Collecting Wild Plants: Privet/Ligustrum ovalfolium Progression Series (Part III).

January 2009: After the first hard frosts of the winter, some of the leaves become discoloured on Privet and I defoliate them.

Instantly the increased ramification from August's defoliation can be seen.

View from behind Close-up of the apex of the main trunk. As can be seen in this image, small adjustments are continually made to the position of branches all over the bonsai using wire.

View of the hollows and channels on the right hand side of the bonsai.

July 2011: As each and every year passes, the ramification and the taper of this bonsai increases and it is only when I look back at the images from 2009 that I realise the tree continues to improve radically.

This image was taken while preparing the tree for the image above and shows the crown of the bonsai after defoliating all but the smallest leaves. This involved spending approximately 4 hours removing a few thousand 'over-sized' leaves in total.

Detail image of the privet bonsai's crown

If you liked this article, subscribe to the feed by clicking the image below to keep informed about new contents of the blog: