This privet was a landscape plant on my property until I removed it from the garden in 2015. Since then I have gradually selected from and reduced nine trunks to three, and reduced the root system to fit in an appropriately sized pot — if not a refined looking one.
Allowed to grow freely for most of last season, this (above) is how it looked in early March, still holing last year’s leaves. The dark green and sometimes purple cast of the leaves is it’s winter color. In spring the leaves are a bright yellow-green which is why I suspect this is a Vicary golden privet, Ligustrum x vicaryi.
The first step of many this spring was to remove the old leaves.
With leaves removed, I could see what I was working with and apply wire without interference. I wired out most of the branches and set them into a rough placement before repotting.
After building strength last season, dense roots had slowed percolation, so a bit of root pruning and some fresh soil — two parts akadama to one part lava rock and one part pumice — set it up for continued growth and vigor. For now, it is back into the same unrefined pot until I can find or make a better one.
Once secured in the pot, I refined the branch placement a bit and used a couple of guy wires to set the design.
Spring growth pushed shortly after, and below is what it looked like by the beginning of May. (Don’t mind the pink ribbon. This is just something I use to mark those trees that should be protected from frost if cold temperatures are forecast. I mark all trees that have been repotted this way until the chance of freezing temperatures has passed.)
Many shoots had extended to 8 or 10 leaves marking a good time for spring pruning. Some were even developing flower buds, but flowers are not important for the tree at this developmental stage, so they were removed with pruning.
I reduced strong shoots to just 2 or three leaves, and left weak shoots or branches that need to grow out or thicken (like the bottom branch on the left) with more.
I plan to stay on top of the growth, moving forward, to promote ramification and continue to fill in parts of the silhouette that need it.
That was a lot of work on one tree in just a couple of months, but it is on track to continue developing into a nice bonsai.
Bonsai Iterate 
Reblogged this on Wolf's Birding and Bonsai Blog.
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