Fake Forests Plant Idea of Nature in Unnatural Settings : Trends: Think only God can make a tree? Not so. Vista firm builds mighty oaks, along with about 50 other varieties, to order. Customers include hotels, casinos, shopping malls, even parties.
Bennett Abrams and Gary Hanick manufacture what poets say only God could create.
In a nondescript warehouse, the co-founders of California Country Trees and a dozen workers attach leaves to branches and branches to trunks. Birch, pines, oaks--more than 50 varieties in all--are crafted out of cured wood, steel, silk and foam to add natural beauty to unnatural places like hotels, casinos and shopping malls.
Unlike the real thing, these faux trees will not die or burn and are designed to their owners’ specifications, whether it be five stories or four feet tall, wide or narrow, oak or pine.
“When everything was becoming computerized, people lost that personal contact with nature,” said Abrams, a self-taught naturalist with a mane of flowing white hair.
“Green [areas] became a function of preservation of sanity.”
Environmentalists, although not exactly pleased with fake trees replacing real ones, say they understand the need for something green.
“I can see their function when you’re in an artificial environment and you’re trying to create an image or myth and the environment doesn’t support the real thing,” said Nancy Hughes Beckett, executive director of San Diego-based People for Trees. “But it’s a mirage.” California Country Trees’ owners estimate this year’s sales at $4 million, compared with $200,000 a decade ago. That’s a small fraction of the multibillion-dollar artificial flora industry, but Hanick and Abrams say they are only catering to 7% of the market with their art.
Consider:
* Georgio of Beverly Hills ordered a forest of a dozen pine and birch trees for a party introducing a new line of perfumes.
* The River City Terminal in New Orleans purchased 40 Southern oak trees, each about 20 feet tall.
* The First U.S. Army Division Museum in Wheaton, Ill., bought a life-size Vietnamese highland jungle.
* Buffalo Bill’s casino in the southern Nevada town of Stateline ordered a hanging tree and built their casino around it. Five stories tall, the oak with a steel skeleton stands as Abrams’ and Hanick’s biggest project yet.
About half the company’s trees are made of real wood specially cured to prevent rot. But even cured trees are not good enough until they undergo a manicure.
“To get the canopies people want, we’ll literally reconstruct the trees,” Hanick said. “We do our own grafting and adding on of branches because nature doesn’t necessarily grow with a full, round canopy.”
Other small jobs use molds that perfectly recreate bark patterns.
The remainder of the business consists of giant oaks, such as the one at Buffalo Bill’s casino, or the 10-foot oaks with 16-foot spreads at Foodlife restaurant in Chicago’s Water Tower Place mall.
The sculptures are in dozens of countries and 49 states. The company’s sprouting business recently forced its move from Palm Desert to a 40,000-square-foot warehouse in Vista, about 30 miles northeast of San Diego.
The 12-year-old company charged $250,000 for the Buffalo Bill’s tree. Ficus trees--a popular choice for business parks--can cost $20,000 to $30,000.
“What they’re paying for is Bennett’s eye and expertise and talent and the amount of detail we put into it,” said Hanick, whom Abrams describes as the business side of the venture.
Each project can take up to a year or more to complete, depending on its size. Detailed models are usually drawn up, especially if the tree will be installed along with a new building.
The larger trees are constructed in segments. A welder assembles a branched frame of specific height. A wire mesh is attached, foam is applied and branches added.
“From there, everything is hand-painted. It can take eight or 10 different layers of color just to get it right,” Abrams said.
The sections are shipped to the construction site, where Hanick or Abrams oversees the assembly.
Little maintenance beyond dusting is required once they are installed.
“We had one client who was concerned the bark was peeling, which it wasn’t,” Hanick said. “All we had to do was send him some moss.”
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‘I think that I shall never see
‘A poem lovely as a tree. . . . ‘
