Purple Serissa

[JoeR]

This is a cutting grown purple serissa japonica I got from @Mellow Mullet in maybe 2017 or so. I havent touched it much until today, so I set the initial structure in place. It appears to be focusing on flowering, and when i see more vigorous growth it will be cut back as the foliage is currently too far out for the design. The middle trunk's large straight branch is being left to add some girth to create more variety in trunk size.

Any comments are appreciated, on wiring or design.

Before:


After:


Future:


This honey (?) bee was just as hard at work as I was the entire time I was wiring. He did not seem to care at all that I was there.

 

[JoeR]

I can now see there is a branch on the back I missed wiring and a few tweaks here and there

 

[just.wing.it]

Nice and healthy looking.
What kind of substrate are you using?

 

[JoeR]

Nice and healthy looking.
What kind of substrate are you using?

APL.. I did not repot it this spring and regret it, its quite caked from the akadama and organic ferts. I believe an organic component would be much better for serissa, however

 

[penumbra]

Interesting to see what you did with it. My first instinct would have been to reomove the one trunk that was very straight and to train the other two in a mother and daughter design. However you have done a great job in wiring and made the three trunks work pretty well together.

 

[JoeR]

Interesting to see what you did with it. My first instinct would have been to reomove the one trunk that was very straight and to train the other two in a mother and daughter design. However you have done a great job in wiring and made the three trunks work pretty well together.

Interesting, hadnt even considered that. Serissa are somewhat notorious for not thickening much, so if the escape branch doesn't add girth I could see a mother daughter in the future still. Thanks

 

[JoeR]

If anyone is interested, I have 20 or so rooted serissa cuttings Id like to get rid of. They are well established in 4" pots (recommend repotting immediately), some are wired and styled and some are not- let me know what you want. They are purple, pink fairy, and double white flowers. These are the double white and purple flowers.

I will take pictures asap.

I'm south of Charlotte, NC but I can ship at buyers expense.

 

[Mellow Mullet]

This is a cutting grown purple serissa japonica I got from @Mellow Mullet in maybe 2017 or so. I havent touched it much until today, so I set the initial structure in place. It appears to be focusing on flowering, and when i see more vigorous growth it will be cut back as the foliage is currently too far out for the design. The middle trunk's large straight branch is being left to add some girth to create more variety in trunk size.

Any comments are appreciated, on wiring or design.

Before:
View attachment 306363

After:
View attachment 306364View attachment 306366

Future:
View attachment 306369

This honey (?) bee was just as hard at work as I was the entire time I was wiring. He did not seem to care at all that I was there.

I like what you have done with this and I think that serissa lend themselves well to multi-trunk presentations. The purple trunk variety does not get much girth on the trunk, I have several in the landscape that have been growing there for years and the largest trunk among them is about ring finger size. The variety among the three that you have that "trunks-up" the most is the pink fairy, my dad has one that has a trunk of 3/4 to maybe an inch.

 

[JoeR]

I like what you have done with this and I think that serissa lend themselves well to multi-trunk presentations. The purple trunk variety does not get much girth on the trunk, I have several in the landscape that have been growing there for years and the largest trunk among them is about ring finger size. The variety among the three that you have that "trunks-up" the most is the pink fairy, my dad has one that has a trunk of 3/4 to maybe an inch.

Good to know. Yeah the escape branch probably won't make a noticeable difference. Are they in the landscape for looks or to grow out for bonsai? They would make very nice landscape plants in any case, although i keep mine in the greenhouse (>40) over winter.

 

[Mellow Mullet]

Good to know. Yeah the escape branch probably won't make a noticeable difference. Are they in the landscape for looks or to grow out for bonsai? They would make very nice landscape plants in any case, although i keep mine in the greenhouse (>40) over winter.

They are mostly volunteers that are being left alone, one day, one or two might make it into a pot.