Axel Erlandson - was highly unusual farmer who knew how to train trees to grow in line with its design idea. Birch, willow and many other trees are turned into rings, hearts, various ladders. Unfortunately he is dead for half a century, but he has followers who still use his skill in modern design.

The family of this talented self-taught gardener emigrated to the U.S. from Sweden and settled in California in 1902. The boy disappeared from his childhood in the fields, watching the growth of plants, trying to unravel the secrets of nature and learn her magic. And when he grew up, started his own farm and started growing legumes. The fertile land and natural instinct - he spoke as if with plants - bringing excellent yields. Family business was going up the hill.To entertain themselves and their loved ones Axel decided to experiment with their own garden trees, turning it into a sort of fairy gallery. The difference between living sculptures innovator of classical sculpture park was that Elradson mainly worked with the trunk and branches, achieving amazing results. Wood furniture, wood stairs, wood-man tree-chair! A talented gardener has learned to create a variety of forms. When he was asked about the secret of why others do not like to repeat and in his hands a living tree becomes malleable wax or clay, he replied: "I just ask them about it." And yet, it was said, the farmer knows a secret of the miraculous, through which you can splice any cuts and joints of trunks and branches. By experimenting with grafting, pruning, applying the design of his own invention, he enthusiastically busy in the garden all day long and totally did not expect for any popularity. But people are greedy for curios, besides the rumors in the countryside spread quickly. His garden suddenly became host to a local point of interest: gawk at the strange trees, sculptures gathered people from all around. Deciding not to resist suddenly fell down on his fame, Axel Elradson bought a plot in the town of Scotts Valley at the intersection of several busy roads, transplanted there the best copies and in 1947 inaugurated the garden-museum "Woody circus." After the death of Axel in 1964 for a long time, his case was virtually no followers. But in 1996 his compatriots Peter Cook and Becky Northey, inspired by the legacy of Elradsona, were excited about growing a living furniture and called his art pooktre - the art of controlling the shape of the growing trees. Though, for example, the cultivation of one piece stretched to 15 years, in order They abound. Even the Japanese bonsaists, and their demanding environment is extremely difficult to please, have recognized the unusual skill of Peter and Becky. However, they say themselves - to the point that worked Elradson, it is still far.