Nursery Stock: Wisteria and Texas Sage

Warlock

Shohin
Messages
316
Reaction score
312
Location
Austin, Texas
USDA Zone
8b
So picked a couple plants I thought were interesting.
Wisteria with a really large trunk.. All the other were tiny compared to this..
Texas Sage.. 3 in a 5g pot. All three have large trunks also.. Thought it would be cool to separate them.

Thoughts
 

Attachments

  • 20190619_160431.jpg
    20190619_160431.jpg
    333.3 KB · Views: 73
  • 20190619_161441.jpg
    20190619_161441.jpg
    244.8 KB · Views: 75
  • 20190619_161433.jpg
    20190619_161433.jpg
    267.2 KB · Views: 70
  • 20190619_161356.jpg
    20190619_161356.jpg
    218.1 KB · Views: 64
  • 20190619_161359.jpg
    20190619_161359.jpg
    208.7 KB · Views: 60
  • 20190619_161420.jpg
    20190619_161420.jpg
    297.9 KB · Views: 59

sorce

Nonsense Rascal
Messages
32,908
Reaction score
45,579
Location
Berwyn, Il
USDA Zone
6.2
Wisteria with a really large trunk.. All the other were tiny compared to this..

An Ugly girl next to 3 nasties is gonna look pretty cute ....
Specially if it been a while since you peeped a dime.

Having better reasons to buy things will result in better trees faster.

Reckon you can find a leg sized trunk to collect if you seek.

1 in a thousand Nursery trees are worth working. Stay dedicated to looking through that many to find the ONE.

Did you leave your DNA on EVERY tree at that nursery?

Sorce
 

Warlock

Shohin
Messages
316
Reaction score
312
Location
Austin, Texas
USDA Zone
8b
1 in a thousand Nursery trees are worth working. Stay dedicated to looking through that many to find the ONE.

Did you leave your DNA on EVERY tree at that nursery?

Sorce
Wanted something different..
Didn't leave alot of DNA.. It's too damn hot..

Now I was looking at this one too... But figured it needed wire. But never done that before.. But I might get this JBP next

248107
 

sorce

Nonsense Rascal
Messages
32,908
Reaction score
45,579
Location
Berwyn, Il
USDA Zone
6.2
Wanted something different..
Didn't leave alot of DNA.. It's too damn hot..

Now I was looking at this one too... But figured it needed wire. But never done that before.. But I might get this JBP next

View attachment 248107

I was fricking cold today looking thru some Mugo!

Start some JBP seeds!
You can have something better than that in a few years!

Sorce
 

Warlock

Shohin
Messages
316
Reaction score
312
Location
Austin, Texas
USDA Zone
8b
I was fricking cold today looking thru some Mugo!

Start some JBP seeds!
You can have something better than that in a few years!

Sorce
Giving up my fish hobby.. Wanted to get back into bonsai alittle more serious..
I will look for some seeds.. Thanks
 

Warlock

Shohin
Messages
316
Reaction score
312
Location
Austin, Texas
USDA Zone
8b
Id say I'd send you some but.....
Me doing anything during baseball season is slim!
But if you wanna PM me an address, Ill get em there before planting spring! Maybe!

Sorce
Well thank u very much..
 

Leo in N E Illinois

The Professor
Messages
11,337
Reaction score
23,254
Location
on the IL-WI border, a mile from ''da Lake''
USDA Zone
5b
@Warlock
Skip the JBP.
Key points to remember,
1. The first 4 inches of trunk have to be interesting, or it has little or no potential as bonsai.
2. Common species used for bonsai are used because they work, junipers make wonderful bonsai. Even uninteresting junipers are better than straight long boring trunk JBP.
2. Corollary: exotics that you never heard of, as bonsai, chances are good they have been tried and they failed.

3. JBP - the climate in Austin Texas is near perfect for JBP, in less than 6 years you can have wonderful JBP from seed. No need to settle on poor for bonsai landscape nursery stock.

