White Flowering Tree Signals Winter's End [Bonsai]

The Osoberry, or as I like to call it, the Oh-So Berry is a native species being reintroduced by various wildlife and plant preservation organizations in my area. The alternative common name is Indian Plum.

Last year I started growing this new and interesting plant, and now I finally get to see how this plant can best be appreciated in the home garden.

Look at the star white flowers that bloom in the ice and snow.

Pure white flowers evoke innocence, purity, peace, and I am going to go out on a limb and add unbreakable resilience when the flowers bloom in the ice.

Historical Information

ID: 0045
Nickname: Unnamed
Type: Osoberry (Indian Plum)
Age: 2 years
Grown: bare root
Last repotting: never
Wired: never

As far as I can tell the blooms are unscented. Yet, is it possible for a flower to simply make the air smell more clean and fresh? Maybe it is the vapors of the frost melting into dew on the petals, and evaporating into the air I breath that I find Oh-So refreshing. Some people say the flowers or fruit have a slight cucumber scent. Other sources (Radical Botony) state it smells like either watermelon or cat urine.

The Osoberry, when grown from seed may develop into either a male or female plant variety. Proximity of both kinds are required for making fruit and seeds. I believe mine is the more common male variety which flowers, but won't form fruit. I can work with that, and make this into an exotic, ornamental tree.

Monitoring Growth Patterns

After watching this plant grow for one full year, and witnessing how they grow out in the wild, I am developing a careful plan on how I might want to prune it. Normally Osoberries grow as tall, open shrubs with long, lanky stems that stretch upwards up to six feet high from the base.

Smart pruning should be based less on the style of tree shape you want, and more on anticipating where future growth will develop as a result of any cuts made.

Here is my custom plan illustrated below.

Design Plan

My pruning goal would be to maintain the tree so that it stays under two or three feet tall. By pruning the tips and shortening limbs, I can promote the stems to divide into multiple smaller stems, and eventually get smaller leaves. Perhaps even develop pads of leaves.

The three lowest branches will be encouraged to grow as long as they want to be, as this will fatten up the base of the trunk, adding taper. In later years, the bottom limbs will be removed to make the base of the trunk more visible. Middle branches will be opened outward into lateral directions, as they will eventually become visible as the lowest branches from the base.

Conclusion

Once the strong apical branch is removed, I think that will reinvigorate the tree to force more buds and stronger shoots to appear on all the other branches.

So that is my plan so far. I may start pruning as early as this weekend, or perhaps wait until after the flowers have faded.

Until then, I've got many other new vegetables and flowers to start monitoring in my garden. Lettuce is making a strong start this year.