Fire, Fire, Fire

[A Random User]

A year ago I received a Firebush, (Hamelia patens), or should I say a stump, from Martha Goff. Who is always on the look out for new and exciting material that hasn't yet been used in Bonsai. For those of you who might not be familiar with Martha, she is the individual responsible for the Bonsai books "Green Sheets". Which are pretty much a necessity for anyone working with tropicals.

Anyways, to make a long story short, she knows I will pretty much make a Bonsai out of anything.
So, she gave me one of these stumps that she had recently collected, and told me to have at it. The price... would be that I have to document it's progression into a Bonsai. I said, sure, and brought it home.

First pic is what I receive from Martha Goff, at the end of May 2014.
Second Pic is the same stump a couple of days latter, with a leader chosen and the remainder of the unused branches and foliage removed. And chops rough pruned for shape.


What I knew I would have to concentrate all of the tree's energy on first, would be the transition in taper form stump to new leader. Seeing that one was over and inch in diameter, and the other, was an eighth of the size. Now, I wanted to grow out the tree to increase the new leader's size. Yet, did not want to grow the tree so fast, that the spacing between nodes would be gigantic. So, rather than pulling the material out of the grow pot and putting it into the ground, I decided to leave it where it was, in the grow pot, and just let it go the rest of the year.

At the beginning of this year, the tree was then removed from the pot, since I had achieved the transition size that I was looking for. The base of the trunk, and roots. were sawn flat, seeing that my next priority, would be to try and get it into the size pot that the tree would need to fit in, in relation to the size tree I was making. No need to have a small tree that can only fit into a large pot. So, here is when one bites the bullet, and says the heavy work must be done and if the tree is going to die, I would rather it do it now then after years of work.

The leader that had been put up to establish the continuation of the trunk, was then cut down to where it needed to be. And lastly, a bit of carving was done on the chops to begin to get them sorted out. And the tree was then put on the bench and watered. It had no foliage, since all of that was above where it was cut, but, it was in it's new pot.


Here are pics of the tree as of tonight, a year later from when I first received it, and 3 1/2 months on since I chopped it. Well actually, there was a lot more to the tree, that had since grown... I trimmed a lot of the top foliage to try and push the growth down lower. As well as wired a couple of branches, mainly because they were sticking straight up. Second pic has 7.5 inch jin pliers for scale.

The plan for this next year is to really establish my main branches within the tree. The trunk I am happy with. The transition, from the old chop to the continuation of the new trunk, for the most part is where I want it to be. The size pot it is in now, is perfect for the tree size I want. So, now just need the branches.
Thanks!

 

[A Random User]

Thought I would load a picture of the flowers this tree puts out. Scale is a little off with this picture, though. Size of the flowers is really small, so they are perfect for the size tree I want to make. It puts them out all over the tree, and flowers all year long. Lastly, and most important, is that it flowers in real tight! Which is to say, that one does not have to let a branch run in order to get it to flower, as one often has to do with any tree that flowers! If one looks at the second picture that I posted with the leader wired up, you will see the flowers, which are the little red things at the very top. The do get a little bigger, these haven't yet open up in that picture.
So, pretty cool material, so far!

 

[A Random User]

Also, forgot to add this pot that it is in now is probably one of my favorite pots I own, not because of value or pot maker, or that it came from Japan!
Cause it didn't... just a cool pot with a very cool design to it. Think I paid $30-40 for it. But, really accents the flowers nicely!

 

[Eric Group]

My Mother grows these on the coast here in SC- would have never though of using them for Bonsai! That is a cool pot...

 

[A Random User]

My Mother grows these on the coast here in SC- would have never though of using them for Bonsai! That is a cool pot...

They naturally grow all around down here, and I never thought to use them either. I always thought the stems would never become hardwood, the leaves would never reduce, and they would have problems with die back... all of which I have found just the opposite to be true!

 

[evmibo]

First time I've seen this thread and I'm pretty excited. I collected a couple 1-2" stumps of these this summer when I was building my backyard fence. You've done a nice job with yours, I like the carving. Do you treat the deadwood with lime sulfur and/or wood hardener? Have an updated pic? Awesome pot.