Privet progression

[delisea]

Privets are awesome to learn on. They grow vigorously so you have constant new flushes of growth to wire and prune - the last thing you want to hear as a beginner is to leave your tree alone for a year to let it grow. The inevitable mistakes grow back in weeks. This is one of my first trees, it was about 3-4m high before I chopped down to a stump and dug it.

January 2015.JPG

October 2015.JPG

After lots of fun mucking about with it.

july 2016.jpg

I decided to defoliate to see the structure

july front defol 2016.jpg

july back defol 2016.jpg

Next I think some pruning and wire is needed.
Cheers,
Symon

[Grainer]

good work

[anthonyW]

Fantastic Privet Delisea,haven't seen one as good as that for a very long time...well done.

Anthony

[wrcmad]

Very nice tree.
It looks great from front or back too.
Fantastic.

[Watto]

I have to agree that privet is an unsung hero of the bonsai world and you have a cracker. The development over a short period of time is terrific, and yes it does look good from a number of sides. Privet don't grow that quickly where I am (i think its about -3 at the moment) but they still give plentifully.

[Ryceman3]

Man that is a killer base....! Really nice tree and such a short timeline!, well done!!

[delisea]

Thanks for the encouragement! I don't know why you don't see more of these. They tend to have shallow speeding roots so dug trees can have great bases.
Watto, do your ones drop all of their leaves? Do they colour before they do?
Cheers, Symon.

[melbrackstone]

This is a fantastic tree you've got here!

There are a couple of privets that are classed as invasive weeds in both Qld and NSW, perhaps that's why they grow so well.

[Watto]

Symon - they are part deciduous, and the leaves turn yellow before dropping. However you need to bare in mind that they also turn yellow before dropping when they are old and new leaves are about to part their place.

[anthonyW]

Hi Symon

Yes they make wonderful bonsai in manicured and/or in freestyle.
Here is a biggie for you,took five guys to lift and he even got the moss to flower,wow he is good.

cheers Anthony

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[anthonyW]

Here we go Symon found some more for you from one of our shows.
This fantastic artist likes a more freestyle bonsai...the very interesting trunks are the focal point with the simplistic styling and minimal foliage not taking away from the trunks...I believe he has got balance spot on.

There you go more ways to skin a cat.....cheers

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[delisea]

Watto, OK I was wondering because many appear to never lose their leaves at all up this way while others do.

Anthony, that first tree is magnificent. What is the show? Good point about the moss, how do you get it to go reproductive?
Cheers, Symon

[anthonyW]

Hi Symon

The show is the Urimbirra Bonsai Society Show,it is the Aboriginal name taken for the club,it represents the Illawarra Region, as a Sydney club has taken the name Illawarra..mmm work that one out we won t go there just quietly.
Anyway they are both great Clubs.

Yes the moss looks good it is really spores I believe not really flowers as such as for getting it to colour I believe hit and miss never got that lucky,someone might chime in and explain would be interesting..cheers

Close up looks quite cool

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[delisea]

Hi Anthony,
The close up of the trunk makes the tree even more intriguing - thanks for posting.

Yes, these red 'stalks' and 'capasules' are the sporophytic generation of the moss. That is, a sperm has fertilised an egg and this stalk grows tall so that the resulting spores inside the capsule can be cast far and wide. These structures have two sets of genetic material. The green fluffy stuff at the bottom is the gametophyte and it only has one set of genetic material. (Sorry I'm a biologist) The theory is fine, but I would love to know how to make this happen. If anybody knows I would love some hints.
Cheers,Symon

[anthonyW]

That is so sneaky Symon,I m glad I stopped at short of the meaning of spore,that could of been quite dangerous /embarrassing for me,wow you nearly set me up with the physiology thing,that is so funny you naughty girl. Biologist got to what you guys.lol

One year experience you are showing getting your the privet to that stage!I don t know about that either now Biologist haha ..anyway you take care mighty quick learner ...and thank you for explaining appreciate that.

cheers Anthony