Lavender star project

[kez]

Hey folks,

Was poking around my local garden center with my other half this morning and I came across this lavender star that caught my eye. What attracted me to this tree was the trunk angle and thickness, and the nebari.

Here's a shot after I chopped the long branches back to the trunk and got it out of its pot, I will further reduce this in time and use one of the shoots as a new leader but this is enough for now I think

IMG_2432 (1024x683).jpg

And from a higher angle

IMG_2433 (1024x683).jpg

Roots trimmed back a bit and washed to see what's going on

IMG_2434 (1024x683).jpg

And another angle

IMG_2435 (1024x683).jpg

And into a training pot for now

IMG_2436 (1024x683).jpg

I would have liked to take more off the roots but I wasnt sure what I would get away with, especially with the reduction up top as well.

Any thoughts or advice would be great, never done anything with lavender star before,

Kerrin

[Bougy Fan]

Good approach to go gradually. I don't have any experience with them - but I would plant it a bit deeper if you want the roots to develop more.

[Rory]

Kerrin,

They make fantastic bonsai. You can prune them any time of year. You can take off at least 50% of the roots when repotting with no fears. They will back bud very well. Excellent material to work with.
They also tolerate very extreme differences in sun, and soil drainage issues. Basically, they are a lot like a weed. The scars also heal over very quickly.

Bare in mind, when you take off a branch or cut anywhere, it heals over quite heavily, so do not cut flush, make sure you use proper bonsai branch cutters that will take a concave cut.

Try not to over water. They are as hardy as figs.

These are a couple of Lavender Star we purchased from a nursery.

gallery/album.php?album_id=432

gallery/album.php?album_id=433

[kez]

Cheers BBM, I have cut with a concave cutter, and I will further reduce the cut area on the left for taper in future so I wasn't to worried about flushing it in to the trunk just yet