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The amazing story of an ugly privet clump that became tree nice (pre)bonsai 3 years 6 months ago #62429

  • lucR
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After reading Clicio's post about interaction i decided to post this -long- progression story.

In 2016 my sister in law told me that she was going to get rid of a 50 year old privet hedge on the side of here house. I immediately stuck my nose into that hedge and saw some old gnarly fat fused trunks. Made arrangements to be there when they were going to pull out said hedge. Upon arrival on the excavating day i saw a huge machine just ripping them out by pulling the trunks out of the ground, no digging... i asked the workers if they could gently pull out a few of the nicest trunks, which they -with faces of disbelief- did... This is one of 2 fused trunks that i could save ( the other one is for another story ;) )




Coming home i just planted them in the ground, and left them to recover.
Spring 2017 they showed good vigour and i decided to pot them up, in a little plastic bathtub. No clear vision of what to do with them yet...



... and so they stood there, in their bathtub, and because i didnt see a clear path for them yet they ended up more and more in the back , where they stood for 2 years without much more then a bit of watering and fertiliser. At first they grew very well, but then , because of the lack of attention slowly lost vigour.
So in spring 2020 i decided something had to be done or i would lose the entire clump. Picked it up , placed it on a table, looked at it from all directions, looked some more, and suddenly i saw it. Because i didnt cut back hard enough when they were excavated , and because there was a very twisted branch that i really wanted to keep high up i decided to do an airlayer of that branch first, cut that of and work from there.
Airlayer on and 6 weeks later i had this, which will make a nice, almost naturally windswept tree. Next year i will select branches and wire it to emphasize he windswept feel.





After separating the first part i looked at the clump again and again, cut a big straight branch here and a wrong branch there, and finally decided to cut the entire clump into two seperate parts, because both sides had intersting parts that would never work together in one composition. So i took them out of the bathtub, got rid of all the soil , cleaned the roots and strangely enough, the two parts that i wanted to seperate came loose from each other, leaving me with two nice (pre)bonsai which will make some nice bonsai in a few years. They all need work ( carving and wiring) and time to develop ( a lot) more foliage, but i feel these have potential.














...let the interacting begin :)

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Last edit: Post by lucR.

The amazing story of an ugly privet clump that became tree nice (pre)bonsai 3 years 6 months ago #62430

  • Clicio
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Very well done!
In the end, after the air layer and the separation, I like the windswept and its direction and perhaps in one year it will be great.
As for the one below, it looks already GREAT. I wish I had some privet as nice as this one, wow!
All in all, congrats!

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The amazing story of an ugly privet clump that became tree nice (pre)bonsai 3 years 6 months ago #62436

  • Ivan Mann
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Good job!

I have been digging up old shrubs. This is probably a huge source for material for us urban folks. The only problem I have is that they are huge (relatively) and require large pots and large plant stands. And that also means it is hard for the 73 year old back to carry them around. Challenges.

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The amazing story of an ugly privet clump that became tree nice (pre)bonsai 3 years 6 months ago #62437

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Good job!
The only problem I have is that they are huge (relatively) and require large pots and large plant stands. And that also means it is hard for the 73 year old back to carry them around. Challenges.


There is a hacked and abandoned 50 year old bougie next door.
I swear I cry every day to see it struggling to survive, but it is really too big and heavy for me.
And I am only 65...

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The amazing story of an ugly privet clump that became tree nice (pre)bonsai 3 years 6 months ago #62439

  • lucR
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..hence my decision to max out to shohin size :) . At 55 most things still work , but time goes by rapidly
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The amazing story of an ugly privet clump that became tree nice (pre)bonsai 3 years 6 months ago #62446

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Good job!
The only problem I have is that they are huge (relatively) and require large pots and large plant stands. And that also means it is hard for the 73 year old back to carry them around. Challenges.


There is a hacked and abandoned 50 year old bougie next door.
I swear I cry every day to see it struggling to survive, but it is really too big and heavy for me.
And I am only 65...


Have someone dig it. Box it up and chuck it to meeeee!!!
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The amazing story of an ugly privet clump that became tree nice (pre)bonsai 3 years 6 months ago #62447

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Nice you got these privets back to health in small pots.

Now.. Pot them into big pots to get some meat on the branches!

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The amazing story of an ugly privet clump that became tree nice (pre)bonsai 3 years 6 months ago #62463

  • Jakey_boy
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That’s sick, love a privet comeback story, a paddock weed turned right.

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The amazing story of an ugly privet clump that became tree nice (pre)bonsai 3 years 2 months ago #65144

  • lucR
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So, six months, wiring and a repot to a nice pot later this is what the windswept one looks like now. Not decided on the front yet- i am not a fan of fronts anyhow, so, i'll probably keep turning this one around ;)

edit: looking at the pictures i might change the planting angle to a bit more upright next repot, not too much but 10-15degrees or so. Thoughts?



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The amazing story of an ugly privet clump that became tree nice (pre)bonsai 3 years 2 months ago #65145

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Going places!
:cheer:
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