'Red Sprite' Winterberry Holly styling/virtual

cbroad · Sep 6, 2016

So I bought this Holly last week and could not resist cutting it back, I know the timing wasn't the best but I know these are pretty vigorous and I think it could make it through the winter even if it doesn't push out any more growth this year.

Winterberries, for whatever reason, are one of those plants that strike a chord with me... and I've been looking for a mutli-trunked plant that already had some thickness to it and I love that shrubby, spreading, many branched with no apparent leader look (basically how they naturally grow).

So I went for it: It's in a 7 gallon, was probably around 4.5' feet tall with the pot. Height from soil to main cuts are around 9 inches.

1st pic is before cutback.
2nd pic is what I think will be the front.
3rd pic is my virtual.
4th pic was the original front.

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cbroad
Sep 6, 2016

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cbroad
Sep 6, 2016

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cbroad
Sep 6, 2016

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cbroad
Sep 6, 2016

Basing everything off the 2nd picture:

Trunk 1 (from left to right) is about 2.5" wide.
Trunk 2 is about the same, maybe less.
Branch A (from left to right) 1.25" wide and about 5" long.
Branch B is .75" wide and 5" long.
Branch C is 1.25" wide and 5" tall, but it has a kink so it's really about 5.5" long.
Branch D is 1" wide and 5" long to the first kink 3" to the last kink.

Branch A I want to keep and that thin branch can be the new leader but it may be too long and I could cut that branch by half and hope for a better branch. I think with the angle and the thickness, branch A should be dominant and eventually be the tallest, what do you guys think?

Branch B is practically a goner in my eyes, but I'm thinking about cutting it down to an inch and directing any new growth towards branch A.

Branch C is my favorite and has really good movement and I want that to be a focal point but it's hard to see in the picture.

Branch D is too long I think and I'll probably cut it to the first kink where there's already a thin branch.

In the 4th picture, I really like how the trunks look and I was hiding my cuts thinking that was my front, and it wasn't until I got it on the table to start cleaning the cuts up that branch C starting annoying me because it was coming out towards me. Is that right, is it not really workable for its length and since its jutting out so low on the plant?

I'm leaving all the small stuff on at least through spring as insurance. I don't have any concrete plans yet and I'm not against pruning the whole thing down to a couple inches next year.

What would you all do if this was yours? Any comments or critiques are welcome and I would love to see any pictures of other peoples winterberries. If you like playing with virtuals have at it and let me know what you come up with.

sorce · Sep 7, 2016

I like the virt...but where the virt branches start, Is like to see some branches going down.
Maybe even from lower..

But have you found the base yet?

Sorce

cbroad · Sep 7, 2016

@sorce
Do you mean branches going down from where they start in the virt? My idea was to have upright growing branches that start splaying outwards as they get longer, similar to how they naturally grow. I want branches to start as low as they'll go but not from the root crown.

I haven't uncovered the base yet, that will probably be next spring. I'm still undecided if I'm going to repot next spring, I guess it depends on how it does through the fall. Hopefully both trunks haven't fused under the soil to the point where there's a single trunk above the actual root crown, I hope both trunks fused right at the root crown, if not then I'm going to have to redesign the whole thing...

JudyB · Sep 8, 2016

Looks like a nice start, if you can keep it alive over the winter. I would worry that it will try to push late growth on you that will not have time to harden off and die back. Wait to make any more decisions until the spring, good luck.

augustine · Sep 8, 2016

I also like winterberry and like yours. Please keep us posted. I too am very curious whether it will survive the late season chop. I venture to say that most bonsai people with some experience would have never performed drastic pruning at this time.

Good luck,

cbroad · Sep 8, 2016

@JudyB & @augustine
Thank you both for the responses. Winterberries are very tenacious and hardy here and I'm banking on another flush of growth before winter. In central Va, our first frost is usually around the beginning of November so I could have close to 8 weeks of growth. At the very least I'm hoping some adventitous buds will be activated and either push growth or stay dormant until spring. I work at a greenhouse and as a back up if it does flush, I could take it there to extend its season long enough for the new growth to harden off.

I wouldn't perform chops like that on everything this time of year and I know some plants can handle it but I also know winter hardiness can be affected by late season pruning. I pruned a crape about 2 weeks ago and it's already pushing and I pruned a wax myrtle the same day as the winterberry, I think these plants can handle it. I've been pretty successful with doing some things out of season I think because I choose plants that can take a beating.

Do you guys have any opinions on branch selections and how long the existing branches should be? My virtual isn't exactly what i'm aiming for but it's heading in the right direction, I wish I could find more bonsai examples of winterberries...

JudyB · Nov 16, 2016

Wondering how this plant is doing for you? I just picked up an end of season deal winterberry 'Red Sprite" too! I will have to learn about them, but have always admired them. It's got a pretty nice trunk for a nursery plant.

cbroad · Nov 18, 2016

@JudyB
It's doing alright I guess, it put out new growth like I thought it would but it literally pushed out everywhere I didn't want it to. There's decent growth but all of it is coming from the root crown and on the branches that I'm more than likely going to shorten or cut off completely. It hasn't died yet

so it's a success so far.

Here's a picture from Oct. 4th:

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cbroad
Nov 18, 2016

I really wanted new buds/branches on the 1st and 3rd branch (from left to right) but got them on the 2nd and 4th...

