What to do with my Firebush?

[Arlithrien]

Here's my Firebush, my very first tree. Made every rookie mistake possible but luckily these things are hard to kill.

Attached are two pictures of each side. I have circled the buds/shoots and I believe everything above the red line is dead.

Right now I the main leader twisted around the old trunk to give the illusion of top foliage. But I am wondering if I should ditch the dead trunk or not?

 

[Shibui]

I do not know Hamelia but that dead trunk is really ugly as it is.
Rather than just sawing it off you should consider making some feature out of part of the dead trunk. I have no idea whether dead wood would be a natural part of fire bush growth but you will really need something to look at while those skinny new shoots grow a bit. Shorten the dead part, carve some of it away as if it had died and rotted or broken in a hurricane or something. Treat the dead wood with a preservative so it does not rot away too quick.

 

[sorce]

Penicillin.

Sorce

 

[Arlithrien]

Here's an update on my Firebush as of 2 months ago. I've wired some of the branches and cut them back a few times to create some initial ramification. The leaves have reduced nicely. Unfortunately I didn't think to take pictures before this haircut but imagine 3-4x as much foliage.





I must say this species has been a blast to work with. Nigh invincible, I can prune it as many times as I want and it just keeps growing and trying to produce new flowers. And the amount of growth is fantastic. Only 15 months prior, it was a bare stump.

 

[MrWunderful]

Interesting soil choice. I would be curious to see how healthy the roots are.

 

[Arlithrien]

Interesting soil choice. I would be curious to see how healthy the roots are.

Soil choice was dirt from the ground where it came from! This tree was very much a spur of the moment "I'm gonna dig up a plant, put it in a pot and try to make a bonsai out of it".

Firebush is basically a very attractive weed. It will grow aggressively in damn near any condition. I have a few ideas for this species going forward so I'll see how well it does with a quality substrate in spring.

 

[Clicio]

Why don't you Dremel it down?

 

[Graft]

Those two roots together look like a dog lying down!

 

[Arlithrien]

Those two roots together look like a dog lying down!

Lmao I could carve it into a sphynx maybe

 

[Arlithrien]

Here's some "fall color" in late January. Florida's weird. I also peeled the decaying bark off the dead trunk, revealing a pleasant orange deadwood. As the old trunk decays, the new shoots will take its place.