AusBonsai

The apex need rounding a bit now..

Berberis is a genus I have not tried as bonsai. Yours looks very promising, especially for smaller bonsai.

I'm going to copy someone else here's words and say I don't think there's one tree of yours I don't like Mike.

Lane wrote:I'm going to copy someone else here's words and say I don't think there's one tree of yours I don't like Mike.

Would certainly love to wander through his garden for an hour or 4. Yet again, great job Mike. Did the textured trunk on this one occur from multiple trunk chops or wire scars being left to heal over properly over time? These guys are quite slow growing especially for scars to heal over from what I understand. Its a species that constantly gets my attention, time to get one I think haha.

Cheers,
Pearcy.

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Pearcy001 wrote:

Lane wrote:I'm going to copy someone else here's words and say I don't think there's one tree of yours I don't like Mike.

Would certainly love to wander through his garden for an hour or 4. Yet again, great job Mike. Did the textured trunk on this one occur from multiple trunk chops or wire scars being left to heal over properly over time? These guys are quite slow growing especially for scars to heal over from what I understand. Its a species that constantly gets my attention, time to get one I think haha.

Cheers,
Pearcy.

Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk

Yes multiple chops and removing the multiple buds these shrubs constantly put out from the same place. Hardly ever had any wiring on this one - as you can see. You need patience with these things but the autumn colour is worth the trouble. Shibui...make one for youself by all means but no good commercially. Too slow imo.

After seeing this one I took some cuttings from a berberis in the garden - working towards another species for shohin for myself but sounds like it will take even more time than I'd anticipated.
Prickly little bugger though - quite painful to work with, even just preparing cuttings. The one we have here has spiky leaves as well as spines on the trunk. Are there any that don't bite?

Nice tree Mike. You have inspired me to work mine harder than I have been. Thanks!

Do you pull the spikes off yours prior to working on it?

Regards,
Steven

Steven wrote:
Do you pull the spikes off yours prior to working on it?

Regards,
Steven

I don't remember If you get jabbed too many times you'll know what to do...

Shibui - there are several cultivars, with varying levels of thorniness. I just bought a gold form for my garden that has shorter thorns than the red leafed form i already have (rosy glow?) as bonsai and in the garden. Good for shohin sized trees.

Ours is a golden flowered one, Steve. I could not see spikes but was still getting stabbed. Found that the leaves have many sharp points that are every bit as painful as trunk spikes. It also has spikes on the stems but I can't tell you if they are painful or not - fingers don't get that far because of the spiky leaves.

I'll keep an eye out for friendlier types.

Update

Beautiful

Lovely mix of colour!

Stunning in her Autumn gown.

G'day Mike,

Just checking in on how this one is going this Autumn? I was wondering if you've ever had fruit on this one, and if you have do you need to do anything specific to get the fruit (or flower for that matter)?

I picked up a a Berberis thunbergii 'golden nugget' a couple weeks back. The initial trunk forks off into a hoard of branching. Do you suggest chopping these down to the single leader to thicken in winter, or do they need a few branches for vigour and strength to try make it grow a little faster? The 'golden nugget' variety only grows to 1ft-1.5ft tall, so I'm presuming I'll be growing this one for a long time.

Lastly, how have you found they take to root reduction? I'm presuming well as most deciduous don't mind it, but just thought I'd check.

Cheers,
Pearcy.

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