Harry has outdone himself this time.
Harry Harrington has been styling and posting Privet bonsai for a long time. To my eye, Harry’s previous Privets (two below) have been very good, but now he has outdone himself (as witnessed by the tree above and the closeup just below).
It’s not just Privets for Harry; his website Bonsai4me presents a whole range of excellent bonsai (and plenty of educational writing as well), but his Privets stand out for a couple reasons: first, they are good and getting better, and second, Privet is an excellent candidate for bonsai that is widely underused (if you can say such a thing); they are strong growers, take very well to pruning (hedges you know) and can be quite striking. And they are all over Europe and America (I’m not sure about the rest of the world). Just waiting there for you in millions of hedges (and hedgerows, see just below).
There is a bit of a mystery about some of Harry’s Privets. How did he find ones with such massive trunks? In all my years as a gardener and plant lover, I don’t think I’ve ever seen any Privet trunks nearly as large as two of the three shown here. Oh, it just dawned. In England there are no doubt hedgerows (as distinguished from domestic hedges) containing Privets that have been growing wild and unimpeded for hundreds of years.
All the photos in this post were borrowed from Harry Harrington. For more Privets and other bonsai you can visit Harry on facebook and his website Bonsai4me.
We first showed this raft style Privet back in 2011. We found it at Bonsai4me. Harry originally found it in a hedge.
Here’s another of Harry’s collected (from a hedgerow this time) Privet bonsai that we’ve featured here on Bark (2013). If you slow down for just a second, you can’t but notice the pot. It’s by Victor Harris.
First photo also a great Erin pot by Vic Harris.