Does this bougie have any sort of potential?

[electraus]

In my endeavor to get better at selecting more mature ‘pre-bonsai’ material, I ran into this bougie stump going for $135. My main obstacle with selecting pre bonsai stock is that I can tell when something looks good and when it doesn’t, but I’m not sure why. This one seems like nothing special in part because of the clunky base, but I can’t tell if it has potential for improvement. I figure that, for $135, this can at worst be my practice bougainvillea but first I’d like to hear from you all if it can be improved and what you would do to improve it? Is a raw gem that just needs to be cut and polished or is it a lost cause altogether? I’d love to hear thoughts.

 

[luvinthemountains]

I think this could be made into a pretty bonsai. Only issue could be that back side, which looks like it may all be dead. You might be looking at having to do a lot of carving, and I am not sure how well it would hold up over time.

 

[LuZiKui]

In my endeavor to get better at selecting more mature ‘pre-bonsai’ material, I ran into this bougie stump going for $135. My main obstacle with selecting pre bonsai stock is that I can tell when something looks good and when it doesn’t, but I’m not sure why. This one seems like nothing special in part because of the clunky base, but I can’t tell if it has potential for improvement. I figure that, for $135, this can at worst be my practice bougainvillea but first I’d like to hear from you all if it can be improved and what you would do to improve it? Is a raw gem that just needs to be cut and polished or is it a lost cause altogether? I’d love to hear thoughts.

I think I'd pass on this one for $135. To my eyes it has a good trunk and some movement but you are basically starting from scratch on the top. I mentioned in one of your other posts on Bougies but this looks to me like it was cut from a larger plant and probably put in a container last year. As mentioned on the other thread, if you can find someone removing a big bougie you could have 10 of these by this time next year for free (well the cost of your supplies plus time).

Additionally on this one, I'd like the branches to come out more perpendicular to the trunk to spread out and make a wider canopy. Being so brittle, you'll never get those branches to be perpendicular so you'll likely need to cut back and hope for back budding that you can shape. Also, looks like half of the tree might be dead. Not necessarily a deal breaker but something to be aware of.

Just FYI, I cut a big branch off of a bougie in my yard and struck about 15 cuttings earlier this year. I imagine I'll have something similar to the tree in question by next spring.