This is my little privet that I am trying to grow as bonsai and I will be going through its progression below. It started life as a twig and although it is not a full bonsai yet, it has come a long way.
If you want to watch its development in video format, you can watch the YouTube playlist below. The videos show the progression every month throughout the year, sort of like a time lapse.
Just be aware some of my earlier videos are not the best quality, but just like my trees, the quality slowly improves over time, so stick with them and they both get a little better towards the end.
Privets are a small evergreen shrub and are extremely tough. They are commonly used for hedges, but can become excellent bonsai (You read more about their suitability in – Is Privet A Good Tree For Bonsai?) and they are also great for beginners as they grow quickly and are very forgiving.
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2016
In the autumn of 2016 I was walking home from work and I snapped a twig off privet hedge that I walked past.
This is how I took my cutting. I literally just pulled a twig off a hedge.
When I got home I trimmed it back a bit and then put in some soil and left to root.
2017
At the start of 2017 there was no change. It was still a twig in a pot. I wasn’t sure if it was still alive, until spring when the buds started to swell. This meant it must have rooted.
I believe it was just left for the rest of the year to grow freely and establish itself.
2018
My memory of 2018 is a little unclear. I’m not sure exactly, but I think it was potted into this small pot in the spring of 2018.
I also think some punning happened during the year, but mostly it was pretty much left alone to grow.
2019
2019 started with pruning the tree as the winter started to end and once the buds started to swell in spring I repotted the tree.
It was left to grow until mid summer, where I then pruned back.
I wanted to leave it to grow all year, but I went on holiday and didn’t want it to dry out while I was gone. Pruning it back and reducing it in size meant it needed less water, as there was now less leaves to support.
It was very over grown so it was drying out fast. It probably needed watered daily, which is not ideal when you are planning on going away for a few days. Pruning fixed that problem and the water in the pot was able to last a few days while I went away.
It was then left to grow for the rest of the year.
2020
2020 started in the same way. I pruned the back at the start of the year, just before spring.
Then when the new buds started to swell I repotted the tree. The tree may be small, but so is the blue pot it is in, which means it can get filled with roots very easily, so this tree will be pretty much repotted every year.
Again it had some very strong spring growth so was pruned back in early summer.
It was then left to grow for the rest of the year …and it seems that one shoot certainly decided to grow. It went crazy!
2021
At the start of the year I pruned the tree back, removing the super long branch.
Once the buds started to swell , I repotted the tree in spring.
A few weeks after the repot, the tree was growing like crazy and needed to be pruned back.
I had to prune it again a few weeks later as it pushed out another lot of strong growth.
in early summer I pruned for a 3rd time in the season. This tree really is an aggressive grower.
After all this pruning it was then was just left alone for the rest of the year and allowed to grow freely.
2022
Again I pruned the tree at the end of winter so it was all ready for some new spring growth.
As the buds swelled I repotted in spring. The trunk flare is also really starting to look great. All these repots are really starting to pay off.
The then tree then grew like crazy after the repot so was pruned back to keep it in check.
By early summer I had to prune it again, which I’m more than happy with.
It actually was pruned again in mid summer, and then after this it was left alone for the rest of the year and then placed in the shed over winter to give it a cool period.
2023
2023 was pretty similar. It started with the tree being pruned back in late winter and then repotted in spring when the buds started to push.
It exploded with growth in spring and I pruned it back in late spring. It then grew well again and was pruned back in mid summer again.
After this it was left to grow out for the rest of the year and then placed back in the shed for a cold period over winter
2024
and this is where we are with this tree.
So as you can see it has come a long way since being a twig, but it’s not quite fully developed yet. It is starting to grow quickly and is starting to fill out, so hopefully within a few more years it will really start to look like something good.
I will of course be updating this page every now and again and as always uploading new videos so you can all see what is happening.
If you own a privet and need some help looking after it you can read my Privet Bonsai Care Guide, but lets me honest, privet will just look after itself. It’s tough!
Hi, I’m Ian. I have been doing bonsai since 2014. I created this site to spread all the knowledge I have acquired over the years. Don’t forget to check out my Youtube videos where I show the progress of my own Bonsai each week or connect with me on social media.
You can read more about me and how I got into Bonsai on the About Page
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