Texas Sage has potential, best styling and timing question

onlyrey

Hi,

This is a Texas Sage (Leucophyllum frutescens) I bought last week. I had been looking for a long time for a Texas sage as I like the whitish color on the leafs and the little flowers. The trunk has a good nebari.

I repotted (and trimmed a few lower branches) it today as it was full of ants. It was also overgrown inside its former pot. When repotting, I cut off about 50% of the roots which filled the entire 4 pot.

The trunk in the bottom looks kind of a fused double trunk that becomes both branches.

I would greatly appreciate your advice regarding styling and timing.

Thanks

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Wineguy

I have a texas sage potted up. It has responded extremely well to hard pruning.

I'm heading towards a simple informal upright.

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bwaynef

<No Experience with Texas Sage> <-- Take that for what you will.

Theres noticeable reverse taper in the lower trunk where the branches/trunks meet. Deeper in the pot, root grafts, ...something. I'd also listen to wineguy's advice about hard pruning. It looks like this tree needs it. Develop some pads/forms with the branching and maybe use some wire. For some reason I'd think this tree might have brittle branches though.

The tree is going to develop another taper problem with all those branches coming from one spot on the main branch/trunk. Thin the herd, thereby creating separation in the "pads" and allowing an apex to develop. (Unless you're going for a broom style.)

Good luck with it,
WF

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onlyrey

Thanks for the advice; I hard pruned soon after the last post (beginning of December).

I thought I might have killed this tree, but it came back alive just a week ago with a bud that has turned into three so far. Will most likely plant it in the ground when the time is right and select a couple of branches to get a style.

There is indeed a reverse taper at the bottom of the tree that I'll have to deal with later.

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zen

I looked at these a bit when I was out in Phoenix,...if anyone is out that and go to the club meetings,please tell Bill Parker(the guy with the nose ring) that Jeremy from Georgia says hello,...he may not recall but he gave me a ride a few times to the meetings,picked me up on Hardy Drive...and had offered me a bunch of box cuttings and something else that I can't remember right now,...that I say hello and to email me sometime(PM me for address),...great folks out there,they truelly love bonsai and are the some of the least jaded people that you'll wanna meet,and hey there HAS to be something to be said for folks who grow such nice trees,especially in the dryest place on EARTH, no less.That said, this site,in the google search, seems to warn against root pruning these but when I looked at the site it just says that they are slow to recover from repotting,...http://www.users.qwest.net/~rjbphx/PPlants2.html,....I think as far training goes ,with these, clip and grow is the way to go for branches as they resort to former shape,...but the trunk can be wired if it's thin enough to bend,...in wiring don't forget to restrict watering before you begin. Here's a quick virt of what this one could look like with the bigger trunk gone, either through chopping or air layer(don't know how these do with this technique).

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