better bougainvillea

sam

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sharing one of my better bougainvillea. still a work in progress, but getting close. the best attribute of this tree is a trunk that has all the desirable elements for good bonsai - unusual for bougainvillea. age (approx. 80+ yrs) , powerful evenly distributed nebari, rough fissured bark, superior movement along the entire trunk, extreme natural taper and as a bonus, natural deadwood. including a few pictures taken today-before/after pruning.

best wishes, sam
 

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sam, I love the bougie... nice job! They are probally my favorite plant of all time... How long have you been working on this tree?
 

RogueFJ

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It's beautiful! Do you always keep it so close to the stone fence? I'd ber afraid someone would pick it up.
 

Mike423

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That trunk is simply awesome, not often you see a bougie with a nice trunk. I'm guessing you live and acquired this tree in Florida, or somewhere similar? I envy some of the species people in warmer climates can work with.
 
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I have a feeling this is a native Hawaiian bougie... alot of ours here in central florida have been getting hit hard with the recent colder winters...
 
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sam

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thanks for the comments friends.

answering questions . the tree is a yard grown specimen from a residential landscape on kauai. I collected the bare stump 8 years ago. about theft. our island and population are quite small-so everyone pretty much knows each other. also there are so few folks doing bonsai, a tree appearing suddenly where none had been before, would be noticed. the tree and pot probably weigh 80 lbs. not something one could run off with very easily.

best wishes, sam
 

Mike423

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Wish I could say the same. Living in a Chicago land suburb and having a bike path in my back yard where dozens of people pass every day I have to practically stand watch with a tranquilizer gun:D Thanks for sharing, I love a good Bougi. I guess I'll have to fly to Hawaii and look for some for sale like yours.
 
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sam

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I actually have a few collected trees for sale. send me a PM for details. we have a son living in naperville.

best wishes, sam
 
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sam, sorry I am not trying to hi-jack the thread, but I had a question... I recently dug this bougie out of my parents yards, it had gotten bit by the cold and had died back to about a foot and a half off the ground. When I dug it up I found a 2ft deep totally fused root ball... which I want to play a part in the eventual design. I burried it for now in mainly pea-gravel, cause I was worried about it surviving, and figured I would expose it over time.

My question is because they root rather easy, I was wondering if you thought I was on the right path, or should I had just buried it down to where I eventually want it to be, and took the chance??? In the pic the red line is where I eventually want the top on the soil to be at. The container is also about 2 ft wide, for scale.

Thanks for any advice, and sorry again, not trying to impose on your thread, I have seen the pics of the collected material you have and thought you would be a good second opinion!!!
 

sam

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hi stacy. no apologies necessary.

freezes and die back are problems I have no knowledge about, so understand that when you read what I have to say. looks like the tree is recovering nicely. is it strong enough to work on? too bad the upper part died, you could've had a good start using the upper structure.
are you now able to protect the tree from cold? if so, assuming the tree is strong enough, I'd raise the tree up to the preferred height, encourage branch growth and begin the development of your future bonsai. actually the roots on the surface look pretty good will you eventually cut these off? it'd be interesting to see what the trunk looks like under the soil. do you have a picture before planting?

best wishes, sam
 
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sam, pretty much what you see is alive, except for the top couple of inches of each trunk which I left long for now, but will eventually be carved down. The original bush/tree was about 15 plus feet and got hit by the last two winters which had reduced it down to what you see now. My folks wanted to replace it with something else so I took it, and figured I would make more of a sumo style tree. When I started digging much to my pain, sweat, as well as excitement I found and enormous root ball... That if it was darker would perhaps look like I rock.
I unfortunately was unable to get any pics of it that day, because after a whole day event, since it was just me, I just wanted to get it replanted before dark !!! So the photo was taken the next day.
The massive rootball was alive with no rot, but had very few fine roots, Just large roots shooting off in various directions that were cut when it was dug. Most of the fine roots were around the top, that is why I decided to go ahead an plant it almost up to where it originally was, so the fine roots might help substain the tree until it had a chance to shoot out more roots lower down.
I was worried that because of the cold damage that the tree's health might be in jeopardy, but two days after I took the picture it sproted new buds all over, and currently seems to be in better condition than when I found it...
The main reason why I planted it in the clear tub, is so I might see some of the progress of the roots lower down. I figure over some time I would remove the gravel little by little and remove some of the higher roots as I went...
 

sam

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hearing that most of the above soil trunk is alive, is good news. now you have the choice to go with a taller design or one that starts at the soil line. I like what I see because you have trunk width, some nebari, movement in the trunk and most important, some taper. don't know how another 12 inches of trunk will affect the present look. another question to wonder about is how tall of a tree do you want to create?

hope this helps,

best wishes, sam
 
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