Elaeagnus Umbellata - The Lucky Quartet

[HorseloverFat]

On a walk recently, there was a group of landscapers “doing up” a property line edge. They were, at that time, tilling upper section of ditch bank bordering the county trail.
Hearing a grasshopper and looking to my feet ( ) I noticed four little silverberries quite young in development with buds half open.
I decided to inquire whether or not i could “quick take these little trees”, to which the worker obliged and offered me a shovel... i was able to take most of the root system with.... saving them from fast doom in exchange for possible “slow doom” under my care.

They are not much to look at yet, but I think tracking their progress shall be most entertaining.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Young, but they trunk up at a reasonable, moderate rate. As a flowering bonsai I am fond of Elaeagnus, the autumn olives.

 

[HorseloverFat]

Young, but they trunk up at a reasonable, moderate rate. As a flowering bonsai I am fond of Elaeagnus, the autumn olives.

They are fast becoming my “favorite species” (that I have worked with so far)... I’m learning new things about my visual and design preferences as I go.. such as an affinity for thorns AND flowers.

 

[HorseloverFat]

(((Update)))

One of these young Elaeagnus specimens (top left in the original picture “quad”) has since been gifted in one of my “tiny-tree care packages” for new study group members.

I then thought to myself.. i collected two other younger Autumn Olives recently (As I am really quite “taken” with them) that I’d also like to document...

So I will just be using this thread to detail ALL of the younger silverberries I have at THIS particular moment...

So here is new number 4... as well as five.

 

[Carol 83]

You must REALLY like yogurt!

 

[HorseloverFat]

Hehe! We all do, here!

They end up being a very nice growth pot for a nice range of sizes sooo I’ve been collecting them for a tad less than a year.

 

[HorseloverFat]

I’ve gotta be strong and let these guys recover....

I just keep seeing multiple designs within each one, eye-rubbing the trunk lines and contemplating branch selection, and wiring possibilities, and slants, and contrasts and fronts and gauging hypothetical directional pruning and..!

*inhales*

Sorry, sometimes I forget to breathe when I’m talking or thinking about plants.

 

[HorseloverFat]

((Update))

As these five (now) specimens began, visibly, to start “making choices” regarding top growth vs. root damage during collection, I decided to free up some energy for more pressing matters through initial pruning and light branch selection (as NO foliage or branches were removed in attempt to “balance”).

So here’s the quintet... ready for summer.

 

[HorseloverFat]

Some slight shaping on these lil’ guys, somewhat keeping options open.. as well as giving more spring selections.

These are all BEFORE/AFTER.. except the final little specimen... i forgot to capture a “before image”.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Now try to let them grow with zero pruning for a year or even two. You need to develop larger diameter trunks, which means you need growth.

Consider wider, more shallow, lower profile pots for spring. Yogurt containers are the wrong shape for training root systems. If not 2021, maybe 2022.

 

[HorseloverFat]

Now try to let them grow with zero pruning for a year or even two. You need to develop larger diameter trunks, which means you need growth.

Consider wider, more shallow, lower profile pots for spring. Yogurt containers are the wrong shape for training root systems. If not 2021, maybe 2022.

Thank you, Leo!