I do not know where the "twiggy shrub" and "tiny leaves"
comes from. For one they are not a "twiggy shrub" thank you very
much.

Hmm. . .

From Dirr's Manual of Woody Landscape Plants: "Serissa foetida .
.. . is a SMALL, rounded, 3 foot to 4 foot high, FINE TEXTURED
(read, "twiggy") evergreen SHRUB with dark green leaves and . .
.."

From Botanica: "Serissa . . . an evergreen SHRUB to 18 inches
(45 cm) high."

(emphasis added)

With
time, work, and knowledge they do develop great trunks. As for
the "tiny
leaves" isn't that part of bonsai, leaf reduction. Yeah they do
start out
small but, if one who has had one live knows they can grow bigger
leaves, if
one is not careful. So continue to wish for the death of them,
if the slim
chance of me rising one day they will be with me.

I think that what people are saying here is that for the amount
of work you have to put into a Serissa to make it look
"tree-like" you could use an honest-to-goodness tree and have
something that you can be proud of the skill it took to make it.
Part of the skill of bonsai is taking a real tree and putting it
into a small pot and still have that feeling of natural
"tree-ness.". That's a bit different than taking a small-leafed
shrub and putting it in a pot and calling it a tree.

There is nothing wrong with anyone working on Serissa if they
want to. However, some day they'll realize that there is better
bonsai material around them.

"A thousand stars tonight, a thousand stars tomorrow, Serissa
foetida will
live and shine always"

Is the the Serissa grower's anthem? ;-) Does the next line take
on the "foetida" part. ;-)

Have at it, Serissa growers. You may make a believer out of me
yet, but I've seen TWO Serissa in 30 years that _I_ thought
looked like trees.

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Our life is
frittered away by detail . . . . Simplify! Simplify. -- Henry
David Thoreau - Walden

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