4. Find other bonsai people - Austin has an active scene, there are 3 dimensional and 4th dimension (time) aspects to bonsai that you will never get except hands on, in person. I'm hoping some of our Austin members of BNut will log into this thread and hep you find the best nurseries for stock, and supplies, meetings and who knows, maybe a study group, or a social group. Go to shows, workshops and demonstrations. See trees in reality, virtual only can take you so far.

I know nothing about the horticultural needs of sagebrush. If you separated the 3 trunks, you might have a couple good ones.

You could also do your 3 trunk sage as a "clump style" in which case you would keep them together. You have something there, but because sage is not common as bonsai, I don't know how much help you will get.

Wisteria are an ugly duckling, gangly and unkempt, kept hidden in the back of your collection, until the week they are in bloom. Then they shine.
 

Warlock

Shohin
Messages
316
Reaction score
312
Location
Austin, Texas
USDA Zone
8b
Thanks Leo.. i didn't actually get the JBP.. i ust thought it would be wire or something..

Thanks for the feedback!
 

Michael P

Omono
Messages
1,207
Reaction score
1,842
Location
Dallas, Texas, AHS heat zone 9
USDA Zone
8a
At least two of the Texas sage have severe girdling roots--those coil-like things at the base of the trunk. this come from being left in nursery pots too long, and not properly root pruned when moved up to larger pots. It will be difficult to correct this. I know the species well as a landscape plant, but have never tried it as bonsai. My guess is that it will like VERY free draining soil and full or nearly full sun.
 

rockm

Spuds Moyogi
Messages
14,182
Reaction score
22,184
Location
Fairfax Va.
USDA Zone
7
So picked a couple plants I thought were interesting.
Wisteria with a really large trunk.. All the other were tiny compared to this..
Texas Sage.. 3 in a 5g pot. All three have large trunks also.. Thought it would be cool to separate them.

Thoughts
A few thoughts on the Wisteria.

First, that trunk is small and will be difficult to make into a bonsai. Wisteria have BIG compound leaves that do not reduce. They also have up to foot long blossoms. Both of those require big to HUGE trunks to pull off a successful bonsai image without it looking odd--and physically unstable in the wind or even standing on a bench, as wisteria in bull growth and bloom can be extremely top heavy.

As mentioned, wisteria are a HUGE pain in the ass for most of the year. They overgrow your yard, require constant cut hard pruning. Also, they are notorious for not blooming--And the blooms are the ONLY reason to have one. They are not physically capable of blooming until they're about eight years old. this one looks to be about two...

Additionally, I always laugh a bit to myself when someone actually buys one of these. They are rampantly invasive in the Southern U.S. and can be relatively easily collected. Since they are considered an invasive pest in Texas and Austin, digging one up isn't a problem. BIG trunks, like over 10 inches, can be dug up relatively easily in the spring....

Here's one in the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum in Washington D.C. it is roughly 15 inches at the base and was a gift from Japan. Although it's huge, it's in the sweet spot for the scale of a wisteria bonsai...
natarbwisteria.jpg
 

rockm

Spuds Moyogi
Messages
14,182
Reaction score
22,184
Location
Fairfax Va.
USDA Zone
7
FWIW, collecting wisteria in the spring is easy, because the vines send up flares in the form of blooms. If you look in the landscape around you in early April, you will probably see the blue racemes hanging in woodlots, old abandon properties, etc. It's unmistakable. I've found that most landowners just want to get rid of it since it grows so rampantly. Ask to dig one and the landowner will probably help you (that's been my experience here in Va., anyway).

These trunks are pretty typical of what you can find. The trunk in the front foreground --the biggest one on the left-- is pretty nice, BTW. These wisteria grow out from underneath the parking garage at my place of work. The rest of the vines are smothering some ash trees in a space between the garage and a used car lot. That kind of crummy location is typical for the species. You only need to collect the first two feet of the trunk, not the entire vine...





wiseriaone.jpg
 
Top Bottom