Elaeagnus pungens. Not widely used in Australia.

[SteveW]

I am surprised that this plant is so little known, especially in the cooler climes. The variegated form is the usual one found in gardens.

I have one very large one, and a forest on a slab.

They make excellent bonsai. Leaves reduce easily in size, and their growth habit makes flat pads easily - just trim off the vertical branches, and trim the horizontal ones back.

[Webos]

I'd love to see a photo SteveW...

[raewynk]

are you keeping with the formal seeing as its unknown territory?

Regards
Rae

[Steven]

G'day Bodhidharma,

The branching sure has improved over the last year.
How do you handle doing all that wiring with the thorns?
How long until you think it will be ready for a bonsai pot?

Regards,
Steven

[bodhidharma]

are you keeping with the formal seeing as its unknown territory?

No, it is just what the tree leant itself to. I aquired this a long time ago and it was when my artistic abilities were more limited than what they are now

How do you handle doing all that wiring with the thorns?

I am a wus and cut the sharp tips off.

How long until you think it will be ready for a bonsai pot?

No hurry Steven, I have so much to look after that it stays healthy in the big pot. Maybe next year

[SteveW]

Here are pictures of my Elaeagnus. Mine have no thorns, so are either a thornless version of pungens, or another species. As pungens has several garden varieties, including the go variegated Maculata, mine may be E. pungens.

The large tree is 1.5m tall and was dug from a garden in Ainslie, ACT about 40 years ago. My guess is that it is 60 years old.

The forest is on a rock slab and is about 60cm tall. It is probably 30 years old, at least.

I find clip and grow works well to style these.

Apologies for the quality of the pictures.

[ric]

I have one of these thorny guys dug from a friend's garden a few years ago. It has stayed in a poly box all this time quite happily with little or no attention.
This one has some leaves that are startlingly variegated in bright yellow.
The only one I have seen here as a bonsai was also variegated and was offered for sale in an auction at the old Bonsai Koreshoff nursery also a few years ago.
Seeing these threads might lead me to look again at this neglected piece of venerable material.
Cheers
Ric

[lenlen]

Very cool, I haven't seen these around before! Nice work so far. I've just purchased a Japanese barberry - I love the thorns/spikes, I think they add character!

[bodhidharma]

The tree has been root worked and placed into a training pot. The cuttings are a success and i have leaf size reduction. all in all, a good result so far The foliage is a little untidy still and i wonder if it ever will be showable tidy. We will see. I dont know about the planting angle yet and i will address this when i put it in a decent pot.

[mtarros]

They are looking good, I also started growing elaeagnus pungen and some other varieties of elaeagnus after seeing and working on some during my Japan trip.

I think they excellent for bonsai and super strong, I just got some delivered that got held up in the post for 2 weeks and when they arrived they looked like nothing happened.

[bodhidharma]

A little update on this tree's progress. A defoliate and prune and also some wiring done.

[ric]

Thanks Bodi for that interesting and action provoking lot of information - not only from you but also in those replies that reveal just where we bonsai lovers are sitting as far as Elaeagnus. Of course I do have a bigg foam-box long term one in the back corner. Now I will have to go look at it maybe take a photo!!

Ric