Trachelospermum (Star Jasmine)

[MattA]

Heres pics as of this morning, sorry for the poor lighting. I want to rotate the whole trunk up towards the most likely front & the branching is still to get any attention, most of it will go now I know how well it reshoots. Not till its well established & growing strongly again, I really had to savage the roots to even find the nebari (poor descriptor for it).

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I try to avoid using wire on my trees but there will be no other way to get the branches to do what i want (within my capabilities) The very lowest branch on the tail did not shoot & has now died right back to its base, the next lowest branches are also slower to do anything. I have seen a fair few photo's of really old Trachelospermum as bonsai but they have all been in upright styles. Its stretching a connection but maybe these dont like growing below the horizontal Time will tell.

Matt

[MattA]

Hi Matt, I have had this one for around 20 years but never really done much with it. There used to be a crown with branches flowing to the left so it was more like an informal upright, The scars take a very long time to heal, but I don't worry too much about scarring.
Craigw

Hey Craig,

I hadnt seen your post before i put up the pics. I had noticed on my yellow one that even small cuts didnt really heal, usual story for most vines . Has it spent its entire life in a bonsai pot or started in an oversized nusery pot for some years?

Since you have cut the top out how do you find the energy between the top & bottom of it now? I am just wondering in relation to the last bit of my last post.

Matt

[Ron]

I need another small plant like a hole in the head but couldn't resist the trunk on this Trachelospermum jasminoides 'Tricolour'.

It looked like it had been at the nursery for quite some time and was cheap.

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[Kyushu Danji]

This is a very old thread, but I need some advice on this species, as I recently had a specimen handed down to me. The previous owner of this pot plant told me she salvaged it from the dump back in 1983, and even back then it was rather old. I have not found very much information on this variety and its use as bonsai, so I am hoping someone will be able to provide some advice on how I might go about making something from this, considering they take a long time to heal over, and the branches seem to be quite brittle. I would love to be able to make the foliage more compact, and show off the aged bark and lichen. It obviously needs plenty of tlc, knowhow and time. Advice on where to start and styling is welcomed!









James

EDIT: Just wanted to point out that this is the regular Trachelospermum Jasminoides as opposed to variegated.

[craigw60]

James, with such beautiful old bark I would proceed with caution. I have one in my collection and have found the scars to be painfully slow to heal so if you can avoid heavy cutting then do. The leaf size doesn't seem to reduce so go for a very relaxed style. On the positive side they root prune very easily but do it during the warmer months.
Craigw

[Kyushu Danji]

That's some good advice Craig, thank you. I would like to one day get some density into the foliage as you have with yours. I will certainly proceed with caution and avoid ending up with obvious scars - I am hoping that any I create can be hidden under foliage pads in the future. However there are many very low branches that I don't think I will be able to keep, unless when I repot I discover the nebari is deep below the surface. Do you think mid-september would be late enough to work on the roots?

James

[craigw60]

James I think you could still get some very cold weather in september ? Here where I live we could get frost or snow at that time of year. I would wait until at the earliest mid november. But december would be even better when the night temps start to go up. In the mean time you could be feeding it up and trying to get it growing and strongly ready for the root work
Craigw

[Kyushu Danji]

Ahh so I should be treating more like ficus in terms of repotting then? Do you think pruning is best carried out later also?

James

[craigw60]

Yes James I would treat it as a tropical.
Craigw