Big Dwarf Yaupon Holly Yamadori (Ok, it’s an ilex schilling, last one for a while, promise)

I’ve been waiting two years to work on this magnificent specimen of a tree. The man who collected it had a keen eye that day, indeed.

It’s a 30-40 year old ilex schillings that I collected from a friend’s hedge.
The ilex vomitoria “schillings” or sometimes called “stoke’s dwarf” (I cannot find anywhere why these two names “schillings” and “stokes” are associated with this dwarf cultivar.) is a very popular foundation planting in Florida and the South and is often described as “the meatball” in the landscape trade. It responds very well to pruning and will form a dense hedge.
This tree was six feet tall (about 2 meters) when I collected it. Now it’s about 2 feet tall.
I believe this was a corner of the hedge (my friend called it the granny hedge. He wanted a more tropical look)
Side view

I’m going to tilt it forward a little


And, as you can see from above, it needs some thinning.
Like so

Now I need to clean that black gunk off. It’s either mold or a type of slime.
It doesn’t hurt the tree but its ugly. IMO
Using my son’s favorite toothbrush (I can no longer use my wife’s. she’s started reading the blog and hiding her toothbrush so I switched to my son. He’s a teenager and a know-it-all and at the Age of Unbelieving. And he doesn’t read his dear-old-dad’s blog) I scrub the black gunk away. If you want you can mix a teaspoon of dish soap or Listerine into a gallon of water. I didn’t.
All clean though

Now I must address the dressing of some knobs (you went your whole life without that image in your head and I go and ruin it for you).

When I say knobs I mean the dead, chunky bits that were cut back.
Recently, on a forum, it was asked whether one needed specialized bonsai tools or if standard garden pruners were sufficient. In order to do the detail work above, the cutting surfaces, the geometry and leverage that a good bonsai tool give makes that kind of work “like buttah!”
In order to adjust the angle from here

To here

I’ll need to do a repotting.
And I might as well put it into a container that at least resemble a bonsai pot (although the round feed bowl it’s in is ideal for training).
First before the first though. I must remove this tree

from its pot (yes, the tree is another ilex) so I can use it (the rectangle pot) and swap out the round for the rectangle. If you follow.

Unpot, unpot, repot,repot. If you get the sequence.
Reset the tie downs and clean the pot between switcheroos

To fit the tree into its new pot I have to trim one big root.

Which is incredibly hard to see there.
How’s this?

And it fits. Mostly. And I used every last bit of soil I had doing this too.

There are some roots on the back that I don’t want to come off. To protect them I just cover them with sphagnum moss

And there it is in its new home.

Now for some wire.
When it comes to wiring, there is nothing more boring to read about than how to place it on the branches. And writing about it is just as boring.
If you want to learn, I suggest you find someone who you think is good at it, buy a bottle of expensive tequila, and ask for a lesson………Patron is a good brand……
Without further distractions-
Right side

Left side

All together now

A couple of more details.
The branch on the left and the trunk on the right might go eventually

Not yet though.
And these two spots will need carving

Not yet on these either. That’s a subject for another post.
And now, what you’ve been waiting for- the glamor shots!
Right side!

Left side!

Rear!!

The before!!!

The Middle!

The Sketch!!!!

And the (finally…)
After!!

Except for updates this is the last ilex post this year. Promise. Maybe.
Be sure to share, like, follow and all that. I don’t know if you’re reading otherwise.
If you have a request, please feel free to ask me to write up a post. If I don’t know the answers I’ll be sure to make something up that at least sounds plausible.