Adding Trees
Where you place your trees can make all the difference. No matter what kind of trees you use, you don’t want trees on your layout that make people think to themselves, that doesn’t look quite right. Look at trees in nature. They’re here, there and everywhere. But only in tree farms or orchards are they in straight lines.
Look at this photo.
It looks like one tree but it’s actually four trees in a row. Here’s the very same row of trees from the side.
Neither would look right on a layout. Instead, stagger the trees to look more realistic. Either like this, to make a dense forest.
Or like this, more staggered.
While this looks appropriate in a photo, look again from a higher vantage point. The trees are actually staggered so far apart they really don’t look quite right to the eye.
So use your best judgement. How far apart is up to you but whatever you do, stagger them. You may have to plant a tree, look at it with the other trees, and if it doesn’t look quite right, move it – maybe only an inch. But that inch could make all the difference.
By the way, speaking of trees…In August 1944, to reduce the number of forest fires, the US Forest Service and the Wartime Advertising Council began distributing fire education posters featuring a Black Bear. The poster campaign was a success. The Black Bear would later be named “Smokey Bear.” For decades, Smoky would be the “spokesbear” for the US Forest Service. His popular catch phrase, “Only YOU can prevent forest fires” (more recently “Only YOU can prevent wildfires”), is one of the most widely recognized slogans in the United States. A recent study found 95 percent of the people surveyed could complete the phrase when given the first few words.