🌱 Cotoneaster franchetii, #2405
Young cluster of saplings from a local gardener for $2/ea. Purple-green oval leaves.
Two plants cut back and we wired, June 1, to focus growth.
The most common species of privet include the Chinese privet (Ligustrum sinensis), Japanese privet (Ligustrum japonicum), oval leaved privet (Ligustrum ovalifolium), shiny leaved privet (Ligustrum lucidum) and the common privet (Ligustrum vulgare).
Inspiration
Inspiration
[/reddit/Ovalifolium] … they root very easily from cuttings - chop, put into free draining substrate and keep it in the shade until you see roots coming out the bottom. I think it works best if they have plenty leaves but I wouldn't be surprised to hear of a proper truncheon cutting working.
…the wiring is fine -- privets grow so damn fast that loose wiring is really appropriate.
…I think it's better to get movement into the branches early on and then let shoots run long to thicken. Didn't do that here. I mean it will all work out in the end, just slower to get a good branch structure in place. I tried guy wires in year 3 but it was way too late for that and it had little effect.
Hard pruning this after 3 years meant no low twigs to cut back to. The whole trunk buds out again and you lose a bit of vigour in the places you want until you remove the unwanted shoots/buds. If I had done a light pruning in year 2 say, I probably would have had twigs to cut back to, which would have given me a head start on a branch structure. That said, I would not have as much thickness in the branches, so there are pros and cons...
I prefer to try to wire in movement early, especially on shohin material, but I have also gotten used to being a lazy and letting things grow, sometimes a bit too much. Maybe a little slower but it will end in a different result.