Ilex "Red Beauty"

[just.wing.it]

I picked one up at the depot yesterday, red pot.
I'll add some pictures later today when I get home, forgot to take them last night.

It's like an Ilex Opaca, with the spiky leaves and red berries.
But it's a hybrid test tube tree...http://www.monrovia.com/plant-catalog/plants/564/red-beauty-holly/

They have very small leaves compared to the native Ilex Opaca and is much more dense in its growth habit, and the leaves are darker in color, at least this time of year.

The one I got shows some nice taper already, and I'm glad to have it.

Anyone else out there try these yet?!?
I'm determined to make a bonsai out of one of these, I'd like a larger Opaca specimen like my first one....which was a very beefy stump that I dug from a landscape.... didn't survive.
But this cool hybrid will do.

 

[StoneCloud]

Pics or it didn't happen !!!

Wooo!!!

Lol.

I love ilex and starting to study the hardier cultivars with my move up here.

I love yaupon one of my favorite trees. I'm borderline on their zone though.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Been looking for a nice winterberry specimen - which is a deciduous ilex/holly. They are hard to come by...

 

[just.wing.it]

Been looking for a nice winterberry specimen - which is a deciduous ilex/holly. They are hard to come by...

Yeah, I like them too, I have 5 planted on the side of the house, 4 females, one male.

 

[just.wing.it]

OK....whew!.....long day....sorry to leave you hanging for so long....
Here she be!
Foliage:

I love the deep green color!!!
Look how small!


Taper anyone?
I want to grow this one out to thicken it up a bit, but this one was the only one, out of 2 dozen or so, that had any taper at all....can't wait to dig down and see what's there!

 

[Handsome John]

I hear that they dont like to be root pruned very much which is why they are usually passed over as bonsai but I dont see why not, has alot of pros going for it. Im interested in what lurks below the soil too!

 

[StoneCloud]

NICE!!!! Healthy too, always good

No hefty scars on the lower trunk either.

I love the hunt, and hey digging through the foliage of 24 of these is always a blast!

 

[Underdog]

I hear that they dont like to be root pruned very much which is why they are usually passed over as bonsai...

Mine is an American Holly I believe. Maybe different but 2 of them yanked out by a truck and tossed out to me March 2016. Planted one in the ground and wanted to see what the other one would take. Both still living. LOL The stump in the bottom of a milk crate surprised me.
This one could handle the root work. Long way to go... but healthy. First pic as delivered, next day 3/16 and recient.

I also have Ilex Glabra entered in winter games.

 

[Handsome John]

Hmmm makes me wonder about picking up these really nice Evergreen hollies at a garden center near me, two feet tall with 9 inch trunks for 50 buck, too bad theyre not 'red beauty' haha

 

[just.wing.it]

NICE!!!! Healthy too, always good

No hefty scars on the lower trunk either.

I love the hunt, and hey digging through the foliage of 24 of these is always a blast!

Thanks, and yeah, it's a bit prickly!

 

[just.wing.it]

Hmmm makes me wonder about picking up these really nice Evergreen hollies at a garden center near me, two feet tall with 9 inch trunks for 50 buck, too bad theyre not 'red beauty' haha

Yes, do it....said the little devil on your left shoulder....

 

[just.wing.it]

Mine is an American Holly I believe. Maybe different but 2 of them yanked out by a truck and tossed out to me March 2016. Planted one in the ground and wanted to see what the other one would take. Both still living. LOL The stump in the bottom of a milk crate surprised me.
This one could handle the root work. Long way to go... but healthy. First pic as delivered, next day 3/16 and recient.
View attachment 170479 View attachment 170480 View attachment 170482
I also have Ilex Glabra entered in winter games.

Yeah! Killer! Nice....

 

[just.wing.it]

Dug down a bit....just to have a peek...



I'm happy for now...can't wait to see the rest...

The horticultural material I read for this tree says prune in winter.
I'm thinking of doing some reductions tonight...I got cut paste.

 

[StoneCloud]

Nice start to a wicked base!!!! No crazy criss cross roots and such

It's got a good root Spread!!!!!

 

[just.wing.it]

I put the top soil back for now....

Removed 2 major trunks, 2 major branches, and 3 small oddly placed branches.

I was first thinking pine style, informal upright....and I'm still thinking that...
Although the more I looked at the picture that I "painted" on, I think it could also be a fuller, more deciduous looking tree, with several apices...(or apexes depending on what you read).
We'll just see how this cookie crumbles...

Anyway, the red trunk line is the main trunk line.
The blue one is staying for now to help close the wounds I made, but could stay in the future too, depending on how the wind blows.
I blacked out the low right branch in the pic because I removed it already.
The others will be side branches...
And there is a back branch there too that you can't really see.

Thoughts??

 

[just.wing.it]

Also, look at the beautiful winter color in the leaves on the ends of the branches...

 

[StoneCloud]

I love thinking!!

hmm

Keeping the red as the trunk line, I see what could be some reverse taper issues in the near (near, in bonsai terms) future. I'm looking at the section that is horizontal almost between the red and blue lines. Maybe I'm wrong or don't see it right........

Hard without the tree in person but from the pics, I'm seeing a nice line and taper if you were to keep the blue section as the new trunk line and remove the right side...

arghh wish I had photo editing software on this chromebook! I'll be back with a virt so it makes some sense

 

[StoneCloud]

Sorry it's grainy I took a pic of the screen was way faster lol....

But I see something like this with some bending and more refinement / branch removal and re- growth but something along these lines for this guy.

Maybe too small for your vision for it?

What do you think?

 

[just.wing.it]

Sorry it's grainy I took a pic of the screen was way faster lol....

But I see something like this with some bending and more refinement / branch removal and re- growth but something along these lines for this guy.

Maybe too small for your vision for it?

What do you think?



View attachment 172819

We'll that's sort of what I'm thinking, but I'd rather keep the red trunk instead of the blue....
Reason being that, due to the root base and overall movement of the tree, I like it moving to the right.

I'm keeping red and blue for now, because between them is where I made the one large cut, removing 2 main trunks.

Now, it shouldn't swell up there, because I've narrowed it down to only 2 leaders....but time will tell.

I appreciate the time/input thanks!

 

[just.wing.it]

Sorry it's grainy I took a pic of the screen was way faster lol....

But I see something like this with some bending and more refinement / branch removal and re- growth but something along these lines for this guy.

Maybe too small for your vision for it?

What do you think?



View attachment 172819

Maybe more like this trunk line to build off of. It's almost more like slanting style....I'll play with potting angles too when repotting time gets here.