Dug-up Bauhinia
Posted: March 6th, 2017, 8:31 pm
Hi All,
About 3 weeks ago I dug this Bauhinia. It was growing in heavy shade and the few branches it had were almost 2 metres long with hardly any leaves. It must be several years old as the stems are very stiff and brittle. It was surviving in very dry soil and I've put it into some cheap potting mix to see if it would survive. Also cut the stems back to about 40 cm. Since then it has back-budded everywhere, and since the pics were taken 3 days ago the shoots have more than tripled in length. Obviously it's surviving. Trouble is, I can't decide how to best proceed from here . It looks like I should split it into two separate plants, but they would still be too straight and "leggy". Should I shorten the stems some more? I wanted a slightly more advanced plant, so I don't want to cut it back to a stump. Would a literati style be the way to go?
I'd appreciate any ideas, comments etc.
Frank
About 3 weeks ago I dug this Bauhinia. It was growing in heavy shade and the few branches it had were almost 2 metres long with hardly any leaves. It must be several years old as the stems are very stiff and brittle. It was surviving in very dry soil and I've put it into some cheap potting mix to see if it would survive. Also cut the stems back to about 40 cm. Since then it has back-budded everywhere, and since the pics were taken 3 days ago the shoots have more than tripled in length. Obviously it's surviving. Trouble is, I can't decide how to best proceed from here . It looks like I should split it into two separate plants, but they would still be too straight and "leggy". Should I shorten the stems some more? I wanted a slightly more advanced plant, so I don't want to cut it back to a stump. Would a literati style be the way to go?
I'd appreciate any ideas, comments etc.
Frank