名媛直播

This is a topic I do not expect many people will have much information on, but if you do, please feel free to post any thoughts on the subject.

I live in North Florida, and a lot of the wooded areas around where I live are filled with a wild blueberry-related species known as Sparkleberry, which usually grows as large shrubs or small trees, however I have seen some in excess of 20-25 feet. Whenever I go hiking around my area, I am astonished by the ancient, contorted, wicked forms that older individuals can assume.

The bark is a deep brownish red, accented by splotches of grey lichens, with extremely dense, creamy white interior wood. The branches grow in amazing and seemingly counter intuitive shapes and directions. I have seen young shoots coming straight up from the ground, take a 90 degree turn running parallel to the ground, and then continue on their way upwards. The leaves are deep green, thick and leathery, with very diverse shapes and sizes, from large ovals to small, almost perfect circles, and some having thin serrated edges. They produce small, delicate, bell shaped white flowers all throughout the canopy in spring, which slowly become small berries, first light green, then turning dark purple. Whenever I see them I think of how much potential they might have as bonsai.

I have done a lot of research online, but in spite of there relative abundance in the North Florida region and throughout the Southeast, there is not much information on them to be found period, let alone as bonsai. They do not seem to develop fine roots very well in the wild, although I have seen specimens for sale at local nurseries with very fine, full root systems, almost root-bound. I do not know how well the leaves reduce in size, but it would be easy to find one with naturally small leaves. The main problem I see in the way of a Sparkleberry bonsai is the extremely slow growth rate, which causes the high wood density. I do not know how their growth rate compares to other bonsai-suitable species.

My question is this- Does anyone have any information on this species as bonsai? Do you know of them ever being used as bonsai, or perhaps even have experience with them as bonsai (If so, any pictures would be fantastic)? Sparkleberries are one of my favorite tree species, and if possible, I hope to in future projects try the species out and see what happens. I am in love with the beauty of North Florida's native forests and swamps, and can only imagine what it would be like to capture that beauty in bonsai.

Many Thanks for giving this long topic your time and consideration.

I don't know the species and not finding much information about it as a bonsai, using Google, indicates that it's not a species that's often used as 名媛直播. I found one example on Ebay (a rather uninteresting and overprized one).

Looking at examples of the tree/shrub I see it forms multiple trunks. That indicates that it is probably not a good species for all bonsai styles; probably only clump style would be a good choice.

An example of a clump style Sparkleberry can be found using Google images. Try searching for both "Sparkleberry bonsai" and "Vaccinium Arboreum bonsai".

Are either of these two plants the Ebay specimen you were referring to? If so, I have seen both of these pages before and neither is the species I mean. One is a species of Holly who's specific variety happens to be called Sparkleberry, and the other is a wild Huckleberry (Which is in the Vaccinium genus) incorrectly identified as Vaccinium Arboreum. The Sparkleberry I mean is similar to Huckleberry, but with thicker, darker green leaves (much like Blueberry), and red bark.




Also, is this the clump style you were referring to? If so, it too is a Holly.



Thank you for commenting, I appreciate your interest.

Throughout my research, this is the most informative page I have been able to find on the species.

seems like a drought tolerant, slow growing plant. Slow growing will mean that they take a lot of time to develop. But I see no reason why you cannot work with them, if you are willing to take your time.

I would recommend trying with a younger specimen (1 inch tunk?) to see how they respond to being potted up. First in a larg container, and progressively smaller? If in 3, 4 years you know they do well in a container, you can consider getting bigger / older specimens?

Also... Well, I guess I should have mentioned that I have some in pots already.

Five in total. Two are very small, while the other ones are a bit larger, as you can see from the pictures. They are all doing well, though two (the ones with few leaves) were acquired recently, and have yet to fully recover. None of them have developed the red bark, which usually doesn't seem to come until later in an individuals life.

So far they have all done well in pots, in spite of the fact that they have had little to no fine roots when dug up (A good sign, I think). All of the leaves you see here (except for those on the bigger of the two still recovering) are new growth. I haven't had to repot them yet, so I don't know how much new root growth there has been, but what roots there were are doing their job.

Sorry, this info probably would have been helpful earlier, but when I started this I was more concerned with learning new things on the subject.

Any thoughts?

If at any point I get some sort of a good specimen that I think could be used for bonsai, I guess I will post that somewhere on this forum along with progress in the future.

PS
As usual, I am aware of the fact that the plants in these photos are nowhere near being bonsai. I am not disputing that fact.

Go for it, find one with a nice large and interesting trunk. Here in central Maryland we collect wild blueberries and train for bonsai. Very nice plants and we find great trunks and every once in a while we find a killer trunk with massive base.

Our blueberries are a cousin of your plants. They grow very well and are tough but need acidic soil or chlorosis will develop. Forget those stems and collect some good trunks.

Our blueberries like acid soil, full sun and fertilzer. They take lots of water but here are found in bogs. Replicate the environment you find them in.

Go for it. Always collect legally and responsibly.

Augustine

i've recently collected one that has been run over by a bush hog and it has taken two years to show it is still alive, some others i have are over 30 feet tall and i can climb them. i'm a 15 year old that weighs 250