There is this hedge bordering the lawn on our front yard, that gets trimmed and shaped to look like a monolithic mass. It looks me a good 7 years to take a closer look at it and realize that there at least 3 other shrubs there apart from the dominant juniper. And thanks to PlantNet and PictureThis apps, I identified one of them as a privet. It caught my attention because it has leaves that aren't too big (not more than 1.5 inches), has woody stems and seems to back-bud easily. Free bonsai material!
So in late April 2019, I started an air layer in a branch about 1.5 inches in diameter. I couldn't do a great job of it, since it was very hard to reach the back side of the branch to cut the girdle. I wasn't even sure if I covered all of the wound with the wet moss.
I had pretty much ignored this for the next few months, mainly because I was too lazy to go behind the hedge and squat there to take a look at this. But in August 2019 I finally overcame the laziness, got down there and unwrapped the plastic bags covering the moss to find a bunch of those moisture loving critters hanging out there. Once I cleared them, I found that the girdle was callousing over already. But a couple of adventitious roots had appeared at a different spot, a little above the girdle. Go figure! I probably should have wrapped it again with wet moss to let the roots develop. But I knew I'd be too lazy to check back for a few months and may lose the cutting. And I was a bit impatient to have a few pre-bonsais in pots.
So in late April 2019, I started an air layer in a branch about 1.5 inches in diameter. I couldn't do a great job of it, since it was very hard to reach the back side of the branch to cut the girdle. I wasn't even sure if I covered all of the wound with the wet moss.
I had pretty much ignored this for the next few months, mainly because I was too lazy to go behind the hedge and squat there to take a look at this. But in August 2019 I finally overcame the laziness, got down there and unwrapped the plastic bags covering the moss to find a bunch of those moisture loving critters hanging out there. Once I cleared them, I found that the girdle was callousing over already. But a couple of adventitious roots had appeared at a different spot, a little above the girdle. Go figure! I probably should have wrapped it again with wet moss to let the roots develop. But I knew I'd be too lazy to check back for a few months and may lose the cutting. And I was a bit impatient to have a few pre-bonsais in pots.
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| Sep 8, 2019 |
So, I sawed off the branch, and after some pruning, planted it in a sandy potting mix along with some lava rock, in a 10 inch plastic pot.
After 2 weeks, it was full of new sprouts, and looked ready to go!
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| Sep 21, 2019 |
About a month hence, I decided to trim down the lanky branches, to encourage more lower-level branching.
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| Oct 16, 2019 |
It wintered indoors... (Trust me, it's in there somewhere in that jungle!)
As I kept looking at it every so often, it became very clear that the taper-less trunk needed to be cut back. But why waste a good trunk? So I air-layered off the top couple of inches!
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| Feb 16, 2020 |
Once Spring officially arrived, it was time finally to repot it and move it outdoors again.
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| Mar 31, 2020 |
The wound near the base looks ugly indeed. I'd probably try to gouge it out some more and see if it tries to heal over. I really hope so, otherwise it's quite an eyesore. Also, the trunk needs to be cut back some more, and a new apex developed.
To be continued...
