Hi there again guys,

I´ve been away from this forum for a while now, since I was on vacations, but now I´m back and I must confess I was eager to get back to this place . Actually I was reviewing all the new topics of the last 3 weeks and there were a lot of interesting things I missed.

Anyways and entering the subject of interest here. The next day of my return I stopped by a nursery and bought a (IMO) nice specimen of a pyracantha tree. The thing is that the vendor knew it was a Pyracantha all right (I knew it too ) but none of us knew which species it was. Now, I´ve been reading for a while and there seem to be two species that are likely to be the one, that is: Pyracantha Coccinea and Pyracantha Angustifolia. The first one is native from Northeastern Spain and the second one from Southwest China, so I´m leaning to believe that mine is the Coccinea, but I´m not completly sure, though. So, if anyone knows the difference between these species I´d be greatly grateful to find out which is mine and why.

To that end, I´m posting here a few pictures... Oh, also any comments, suggestions, point of view related to the tree value, status or possible style design as a future bonsai will be very welcome. Thank you all in advance

Alain

Here are 4 more close ups of the trunk...

i would have to agree that it may be coccinea. i am not so experienced, but i may say one thing is that if my sizing is correct, maybe you could plant it in the ground to thicken the trunk. but as i said, i am not experienced so my info may be worthless.

good luck

Guys, one more question I hope you can help with.

I believe Pyracanthas (Firethorns) admit reasonably well structural pruning around this autumn´s months, is that right? The thing I want to clear a little bit mine. Oh, and how well do they tolerate root pruning or root disturbance?

Thanks,

I dont think they like root disturbances to often but a good link:

www.bonsai4me.co.uk/SpeciesGuide/Pyracantha.html

Thanks Bob,

Just came from bonsai4me.com and while it does answer the question regarding the roots, it does not address the one concerning structural pruning in autumn. So, I´ll still wait for another answer

Cool

I find they can be pruned quite hard at this time of year, you may lose flowers of course. As for re potting I will remove at least 30% of rotts without problems. They will recover well in a short time.
Geoff.

I bought one last winter ~december, removed 90% of the top growth, 90% of the roots. It has regrown all abiove-ground biomass this year.

Thanks Geoff and Leatherback,

Well, that´s great! That´s a green light then. Actually I spent the entire afternoon working on my ficus and I couldn´t stop looking at my Pyracantha and wanting to start "chopping" branches and leaves.

Also, there is a branch that is downwards oriented that is leading me to try a semi-cascade style. I´m a little reluctant to do so since I´m not sure I´m quite skilled to do that just yet, but I read somewhere that this style, together with the cascade style, seems to suit this species very well due to the fact that this plant presents a strong tendency of bushy growth.

Alain