Dig today. 50+ yr old Bouganvillea

[BonsaiPanda]

Hello Bonsai colleagues,
I was chatting with a friend a few days ago and he told me he had some work to do around his property, the same property I got the privet stumps from a few weeks a ago. He said he had a flat tyre on his ride on mower from the spikes on a large Bouganvillea and was going to chain saw it out in the morning. I leapt to it's defence imediately (as all of you would) and said I would come and dig it out . Woo that was close I will post some pics as soon as its home safe in my care. If it's still viable. The friend has lived there for 20+ yrs and says it is at least 50+ yrs old . The house was built in the late 1800's . I need to slap myself as I have been up helping on the property to clear the weeds and rubbish- never saw the Bouganvillea. Anyways a bit of fun to brighten your day.

Regards Panda

[kcpoole]

Good luck!

ken

[BonsaiPanda]

Well!!!!
That was fun, 4 1/2 hrs of cutting and pulling at the Bougy from hell. I have a lot of pics so will post and get everyones thoughts on this thing. I have not started to dig it out yet, just cleared it a bit, wholly crap. Even with gloves this was painful, spikes as long as your finger. Counted some growth rings on outer branches which had 30 or more, so this thing is very old.

Regards Panda
PS; Did I say WHOLLY CRAP!!!!

[Petra]

oh wow! hey look is that a bannana tree amongst all the rubish there. Id also be given that one ago also.
Always wanted a bannana tree.

[AGarcia]

Hello There,

Nice find. I see you have trimmed back the big trunks close to the base. I usually leave about a foot of stump on any low branches to allow for more design choices later on.

Good luck with dig.

AG

[BonsaiPanda]

Hi AG,
The stump is over 6 feet long still in the photos , still need some more chopping me thinks... The stump goes back another 2to 3 feet still behind that, photos not taken by me, doesnt show the base of the stump at any angle sorry..:>())

Regards Panda