Garden style from Dave Cohen

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Art

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This one, I have taken to calling "Orange". Sorry, Dave, but that is the color that jumps out of me. It's an unusual color in planted aquariums but you manage to really capture it here.

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Photo from Dave Cohen's Facebook.

What is also interesting to me about this aquascape is the lack of separation space between the groupings. How does that speak to you?

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Photo from Dave Cohen's Facebook

This is a different one from Dave. Groupings are much more visible with this one. It seems to be still early in the season for it but the plants look VERY healthy and colorful for being so young.

Thoughts?
 
Top tank is freakin sweet but it does lack a strong focal point. And it would be more depth-y if the heights were differentiated more. I have no problem with the lack of space between groups because everything contrasts pretty good. The space thing is more for a depth effect really, especially in traditional Dutch tanks where there are generally lots of greens beside greens. Thats where the guideline originates and it helps to separate the species visually. The color contrast here makes up for that imo
 
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Top tank is freakin sweet but it does lack a strong focal point. And it would be more depth-y if the heights were differentiated more.
Completely agree. Good points.

The space thing is more for a depth effect really, especially in traditional Dutch tanks where there are generally lots of greens beside greens. Thats where the guideline originates and it helps to separate the species visually.
I didn’t know that. Thanks Joe.
 
The first tank belongs to Marian from masterline

Dave's tank looks great for years, i met him and he gave me very nice plants for free, he is one of the best in Israel

i like the bushy look more, never been a fan of stems like tonina lotus/rotala ramsoir/cuphea, they are harder to manage and to form an actual bush look
 
The first tank belongs to Marian from masterline

Dave's tank looks great for years, i met him and he gave me very nice plants for free, he is one of the best in Israel

i like the bushy look more, never been a fan of stems like tonina lotus/rotala ramsoir/cuphea, they are harder to manage and to form an actual bush look
Here's the thing about Marian's tanks. He doesn't follow any of the traditional rules, yet it works perfectly. I immediately recognize his style, and I can't take my eyes off it. True works of Art.

And I've been following Dave's tanks for a while now, and the guy can flat out grow plants. I need to learn more about his methods.
 
Timing the trimming of all of those stemmies to get the "money shot" is a topic unto itself.
In today's hobby, this is what I think is the hardest thing to do. With a little experience and a lot of reading, most people can grow the plants healthy enough. It's another level when you see tanks that are beautiful gardens mostly through the trimming skills of the aquarist. Chris Hendy's tank reminded me of this recently thanks to @GreggZ Facebook post.

I consider myself to be a newbie student of the "art" of trimming stem plants.

You're right, @BryceM, it would make for an interesting topic for the forum.
 
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