Privet group/clump

I dug this privet (Ligustrum chinensis) last fall. It stands about 14 inches tall, with a 4 inch base. It's a nice combo of old and new growth as well as deadwood.

I wonder whether you think I should let more foliage form or if it is better with sparse foliage.

Jim,my opion is the group looks good the way you have it planted now.. if you let more foliage grow it will hide the old looking profile that it has now. privet bushes up fast here so i would keep it the way it is.. my 2 cents john

I tend to agree. Thanks.

cut it back hard because those trunks look very straight also i would then leave it for a year and feed it lots. hera is one of mine which i have been carving i am now leaveing it for a year then do some primary styling in the autum.

Thanks. Those trunks are supposed to be straight.

How can you have an old image with tall trunks, lacking in taper and young foliage?

Well, Will, as usual we seem to disagree. I think the image is quite old with the deadwood. The base is 4 inches.

Ah well.

but you would not naturally have an old clump with pencil straight trunks. but its your tree so what ever.

The idea of a nursery stump, which is what it reminds me of, is not strange where I live... so I could see this occuring naturally. Whether or not it's the best use of the material is frankly immaterial. It's about what Jim likes in it. Sure you could make a convincing little shohin out of it... but it's not without merit in the realm of naturalism.

Harry... Are you planning on carving that stump more in the future? It feels like still more needs to go, as it seems a little heavy. Have you evaluated it for possibly removing one of those trunks? Being equal height and equal distance apart isn't likely to be an ideal plan for that tree in long term development. And while time is obviously on your side, why do the work twice if you can avoid it?

Kindest regards,

Victrinia

Victrinia Ridgeway wrote:The idea of a nursery stump, which is what it reminds me of, is not strange where I live... so I could see this occuring naturally. Whether or not it's the best use of the material is frankly immaterial. It's about what Jim likes in it. Sure you could make a convincing little shohin out of it... but it's not without merit in the realm of naturalism.

Harry... Are you planning on carving that stump more in the future? It feels like still more needs to go, as it seems a little heavy. Have you evaluated it for possibly removing one of those trunks? Being equal height and equal distance apart isn't likely to be an ideal plan for that tree in long term development. And while time is obviously on your side, why do the work twice if you can avoid it?

Kindest regards,

Victrinia

I agree I see the left side of this tree being the dominant side and the second trunk drasticly reduced.

Forgive me Jim... while I hi-jack your thread for only a moment more...

Seth... I agree... coming down to the part that looks like some bloke cheering for his favorite team in the world cup would be my idea of a better varience.

Kindest regards,

Victrinia

Here my 2 cents (sa you Americans say)

The material is very young enhanced by the barkcolor (green), I have no problem with straight trunks on clumps, but shari and jin on such young material its does not fit together.

I get the feeling that you guys and galls in americe have the problem we did have untill recently, like this: nice tree (even the pencils and broomsticks)
I believe that this is not the way forward, its better to tell the truth and tell folks that the tree is useless for now at least, I did get a lott of such comments the last couple of years.
Some I might agree some I disagree.

Kind regards
Peter

Thanks all, for the comments. That's what I need.

Landerloos: The "green" you see in the trunk must be a difference between your computer monitor and mine. The bark is gray -- just like all of my other privet (young and old).

At this point, the shari and jin here are all "natural" -- compliments of horses, deer and rabbits over the years, I suspect.

I'll see what I can do with maturation of the upper branches (a la a private conversation). L. chinensis doesn't wire too well; it tends to have a long, long memory.

Hi Jim, I`m sorry but I have to agree with Will and Peter on this one, the tree seems to be contradicting itself, if it had been grazed by animals it would have been continuously grazed over a long period of time therefore creating a low powerful canopy of foliage. The point it`s at now looks like it`s been man made by pollarding rather than what we are all trying to re-create in Bonsai, which is to make the tree look like it`s been produced by nature and then to clean and refine the image by pruning and wiring.

Ian.

Here is my Privet, not a clump.
The tree it self is not that great I guess, but it hase emotional value to me, its from my departed grandfathers hedge about 70 years old now.
Styling begun many years ago and hase been forgotten for many years aswell, last year in September Tony T. worked on it.

This is how it looked after the workshop in september, it did have a lott of growth.
This weekend I will try to refine the deadwood and drill a hole in the left root, so water can leave the cavety, did not do anything to preserve the deadwood yet.
Its not rotting therefor I always look strange at posts that claime that privet wood is very soft and rots quickly
I will try to take some pictures soon as possible, the tree was transplanted to a new pot in early spring.

Peter

The group today: