Boxleaf Euonymus #43 - a prize in every box!

Friends, fun and a weekend of Bonsai - I never miss one of the Lone Star Bonsai Federation state conventions.  This year it was hosted by the Houston Bonsai Society, a great group with a lot of energy.  As usual, the workshops and critiques were thought provoking, the vendors brought way too many goodies that shrank our wallets (oh the handmade bonsai pots and handcrafted wood stands!), the exhibit featured some of the best Bonsai in the state, raffles kept the atmosphere fun and light, and wherever you turned there was some event taking place whether it was the Emerging Talent Competition or the late-night Pub Committee. 

One thing that I did not expect though was to win one of the prizes of best trees in the exhibit, judged by the visiting artists.  You can imagine my surprise at the banquet ceremony as I'm sitting crossed-legged and barefoot on the floor taking photos for the club newsletters when they call my name.  I was awarded Best Broadleaf Evergreen for my Boxleaf Euonymus in the Exhibit.  I was touched and honored, and was given a laugh when I came down from the stage and heard someone say "congratulations hippie!"  Ah, my people!

Here is my full (small) display from the show: a small Boxwood, a Wood-Violet accent and the Boxleaf Euonymus.  It was chosen by the visiting artists: David DeGroot, Arthur Joura and Pedro Morales.

2005 March. The story of this tree, Euonymus japonica 'Microphylla' began in my neighborhood.  A new family had moved into an older home and wanted all the older shrubs removed.  The estimate is that the bushes had been there for about 30 years.  It was my luck that I happened to be biking down that street that day and noticed they had dragged two shrub stumps out to the curb for trash pick up.  At the time, I didn't even know what variety of plant they were, only that the bark had an interesting deep reddish color with tiny white streaks.  The internet is your friend in plant ID!

2005 March. They were nothing to look at, at this point, just two big clumps of trunks that were all fused together at the base.  I soaked the dry root-balls overnight to rehydrate them, and the following day began washing the old mud from the roots and trying to detangle the trunks which proved impossible.

 

 

2005 March.  I couldn't get a tool in-between the roots to pry them apart.  I tried to imagine leaving the multiple trunks together, but I couldn't see the design.  There had to be another way.  On the ground it went:

 

2005 March. And out came the electric chainsaw!  I cut as carefully as I could, avoiding the important surface roots and trunks as much as possible.

2005 March. Amazingly, it wasn't only the surface roots that were fused, the roots were together much deeper as well.  It was almost like a solid block of wood with random holes.

2005 March. After a short time of separating, this is what I came back with: individual trees, sometimes in multiples of 2 or 3, but all had a base and shape of their own.  No longer was it just a random mass of trunks.  This photo is of the clumps, newly sawn apart and separated.

 

 

2005 March. This brings us to one grouping with three trunks dancing around each other:

2005 March. I hadn't worked with this type before, so I tried to be careful with the roots, leaving plenty of them and plenty of room in the pot.

2006 January.  I had let the tree grow for the year, removing nothing from the top to try to strengthen the roots.  It had a little die-back, but also produced lots of buds all over the trunks, sprouting multiple buds from each location (as many as 10!).

2006 January.  This is the shot after thinning the extra branches in each of the bundles, cleaning out the few dead branches and putting in a "prop" to separate the trunks in the middle.  The prop was just a few pieces of chopstick lashed together with electrical tape.

2008 February.  Whorl branches were continuing to be removed and over-long shoots were trimmed back to equalize the strength of the branches.  It grew well and popped more buds, but showed me how slow this tree is to develop.

2008 February.  I had to do something about those cut off stubbed ends of the trunks, so they were shaped/carved and the branches were thinned again.  All the main branches were wired as well to give movement and to spread the shape.

2009 March.  This little tree grew well during the last year, filling in nicely.  But this photo shows one of the problems with this species - all branches want to grow straight up.  Even wired out, the growing tip will start again to grow straight up and not out.  This causes a lot of crowding.

2009 March.  The branches were thinned again and wired.

This year was tough on the tree, a bad infestation of Euonymus scale attacked and seemed to persist through many different treatments.  This pest seems to take over much more easily in shaded conditions - trees placed in sunnier areas fared better.

July 2009.  Not a lot of growth to show due to the Scale, and some branches actually died as a result.  I didn't like the way this tree was progressing, style-wise.  The top is just too flat and even. 

2009 July. To make the apex more dynamic, the trunks were cut at different heights, using interesting branches that were already there.  It looks sparse again, but the structure is now ready.  Sometimes it just takes a while to work through the design.

2010 July.  With the Scale on the run, this Euonymus had a great year, putting out a lot of growth.  It was allowed to run during the last year and this is the result - much more strength and density.

2010 July.  Multiple branches were again thinned and the remaining ones were wired down and away from each other.  It should be noted that the non-lignified branches of Euonymus are VERY easy to break.  They are almost like a succulent jade or other fragile branch.  Be very careful when working with them if you have important branches.

2011 March.  The left trunk had an odd die-back all long its length.  I carefully pulled away the dead bark and cleaned it, and actually liked the effect of the stripe.  Six years in the same pot, it needed to be repotted badly.  Also it looked like it had filled out enough, that it was about time to get it out of plastic and into a Bonsai pot.

 

2011 March. A very dense and healthy root ball.

2011 March.  Repotted into a round drum pot with a darkened "nail" pattern.  I felt the color blended well with the trunks.

2011 September.  More density, more branches



 

 

2011 September.  Thinned out and wired again.  This continual wiring out of the tips of a plant that wants to grow vertically creates a really interesting undulating branch line over time.  People who work with Pine trees know this well.

 

 

 2012 August.  This tree is finally beginning to feel mature.  The branches are beginning to have a light, airy quality to them that years of technique brings, and the trunks are all relating to one another.  The only yearly maintenance is to wire those outer growing tips down, to shorten branches back to the  line of the tree, and to watch for that dreaded Euonymus scale.

 

 

2014 April.  Now back to the present.  I need to develop more density in the top of the left trunk and work on its apex.  Right now it is just too loose and open.

 

 

If you get the chance to work with Euonymus japonica 'Microphylla' - do it!  There are different varieties of Euonymus as common hedging material, but this variety seems to be the best suited to Bonsai.  There is a dwarf variegated form too, but it grows even slower, so a collected specimen is a must!  The fun of this tree, besides the rarity and interesting trunks is the fact that it was a curbside discard.



Ilex cornuta #2 - stick out your can, here comes the garbage man!

There won't be too many "traditional" Bonsai species on this blog, because I really don't have many types that have been grown historically (in Japan - which seems to matter the most).  I'll give anything a try if it has a nice trunk and is available! 

Today's spotlight is Ilex cornuta, aka Chinese Holly, and sometimes referred to as Horned Holly.  These were very popular plantings decades ago as they adapt well to the heat of the South, aren't prone to disease and make really handsome mature plantings.  The downside is they have thorns on the points of all the leaves, usually between 5-7, needle-sharp, and very stiff.  I've heard that some people have planted them outside the windows of their children's bedroom to discourage the kiddos from sneaking out in the night.  Ouch!

Despite being resilient in the landscape, the cuts and scrapes they bestow usually lead to them being unceremoniously ripped from the yard and disposed of.  They're now not nearly as common here as they once were.

February 2005. I was driving to work one morning and I saw down one of the streets a pile of green that was newly tossed to the curb.  Of course I brake for plants!  When I drove up, there were four large thorny balls of green, way overgrown and leggy, bare on one side (that originally faced the house) and roots in the air.  I asked the homeowner if he'd mind if I took these, and looking at me like I was crazy, he said, "sure, knock yourself out!"  At the time I drove a '97 Chevy Blazer, which seems roomy until you need to squeeze four clawing bushes which were each about 4 foot square, into the back.  As I'm shoving the uncooperative thorny mess inside, I'm slicing lines onto my arms and face.  It surprised me when I looked at myself after loading them and I was covered in blood!  They had to go home to soak in water and rehydrate, but that also gave me the opportunity to clean up.. I still needed to get to work!

The next day I pulled them from the soaking tubs and took my first photos.  The leaves had a whitish look to them which was actually thousands of tiny white scale.  These poor plants were as uncomfortable as I was loading them the previous day.  Here's a shot with a soda can next to the trunk:

All of those long overgrown branches had to go, plus this was a great way to get rid of all that scale.. they were on the leaves but not on the trunk.  Still, I sprayed the trunks with neem oil to kill any escapees (being careful not to get any on the roots).  After trimming the top and roots, this is the scene I was left with.  Much more manageable!

Potted up into a wash tub with free-draining Bonsai mix.  Although it wasn't as visible in the previous shots, in this photo the scars on the trunk are evident - injury from being pulled by a chain from the ground. 

2006 January.  Ilex cornuta are generally slow growing trees, this is the result of one year's unrestricted growth.  I wanted to see if there would be any die-back from the damage, and to give the roots as much energy as possible to recover.

 

 Long branches were cut back, and I found a much better trunk line from the back side of the tree. 

2006 April, a couple of months later now, and this tree is sending out new shoots happily.  I'm working on that first front, which has the better nebari (base) again.

Trimmed.  It wasn't cut back so much as thinned out.  Multiple sprouts come out of the ends of all the branches, and these need to be reduced to as few as possible.  Cutting back to a single lead is best, as it can be carved to create taper, but here I'm still leaving extra shoots, hedging my bets on a design change later.

 

 

2006 September.  This little tree really wants to grow!  I've gone back to the better front now, choosing the look of the whole tree over one feature.  I've read Bonsaiists say that you should design your tree based on the lower trunk and root spread (nebari).  The problem with a blanket statement like this is if you have a collected tree whose main structure isn't going to change, the "best" front should be chosen.  In other words, don't just go by the book!

I loved all the new growth, but needed to start developing the structure of the tree.  New wood on these take a while to lignify (turn from green and sappy to brown and woody), so the structure has to build gradually.

2007 February.  This species doesn't put on a lot of growth in the winter months, even in mild winters like we have here in Austin.  It's a summer tree!

The old wash tub is starting to crack and needs to be replaced.  Time for new shoes!  I also want to see how the roots are establishing.  The soil is washed and this is what I've got.  Front:

And backside:

In its new unglazed Chinese made Bonsai pot, it's starting to look a little better.

2007 November.  Nice growth this year helped to fill in the branches and the apex of the canopy.

Trimmed back and there is finally a rounded top to my tree.  I'd like for it to be even more rounded with a wider profile.  This is how broadleaf trees develop, and I'd like for it to have the look of an old broadleaf tree.

2009 February.  The open soil and semi-regular pruning have added density to the canopy.  There are a lot of shoots, but also a lot of leaves, and some of the leaves are blocking new branches from forming.

Instead of adding, this time I need to thin things out again.  I've cut back useless branches, cleared long shoots and cut many of the extra-long leaves in half to allow more light and air into the tree.

2011 March.  It is just developing slowly now.  I'm trying to develop the structure with a simple clip-and-grow, although occasionally I still need to wire a branch or two.  These are uncomfortable scratchy moments I don't look forward to!  The roots have completely filled the pot and drainage is beginning to be compromised.

 

 

 

Best thing to do is a repot.  Here is the brick of roots just out of the Bonsai pot.

I carefully combed the tangle of wrap-around roots out and cut them back, leaving room for more soil and room to grow.

Repotted back into its same container. 

 

 

 2012 April. The canopy is quite full, but I need to be careful to preserve the open areas as well.  A full helmet of foliage isn't what I'm after.

So here we are after cutting back.  Several smaller branches were removed and others were wired out to give a nice radiating feel. 

 

 

2013 July.  Growth seems to be slowing down a bit.  Next year it will need to be repotted again.  Now it needs a trim and thin of the abundant growth, especially at the top.

Reshaped and defined.  Each time I cut the branches I take out the oldest and largest leaves.  Also, any leaves that are growing on lignified wood are removed as well.  I'm going to be on the look out for a new pot for this one for next year. I'd love to find a hand-built Bonsai pot, maybe something a bit wider and oval or with rounded corners, and possibly glazed with some kind of ochre and earth tones.  This holly has produced berries here and there over the years, but not enough to make the red berries a determining color in choosing a pot. 

 

 

I've really enjoyed this tree over the years and only know of one other person who has one as a Bonsai.  Don't let the "horns" on the leaves scare you away if you find a good one.  They're out there being thrown away and need a good home! 

 

There is a little song in this Betty Boop cartoon that I seem to hum when thinking about finding trees like this that have been deemed trash!   :)

Click play and listen at about the 3:00 mark.