Help me style these misfits and get creative!

[aarnii]

Hello Nutters! Get the microsoft paint out! It's always easier with other people's trees

There are a series of trees that I got for free or very cheap, but need a lot of work or time. Wanted to ask you for guidance as the time to work on them is approaching where I live, and some decisions are hard to fix. I look at the long term, especially with these trees, happy to go drastic.

Olive 1: This was almost free and I liked the base (not clear in pictures but looks very nice). The owner had no idea what he was doing, I removed a few of branches that went up and down like spaghetti and it's planted in literal clay. It's styled kind of like a broom, but has a huge ass scar that I don't think will ever heal. Something drastic could be to make that top scar drip down (dead wood looks nice on olives) and pick one lateral branch and one leader and continue the tree, but it's already 40ish cm tall. But I don't want to bias you.

https://imgur.com/a/70aAz1M

(Ran out of post photo space)

Olive 2: This has a branch that could be a leader with deadwood in the front, but has 3 very big branches that are 'holding' the scar.

https://imgur.com/a/ptkvvwn

Pomegranate: The bark looks old which I like. My plan was to get rid of one of the 3 trunks that come from one arm and take the buds back as much as I can (and move it to real soil and layer or do a root layer cause the roots look ugly). But the first branch looks off, not sure how much I can bring the ramification back, and I can't pick a front in it's current state.




Blue potato bush: This is a long shot, but it was going to the trash and some people here said it could kind of work. I thought on keeping it as a double/triple trunk, the question is: Where would you chop and in what direction? (not sure if vertical or horizontal) It sprouts next to every cut, so it's an aesthetic question



[bonus] Trident maple: Thick as a can. I got excited and bought it, without noticing that apart from the multiple scars that I could heal by letting grow and the weird base (I think it grew into another maple), it had reverse taper. My idea was to layer it and get two fat trees, any other idea?

https://imgur.com/a/aBlToT3

 

[AlainK]

@aarnii, where are you from?

To me your user name sounds suomi : growing olive trees in Finland or in Andalucia is very different...

I think you should mention youre location : growing a mediterranean tree in sub-arctic regions or in the mediterranean area, that's two reindeers of a different colour...

 

[aarnii]

@aarnii, where are you from?

To me your user name sounds suomi : growing olive trees in Finland or in Andalucia is very different...

I think you should mention youre location : growing a mediterranean tree in sub-arctic regions or in the mediterranean area, that's two reindeers of a different colour...

Hello AlainK!

Didn't know, my nickname comes from transforming my name, but means nothing in any language I speak.

I am based in Barcelona, Spain. All the trees I have should be fine in my climate and waking up soon!

 

[AlainK]

I am based in Barcelona, Spain. All the trees I have should be fine in my climate and waking up soon!

Good!
En aquest cas, no em preocupen aquests petits arbres, estan al lloc correcte i en bones mans. The right trees in the right place in the hands of the right person.

(but I suggest you edit your profile and specify your location)

The Acer buergerianum : I would prune it hard, at least all the branches to the first set of buds, and repot it in a shallower but wider container.

 

[aarnii]

Good!
En aquest cas, no em preocupen aquests petits arbres, estan al lloc correcte i en bones mans. The right trees in the right place in the hands of the right person.

(but I suggest you edit your profile and specify your location)

The Acer buergerianum : I would prune it hard, at least all the branches to the first set of buds, and repot it in a shallower but wider container.

You know the locals well, we get very emotional when talked in our own language from foreigners! <3

Wouldn't you layer it? Don't you think that reverse taper will always be a flaw?

 

[AliciaT]

Hi I’m late to the party and am not a bonsai guru like so many here(appologies if this isn’t the appropriate place to comment) but I gotta say I’m crushing hard on the second from last view of your blue potato bush.

I don’t know that genus but it really looks like a tree I could see growing around here in Canada.
I was walking through the botanical gardens today and your trees delicate flowing form with some tweaks would have fit in at the arboretum if you squint right.

I’d love an update on what you did if you feel inclined.