a nice foundation for future applications. I used medium green but the color depends on what season you are modeling and perhaps a little experimenting .

For the second application I switched to Scenic Express Super Leaf material. I first used the medium summer green color. Again spray the tree with the adhesive (not the trunk just the branches) then sprinkle the leaf material onto the tree while holding it over a tub filled with the super leaf material you are using. Do not dip the tree in the material or you will mix the Woodlands course turf product and Express product in the tub.

Next I did a quick third spray and sprinkled a second color of Super Leafs (I used olive Super Leafs this time) all around the branches (again not the trunk) to add a third layer of color to the tree. Finally, I lightly sprayed once again and added a very gentle sprinkling of yellow Scenic Express Super Leaf only on the top to give the look of the sun hitting the tree.  Let the tree dry completely then spray the tree with Dullcote to protect and seal it the tree. I attached a couple of photo's where  I've temporally put the finished tree on my layout next to a modified Campbell Supply Store along with a Preiser six foot scale figure so you can see how it looks compared to surroundings and how it compares to a real Elm Tree. The peak of the building is 34 feet over the green board.

I expect that with a new harvest and many stems to choose from I will be able to make in fairly short order a large batch of really nice looking trees to help create variety on my layout. 

Harvest the flowers in October - November and make as many trees as you want during the winter. Enjoy.

[GPdemayo]

Great info Jim.....thanks.