My (ex) Pom-pom Cotoneaster

SeanS

Omono
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Location
Johannesburg, South Africa (SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE)
USDA Zone
9b
I bought this small cotoneaster back at the beginning of Feb, purely because it was cheap (R150 - $8) and because I’d seen some cotoneaster bonsais on Bnut and wasn’t sure if they were common or not in South Africa,
so thought why not!

TBH back then (even if it was only 2 months ago) I didn’t realize how ugly it actually was! Just shows you how much you can learn in that time! A proper S curve mallsai!

Here it was when I bought it. Pom-Pom foliage tufts at the ends of cantilever branches. I’m not sure how or why it was planted at this angle.

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I left it to grow a bit and then gave it a prune

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Then last week I watched a “covid-19 bonsai club show” (an Australian bonsai club did an online YouTube bonsai show) and saw a really well developed upright cotoneaster, and it made me realize I had a similar curved trunk and just needed to change the angle of my little tree!

Strangely enough in the same week I saw @Hartinez cotoneaster progression thread
and again saw my little tree’s trunk in his tree! (Albeit a fraction of the thickness)

So yesterday it got a restyling. It’s my 2nd wiring attempt. I’ll repot at the new angle in September and let it grow next season to thicken the trunk. I’ve left a small shoot at the base of the trunk on the left, is it worth trying to thicken this up into another branch/sub-trunk or won’t it ever catch up to the rest of the tree? Maybe just leave it to thicken the base for now? Input appreciated 👍

The apex still needs some thinning and wire. There are 2 branches up there that need to be brought down but it’s very tight up in there and I wasn’t confident enough to try wire them just yet. Maybe in spring.

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