Broomstyle serissa

[Mara of dragon clan]

Hi all,

I am thinking of making styling this serissa as a broom. My plan was to slowly reduce the current "main trunk" and have the 2 lowest branches be the primary start for the broom.

The red line shows where i want to redcue to. I am not sure how serissa respond to trunk chop so my plan was to build its root system with an air pruning style of training pot and slowly reduce the old canopy over a year

 

[penumbra]

Traditionally a broom style exhibits a very straight trunk. You don't have that so it might not be the best style for you plant. I am not saying not to do it for you should do whatever pleases you, but a true broom it will not be.

 

[Mara of dragon clan]

Yep, and i actually disliked the very straight aspect of traditional broom. This broom principlw is more based on having the Y shape of primary branches and building from there.

I am curious why tradition is brought into conversation. This is a stick in some rocks, something that will never see exhibition. Its curious why the first response it would recieve is "it will never be this" as opposed to helping it grow in the way that the thread was written for?

I got scolded on one of my earliest posts about thinking a "stick in a pot" is not yamadori- instead of the poster kindly explaining to me what yamadori actually is.

What fuels this suppressive culture and mentality? Is it really refinement

 

[penumbra]

Sorry if I ruffled some feathers. I am not saying you can't make it a fine bonsai. I am simply saying it is something other than a broom. Ask someone else. I'm looking for philosophical derision. Just trying to help.

 

[Mara of dragon clan]

Sorry if I ruffled some feathers. I am not saying you can't make it a fine bonsai. I am simply saying it is something other than a broom. Ask someone else. I'm looking for philosophical derision. Just trying to help.

Thank you for the clarification on its style then. Its original design before a light trim begged to be a slanted- so I just wanted to rebel. Part of my nature.

 

[penumbra]

Thank you for the clarification on its style then. Its original design before a light trim begged to be a slanted- so I just wanted to rebel. Part of my nature.

I completely understand. Some times we listen closely to our plants and other times we tell them to "do what I tell you".
Lately I have been working on cascading plants that don't feel that way about it. Sometimes I feel like I am winning and sometimes I don't. Its a bit like trying to talk your aging parents into moving into assisted living.
Happy bonsai wherever it leads.

 

[Mara of dragon clan]

I had a thought, what if I ground layer this bulb inverse bit like this

 

[penumbra]

I nearly suggested that course of action. It would make a more convincing broom.

 

[Mara of dragon clan]

Healing up after the work to reduce it. I took only small amounts at a time 2 months after new growth came in from the tilted ground layer. The process to reduce it from its original size was about 5 months of breaking a twig or two every month. This is its first big flush of green growth after the major pruning after flowering for 4 months

 

[Mara of dragon clan]

Light prune july 10 2021

 

[Mara of dragon clan]

I decided to check the ground layer that i started earlier this year. And by check i mean prune off the old trunk and eeset its position. The moss bumps are from the new grown nebari which is super cool to see in person

Very cool to have started this thread a year ago and see where it is now.

 

[Katie0317]

Just a few thoughts, but am glad you listened to your gut and chopped it.

I'm particularly fond of serissas and have been fortunate to have help from the owner of a bonsai nursery who specializes in them and has shown them for decades. I'd bought a forest of serissas on Ebay prior to meeting him. I brought my Ebay serissas to a class I took with him and he explained that
there are many varieties of serissas but the leaves should be very small. I'm working on shortening the space between the internodes by clipping and growing. The leaves on your tree are quite large.

They are supposed to be very tiny. The serissas I bought on Ebay are veriegated, so the leaves are naturally a bit larger but they're small compared to the leaves on your tree.

I bought a serissa tree from the bonsai nursery and told my serissa forest, "Here, this is how you're supposed to behave." I hope they're paying attention.

Here is an article on Bonsai Mary by David VanBuskirt. He's the owner of the nursery I'm referring to and the one helping me with my serissas.

Serissa Bonsai Care Guide [Snow Rose Bonsai] Updated

Serissa is a genus that includes flowering plants from the Rubiaceae family. It is also known as the “Snow Rose” and “Tree of a Thousand Stars” due to its tiny white flowers. It is a popular Bonsai tree due to its small leaves, beautifully gnarled trunk, and continuous blooms. There are two...

www.bonsaimary.com

 

[TinyArt]

@Katie0317 -- the "big" leaves are an optical illusion, it's a tiny tree! Mara has another thread that shows the whole planting, plus more cool trees & pots.

Also, keep in mind that while the article is great advice for us Central Floridians, matters are a bit different in Ontario...

 

[Katie0317]

@TinyArt I'd enjoy seeing the other thread? If you know where it is I'd like to look and see what she's done. Like I said 'am glad she followed her gut on chopping it.'

David's shown his serissas all over the country and it's kind of his thing so I'm sure he can talk about it growing them in all kinds of conditions. The leaves on his are teeny tiny! Really something to see. But I'd like to see Mara's too.

The leaves look very big in that photo. I'd like to see a photo that's accurate if that one's not.

Of all the trees I've bought they're my favorite...along with the Bermuda miniature cherry. Have you seen that one? It's a good one for this climate. What kind of trees do you have TinyArt? Probably lots.

 

[TinyArt]

@Katie0317

My first year of bonsai

These are some of my babies that made it over winter and I will be adding more pictures of my tropicals once they get outside. Most of the pots were designed and handmade by me specifically for the trees Special treat

www.bonsainut.com

I don't have many trees, but I do have 3 serissa: 2 Kyoto, 1 Cherry Blossom.
I'd love to visit D&L -- so cool that you're near enough to go for workshops.
(Time you started a thread on your adventures... )

 

[Katie0317]

TinyArt, didn't know you had serissas too? Have you had them long and did you find them nearby?

Honestly, when we first got interested in bonsai I thought there would be bonsai nurseries everywhere in the country. I was mistaken and had no idea how lucky we are to be so close. (That includes you too!)

The only thing I'd share is photos of bonsai nurseries 'not for sale' trees with their permission. I think that's the thing that would be of interest to others. It was either @Carol 83 or @Cadillactaste that mentioned I was 'lucky to have someone show me how to style a specific tree'. It was then it first occurred to me that classes aren't readily available to many if not most. That honestly hadn't occurred to me. There's a demand for classes here so I guessed that with demand there would be supply in most places.

Fortunately there are clubs and I'm sure that helps tremendously. It would be difficult to do without any hands on help. Youtube and BN help but there's a lot to be said for meeting with other people and seeing and learning from their projects etc...

Thank you for sharing Mara's other posts. In her serissa pic from 6 months ago the leaves do look smaller. David shared that the clip and grow method is the way to shortening the internodes and I'm going to follow those directions. I hope Mara will keep sharing pics of her trees and pots. I admire anyone who's growing bonsai through winter using lights and humidifiers and whatever it takes. It takes a lot of commitment.

 

[Carol 83]

TinyArt, didn't know you had serissas too? Have you had them long and did you find them nearby?

Honestly, when we first got interested in bonsai I thought there would be bonsai nurseries everywhere in the country. I was mistaken and had no idea how lucky we are to be so close. (That includes you too!)

The only thing I'd share is photos of bonsai nurseries 'not for sale' trees with their permission. I think that's the thing that would be of interest to others. It was either @Carol 83 or @Cadillactaste that mentioned I was 'lucky to have someone show me how to style a specific tree'. It was then it first occurred to me that classes aren't readily available to many if not most. That honestly hadn't occurred to me. There's a demand for classes here so I guessed that with demand there would be supply in most places.

Fortunately there are clubs and I'm sure that helps tremendously. It would be difficult to do without any hands on help. Youtube and BN help but there's a lot to be said for meeting with other people and seeing and learning from their projects etc...

Thank you for sharing Mara's other posts. In her serissa pic from 6 months ago the leaves do look smaller. David shared that the clip and grow method is the way to shortening the internodes and I'm going to follow those directions. I hope Mara will keep sharing pics of her trees and pots. I admire anyone who's growing bonsai through winter using lights and humidifiers and whatever it takes. It takes a lot of commitment.

It wasn't me, but there are no bonsai nurseries near me. There was one that I loved, run by 2 brothers, but they retired last year unfortunately. There is a club in St.Louis, but they meet at night and I'm not inclined to drive there by myself at night.

 

[Katie0317]

Carol, that's crummy that the two brothers retiring. That must feel like a huge loss. I bet they were able to answer a lot of questions plus being a place to buy supplies and trees. Am sorry that happened.

 

[TinyArt]

TinyArt, didn't know you had serissas too? Have you had them long and did you find them nearby?

I've had them since March -- from HirtsGardens on Etsy -- little mini guys in 2.5" pots. Now very ready for pruning & potting -- I'll give them a thread, and we'll let Mara have hers back

 

[Benjofen]

It wasn't me, but there are no bonsai nurseries near me. There was one that I loved, run by 2 brothers, but they retired last year unfortunately. There is a club in St.Louis, but they meet at night and I'm not inclined to drive there by myself at night.

There don't even seem to be nurseries in Chicago unless there's some super secret underground speakeasy place I don't know about. There's a couple way out in the burbs but that seems to be it. There are a couple clubs I know about but neither are exactly easy to get to. I get the sense bonsai hasn't caught on in the midwest nearly to the extent it has in PNW, CA, FL etc.