Trees and plants have a kind of flexibility that is both disturbing and inspiring. Left to their own devices they can wrap around objects and create strange works of unintentional art. Properly pruned and cultivated they can be made into curious, compelling and useful shapes of all sorts. From tree furniture designs to unchecked acts of nature here are 25 examples of the amazing malleability of trees. Of course, there are many forms of Strange green art and other Subversive ways to garden.

Richard Reams of Arborsmith dot Com focuses more on the artistic side of arbosculpture, creating some meaningful shapes (such as piece signs) as well as whimsically abstract pieces of tree sculpture. Some of his projects (such as grown fence enclosures and tree furniture) do, however, still serve a purpose.

Amazing Tree Houses:

Tree houses aren’t just wooden shacks for children anymore. These days tree house design has been taken in a wide variety of new directions. From cozy lofted habitats to amazing floating branch-mansions here are some examples that span the spectrum of current tree house design.

Baumraum treehouses blends classic notions of a simple wood structure in a tree with modernist angles, clean lines and other design elements. These both blend with and stand out from their natural environs and are customized to client wishes before being installed. The Baumraum group is both experimental and experienced, wish expertise in tree types, capabilities and environmental impact.

The 4Treehouse by Lukasz Kos floats like a “Japanese lantern on stilts” and is situated to accommodate four existing trees on the site. As with the best tree house designs, this project successfully worked around the existing natural site conditions. The three-story house itself rents suspended from these four primary site trees.

The 02 Sustainability Tree House defies many of the conventions one associates with a typical tree house. The paradigm of a square shack-like wooden structure is replaced with a light and spacious geodesic dome structure that requires very little (and eco-friendly) material and has minimal impact on trees in which it is placed (hanging from cables rather than bolted to trees). It is designed for residential, meditation and meeting functions.

Romero Studios, helmed by Roderick and Anisa Romero, designs and creates tree houses so striking they look more like art installations than dwellings. Their work includes one of the tree houses at Finca Bella Vista and the four tree houses pictured above, among many others. Clients have the freedom to create the tree house of their dreams, from Moroccan lantern-shapes and suspended ‘nests’ to rustic cabins in the sky. Special touches include built-in storage and stained glass windows.