Pyracantha (or other option) for beginner?

SevenOaks

Sapling
Messages
43
Reaction score
38
Location
Unterfranken close to Frankfurt, Germany
USDA Zone
8a
Is Pyracantha considered "hard" for a beginner (thorny, yes)? I am looking at other options since my oaklings are too young yet, and the Acer Pseudoplatanus isn't suitable as a bonsai because the leaves will be too big. Been thinking of Dawn Redwood, European Larch, Pyracantha or Buddhist Pine, along with the option of another Acer.
 

Hartinez

Masterpiece
Messages
4,149
Reaction score
13,009
Location
Albuquerque, NM
USDA Zone
7
Hey Seven oaks. Pyracantha are pretty darn tough but are susceptible to different fungus and the thorns of course. The rest you listed I wouldn’t call beginner material. If I were you I’d order a few different elm species from Evergreen Garden works. Elms are quite literally bullet proof and can handle so many rookie mistakes we throw at them. In terms of different acer varieties, Trident and Amur maple are both very tough.
 

BrianBay9

Masterpiece
Messages
2,752
Reaction score
5,368
Location
Fresno, CA
USDA Zone
9
Pyracantha are easy to grow and propagate. They have a great flower show, with red or orange berries in the fall. They have a few peculiarities that you need to learn to work with:

Growth is STRAIGHT. That combined with brittle branches once lignified, means that you need to wire branches while they're young and green.

Large cuts don't heal over. If you chop a larger tree down, that chop will remain essentially forever. So, you need to either disguise the cut, or carve it out to make it a feature.
 

sorce

Nonsense Rascal
Messages
32,908
Reaction score
45,579
Location
Berwyn, Il
USDA Zone
6.2
IMO....

It seems this list is compromised of things found in a book, online, or at a "bonsai nursery".

"Easy" for a beginner, and what I call the best for single tree development, collection development, and personal sanity all together...

Is a list of trees compromised of the first 10 trees and shrubs you encounter when you walk out your door.

Sorce
 

Hartinez

Masterpiece
Messages
4,149
Reaction score
13,009
Location
Albuquerque, NM
USDA Zone
7
IMO....

It seems this list is compromised of things found in a book, online, or at a "bonsai nursery".

"Easy" for a beginner, and what I call the best for single tree development, collection development, and personal sanity all together...

Is a list of trees compromised of the first 10 trees and shrubs you encounter when you walk out your door.

Sorce
I think that makes sense in many cases but certainly not a fast rule. There are a number of shrubs trees that thrive here, right out my door, that have done nothing but hate being in a pot. Then again, maybe I just suck at horticulture. 😂

elms on the other hand!
 

Cadillactaste

Neagari Gal
Messages
16,261
Reaction score
20,881
Location
NE Ohio: zone 4 (USA) lake microclimate
USDA Zone
5b
Pyracantha develop a bit differently. Brian Van Fleet explains this in post #14.


Mine this year.

20210517_135858.jpg
 

SevenOaks

Sapling
Messages
43
Reaction score
38
Location
Unterfranken close to Frankfurt, Germany
USDA Zone
8a
IMO....

It seems this list is compromised of things found in a book, online, or at a "bonsai nursery".

"Easy" for a beginner, and what I call the best for single tree development, collection development, and personal sanity all together...

Is a list of trees compromised of the first 10 trees and shrubs you encounter when you walk out your door.

Sorce

I had been thinking about these things yesterday, and started writing ... but never posted that list. The idea was looking out into the garden and seeing what grows there, basically: common hornbeam (carpinus betulus), apple tree (malus something), pyracantha, thuja, the (european) larch that I can see through the binocular from the kitchen window ... :)
 

HoneyHornet

Shohin
Messages
383
Reaction score
310
Location
New Jersey
USDA Zone
7a
I had been thinking about these things yesterday, and started writing ... but never posted that list. The idea was looking out into the garden and seeing what grows there, basically: common hornbeam (carpinus betulus), apple tree (malus something), pyracantha, thuja, the (european) larch that I can see through the binocular from the kitchen window ... :)
Hornbeam n larchs out the window? Go dig something out big hoss! Very little of my collection is even purchased (just to illustrate that there is free sample material all around you!!) There are some larch growing in this abandoned parkinglot turned into wildlife near me ove been meaning to snag one..but monkey with what you can before some redwood lol or hit any nursery and browse through the junipers, those ground mounders usually havr a cool hidden trunk u can reveal!
 
Top Bottom