Glossy and Chinese Privet

[Jluke33]

These guys are plaguing my back yard, but because of how fast they propagate there's pretty much every stage of each tree's development living in my back yard. From seedling to fully mature. As a beginner without a ton of resources, I'm wondering how well these species generally take to bonsai techniques. The glossy privet has much larger leaves, but is generally a prettier tree in my opinion.

Anyone have experience with these?

 

[leatherback]

yeah, bth the chinese as the oval leaf privet are great for bonsai. If you have plants with good trunks, great.

Leaves can be drastically be reduced in size with increasinf ramification..

 

[PaulH]

I've dug up a lot of volunteer privets in my yard. Here are some results.

 

[Jluke33]

I've dug up a lot of volunteer privets in my yard. Here are some results.

View attachment 348040View attachment 348041View attachment 348042View attachment 348043View attachment 348044

these are great! All the inspiration I need to do some playing for a few years. now to go out back and mark a few for collection/trunk chopping when the time is right!

 

[Soup Dragon]

These guys are plaguing my back yard, but because of how fast they propagate there's pretty much every stage of each tree's development living in my back yard. From seedling to fully mature. As a beginner without a ton of resources, I'm wondering how well these species generally take to bonsai techniques. The glossy privet has much larger leaves, but is generally a prettier tree in my opinion.

Anyone have experience with these?

The glossy privet is nice and grows very fast, but I can't get past the size of the leaves. I have one that I am messing around with, but I don't see it ever being convincing as a bonsai.

The smaller-leaved privets are good for bonsai, but it is surprisingly rare to see any excellent examples. I get the impression that they are considered a beginner's species, and are somewhat shunned by the experts. Notable exceptions to this are Graham Potter and Harry Harrington. The first pic from @PaulH above is beautiful too.

I planted a number of cuttings of a common privet (ligustrum ovalifolium I think) in the group a couple of years ago, and they are getting some good girth already. I think it will only take another two or three years to get decently-tapered trunks on them.