Hot mess holly

[Joe Dupre']

I found this freebie yaupon holly on the side of the road. Looks like it came from an impromptu yard re-do. It had dozens, if not a hundred, 10" shoots coming from the base and a 2 foot long topiary poodle puff top. After I cleaned and potted it up, it was just about dark, so I really didn't know what I had. Yesterday morning, seeing it in the bright light for the first time, imagine my surprise when I was faced with this. The big, right hand trunk was growing and almost fused into the middle 3 trunks, which were themselves fused into a reverse tapered mess. Anyway, it's got a big hulking base, and I may be able to salvage something resembling a bonsai in a few years.

 

[cbroad]

I like it! There's definitely a few potential trees in there!

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Nice base.

 

[Joe Dupre']

I mistakenly said the big right hand trunk. It's actually the left trunk in the first picture. You can see the pressure point it made at the very top of the last pic. A couple of more years and the tree would have been a big fused mess. There's definitely something there, it just might take a few years of growing to see what I have to work with. My horticultural major bonsai buddy ( very nice to have, I might add) says yaupons back bud like crazy. We'll see.