Similar to the Brazilian Rain Tree, the Texas
Ebony has compound leaves and grows thorns over the trunk and
branches. Native to Texas and the Southwest United States, the tree
grows well in USDA Zone 10-11.
Branch
structure displays a distinctive difference for the Texas Ebony.
Branches grow in a zig zag manner with thorns at the nodes. This
pattern provides an obvious point for pruning the tree as a clip and
grow method works very well.
Texas Ebony can also grow
flowers and seed pods but I haven't seen any nor do I really expect
to in the bonsai format. One thing for certain is that the tree grows
pretty fast with new shoots continuing to sprout from previous cut
points.
Wiring
can be difficult because of the hard, woody branches and I normally just prune at the branch nodes, however, recently I’ve wired a thinner,
softer branch in order to adjust its direction. It wasn’t
particularly difficult and I’ll leave the wire on for the winter to
see how well this may work.
This
particular tree has a very twisted, serpentine trunk/root base that is
definitely unusual. I continue to have mixed feelings about the look
but the tree is now much more substantial so I may consider doing something with this at a spring re-potting.
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