. I'm hoping for some vigorous growth in the spring and am going to beat this thing until it bends to my will and grows where I want it to

. I need to take some more current pics but I don't have internet at home anymore so my updating is going to be slow...

Judy, do you have any pictures of yours worth showing? I also have one that was in a 3gal that will be a single trunk or a mother & daughter double trunk. I got it in the spring and haven't done anything with it except over-potting into a squat 7gal.

I saw some mature ones at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens last year and wondered why I didn't have any. They can supposedly get near half inch berries but not sure if that's going to be a pro or con, mine definitely have larger berries than the regular verticillata I have planted in my yard but haven't seen half inch yet. Also, my landscape winterberry gets berries with no apparent males around so they might be parthenocarpic.

*Side note: I noticed the color of the new growth on mine and supposedly serrata and serrata/verticillata hybrids have purple new growth and straight verticillata shouldn't. This plant is listed as Ilex verticillata 'nana' and I'm wondering if there's some Japanese winterberry genes in there somewhere...

JudyB · Nov 19, 2016

Here it is, I chopped it back pretty hard, hope it buds back well, if not, it was only $16.00....

Hopefully yours will give you more to work with in the spring.

cbroad · Nov 19, 2016

@JudyB
I like it! It looks yours is also in a 7gal, that's a steal for $16, I think I paid $20 for mine from a nursery that was closing. Do you have a plan for yours yet, are you going to leave it as a multi trunk or pick a single trunk?

JudyB · Nov 19, 2016

I am looking at this tree for my inspiration, wish I knew who's tree it is to give the artist credit...

cbroad · Nov 19, 2016

Oh man, that tree is gorgeous. I had trouble finding a good example of what I want to do with mine, had to look at raft styles to find a multi leader tree to base my design off of and still haven't found a good example yet. Luckily I plenty of time to figure it out, I'm probably going to be building this tree inch by inch to get those angles and taper. I'm aiming for mine to be at least 16 inches if not 20 inches or a little more.

PeaceLoveBonsai · Dec 10, 2020

Updates from either @cbroad or @JudyB ?? I’ve purchased a couple of winterberries for the native challenge and I’m looking for any info on them. Thanks!

cbroad · Dec 10, 2020

@PeaceLoveBonsai
Haven't touched it since chopping it. I'll try to get some pics later today.

Ughhh.... it's been 4 years??? I have all of these projects that I can never get to. I told myself last spring that I'd get to everything, but I've never been more busy this year and basically no plant stuff got done this season.

I still have high hopes for mine, hopefully I can work on it this upcoming spring. Thanks for reminding me though!

JudyB · Dec 10, 2020

I don't remember what happened to this one, it was too long ago!

cbroad · Dec 15, 2020

@PeaceLoveBonsai
Here's a few pics I just took of mine:

I forgot that I had repotted it the following spring after I got it. It is definitely going to need reworking, probably another hard cut back coming its way.

The second and third pics in the original post will more than likely be the front. That was my original plan, but then I changed my prospective front to the opposite side, and now I'm thinking my original front will stand.

I haven't even dug down further so all of that could change again as I uncover the surface roots.

I still have high hopes for this one. It is still one of my top five favorite project trees so this one will definitely get attention, hopefully I can get to it at the appropriate time...

PeaceLoveBonsai · Dec 15, 2020

Thanks for the update! I like that base. Where are the berries?

cbroad · Dec 15, 2020

PeaceLoveBonsai said:
Where are the berries?

Good question but I think I know why. I have a mature female about 15 feet away loaded with berries, so you would assume pollination isn't an issue and that my smaller one would be also.

I'm not sure of the cultivar, but it's probably a typical type like 'Winter Red.' But the species can be parthenocarpic; setting sterile fruit, like an unfertilized chicken egg. So the fact that the mature one has berries with no apparent male around, and my little one doesn't, I'm assuming it's because it doesn't get pollinated. Also Red Sprite is considered a dwarf, so possibly in its breeding, it lost it's ability to set unsterile fruit like it's larger counterpart.

I have another 'Red Sprite' and I can't remember which one I did it to, but I got some male pollen from the nursery where I used to work at, and hand pollinated the flowers on one of them. I do remember getting berries, I'm pretty sure it was on the one in question.

Just got a couple proposed "front" pics; looks like there will be a lot of work cleaning everything up. Noticed I have some rot to contend with now... The black circles are the chops that I sealed with wood glue, the rot starts right below the chop on the left trunk, and it's harder to see on the right trunk but it starts at the soil level.

And here is the mature one with berries:

cbroad · Apr 5, 2021

Got this guy repotted yesterday, it definitely needed it...

From now on, I'm tackling the roots first thing with any new trees. Some of my biggest repots this season have taken around 8 hours from start to finish... And a good portion of that time was spent untangling roots just to see where they were coming from and if they were worth keeping, and then to probably just prune them off...

Got it out of the pot and about to spray:

After various rounds of spraying and cutting. First time actually seeing the surface roots:

Surface roots are a mess; not a big surprise...

cbroad · Apr 5, 2021

There were some girdling roots which unfortunately made for an unbalanced root spread, but there were some finer roots all around which hopefully will fill in with time: