I picked up a little beauty at the BSA sale table on Friday. Yes, the early bird gets the pyracantha. It has age, character and is small… all the things I look for. In its purchased state it was out of balance and ready for restyling.

The pyra was a little hungry and needed a bit of shaping to restart it on its shohin journey so I played around with angles and front and back sides to do the best for it. In pretty short order it had a face lift, fresh soil and a training pot. I prefer to put even my youngsters in bonsai pots but with the major angle change I needed a deeper pot to accommodate the roots until there is more root growth in the new position. Next repot it will go into a lower ceramic pot.

As it develops foliage and starts to pad I will reduce the height and make it more compact but this is just the first styling. I’m quite pleased with this little tree and it was worth the effort to get up super early to get to the show as it opened. I love the kink at the angle change… the future growth will always have to emphasise that kink… it gives the tree great character.