Nandina domestica - heavenly bamboo

N. domestica is neither heavenly nor is it bamboo.  It grows everywhere in the south and has become invasive in some areas.  Nursery people insist that new cultivars are sterile, but I don't fully believe them.  Where I lived in Florida, it was as common as pine trees in some parts of the woods, and it is not native to this continent.  Another Asian import.    

From Wikipedia:

Nandina is considered invasive in North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida. It was placed on the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council’s invasive list as a Category I species, the highest listing. It has been observed in the wild in Florida in Gadsden, Leon, Jackson, Alachua and Citrus counties, in conservation areas, woodlands and floodplains. In general, the purchase or continued cultivation of non-sterile varieties in the southeastern United States is discouraged.

But, since you all but get an award from the native Plant Society if you dig these up, they have ended up on my bonsai tables from time to time.  I usually get tired of them and destroy the plant.  

This is my latest version of Nandina; the bonsai:



Last year it was tall and gawky, but it was more graceful.  It will take a year to get back to that stage if I let it. 

It's certainly better now, says my eye to Eli... Nice work sir.

Jim, do you find that Nandina sprouts/shoots from cuts made on the old trunks?

Yes.  That's what I did here.  I topped each of the stems/trunks.