Enjoy photos of this Hawthorn tree I have trained into a bonsai design. The new showpiece of my collection, this tree is an instantly enchanting stunner.
Hawthorn is known as a thorny tree that produces red berry fruit which attracts birds of all kinds. It is a native tree that is a great benefit to any habitat because it attracts so much wildlife.
The wood on Hawthorn is very hard and resists wire training unless the wood is very young and green. In its juvenile years, it has a shrublike habit forming many dense limbs extending out in all lateral directions. It thrives in partial shade, and the branches will extend into long wiggly directions, which birds love to perch on and sometimes may even build nests within the protection of the tree's thorns. Perhaps wide extending branches are an adaptation of the tree to help it receive plenty of sunlight when its seed sprouts from the damp floor of a tall mature forest, because in the shade of towering trees it will have to actively seek out hidden patches of sunlight that may only occur at certain hours of the day.
After years of development in the wild, Hawthorne trees will develop a thick enough trunk to hold up a giant canopy of many tall branches, eventually breaking above the crown of trees that have reached their maximum size. In its fully matured size, few other trees can compete with it. Millions of tiny leaves help to feed the tree all of the sunlight energy it needs to sustain its enormous amount of mass.
On this bonsai tree, I am working on developing pads of leaves around the main dominant branches. Although it has a pleasing silhouette from the front, I am hoping to develop more width out of the front and back branches in the future so that it can have a fuller depth.
From day-one, I have really enjoyed growing this tree. It heals nicely. It has small oak-like leaves. It back-buds along all along every branch. The only hard thing about growing this type of tree is the ferociously sharp thorns it conceals under the leaves. Fortunately, the dangerous thorns can be snipped off, and doing so does not diminish from the beauty and health of the tree.
One day far into the future this tree will be covered in tiny red winter berries. It will be a very unique and rare bonsai tree when it reaches full maturity.
ID: 0012
Nickname: Candi
Type: Hawthorn
Age: 7 years
Grown: yamadori (collected from my own yard)
Last repotting: 2016?
Wired: June 16, 2019
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