What are your must have species?

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Author Message   Treelover  My Favorite Photo My Garden Posted on Sunday, February 04, 2007 - 10:51 am EST :    I've only ever grown deciduous trees and shrubs for bonsai so far, thats because I like the autumn colour and fine twigs in winter, and one species I really want to try is Field Maple(Acer campestre) which is not so commonly found as sycamores and other maples but has smaller leaves and great autumn yellow foliage! Another I've yet to try is Hawthorn(Crataegus monogyna), they have naturally small leaves, are fairly quick growing and tough as nails! And one of its relatives is the Blackthorn or Sloe(Prunus spinosa) which has the benefit of really black stems and very nice white flowers appearing before the leaves. A very similar tree often used for bonsai is Apricot(Prunus mume), another species I must try but I'd have to buy it as its not a native to this country! Not sure if this classes as a tree or a shrub but I really like the deciduous Hollies you guys grow over there. They have bright grey stems and bright red berries in winter,fantastic! If only I could find one! Looking to conifers I'd have to go for Larch(Larix europea) which colours up yellow in autumn and sheds all its needles to give a view of its fine branching-lovely. Its also quite easy to get from cuttings! Another conifer to try is Yew(Taxus), but these are quite quite slow to grow but well worth the wait! The bark is plum red in colour when mature and just looks fantastic! Would possibly like to try a Cedar of Lebanon but not sure I can get them from cuttings, and theyre expensive to buy! Getting away from trees I must get a Ribes sanguinea, beautiful shrubs with maple like leaves and bright pink/red flowers. Or how about a Pyracantha? Usually grown up against a wall or as a hedge but they make fantastic bonsai,watch those thorns though! And I must get a Quince(Chaenomeles sp./Cydonia). Oh yea and a Bridal Wreath Spirea would be nice,with frothy white flowers and very fine branching-great for small bonsai(mame or Shohin) So what trees/shrubs are you hoping to make into bonsai this year? Treelover - County Durham, Zone "8/9"   Bonsaifan  My Weather My Time Posted on Monday, February 05, 2007 - 08:32 pm EST :    Put this one up in a few years and I might know something. ;) Bonsaifan - Indiana, Zone "?"   Treelover  My Favorite Photo My Garden Posted on Wednesday, February 07, 2007 - 09:37 am EST :    yep but you soon pick things up. there must be a few trees out there that you think,ooh i wonder what that would look like as a Bonsai? i do that all the time Treelover - County Durham,UK, Zone "8/9"   Bonsaifan  My Weather My Time Posted on Wednesday, February 07, 2007 - 01:18 pm EST :    Ok well I do that even. How bout.... lets say ..... mimosa. ;-) Bonsaifan - Indiana, Zone "?"   Greth  Posted on Thursday, February 08, 2007 - 10:15 am EST :    I love the look of pines, with their needles, they are the essential Bonsai to my eyes, but expensive and difficult to propagate cheaply and quickly. In Australia I have seen lovely Moreton Bay figs, which as full grown trees develop massive root thickenings above ground, and look pretty impressive as bonsais too. The site I was showing to Jessie which mentioned mimosas was from the society for growing Australian plants, and they have experimented with all sorts of natives - might be interesting to play around with those. Greth - South Australia, Zone "?"   Treelover  My Favorite Photo My Garden Posted on Thursday, February 08, 2007 - 03:23 pm EST :    pines are nice but the only way to propagate them is by seed,which is slow.they make very nice Bonsai tho (the plural of Bonsai is Bonsai,the word Bonsais doesn't exist) i think you'd have to buy one already as Bonsai tho which is gonna be costly! Treelover - County Durham,UK, Zone "8/9"   Bonsaifan  My Weather My Time Posted on Thursday, February 08, 2007 - 03:43 pm EST :    Aussies. Sheesh. LOLOLOL Bonsaifan - Indiana, Zone "?"   Greth  Posted on Thursday, February 08, 2007 - 06:28 pm EST :    One local nursery has little 'bonsai starters' which are tiny but include some interesting species for about $5ish (Less than a Big Mac meal, for international standard currency!) They could be put into decent sized pots or planted out for a while to get up to a better size, most are 4" or less. A lot to pay for not much plant, but I would spend that on a rare herb, lol. Might have a look and see if there are any pine type things. Someone is making a small fortune selling just germinated seed, methinks, but if the customers are happy, then all is good. Larry, what do you think about elderberries, sweet myrtle, and lemon verbena? I also have a pencil pine to spare sitting in a pot, about 18" tall so far, I've been growing it on to go into the garden. Actually I'm growing 6 for a row, but I only want 5 in the garden, the other is a spare in case one of the 5 dies. The other thing I am looking sideways at is a cinnamon tree (yep, genuine cinnamon) which, being tropical, will not survive in the ground here, but is happy in its shadehouse pot. It will never get to the size where I can harvest cinnamon, I only grow it for interest. Oh, and are Japanese maples easy to propagate from cutting? Dad has a couple of nice ones in his garden, I could easily scrounge a bit. I stand corrected on grammar, lol. Greth - South Australia, Zone "?"   Greth  Posted on Friday, February 09, 2007 - 09:33 am EST :    Oh, dear, Larry, I have committed act of Tree-son, as we all knew I would. I found a flowering ash tree for $5, it is about 18 inches high at the moment, and looking fairly sturdy. I will post pics when I can get hold of a camera (maybe a week?) and ask your advice on it. If it really is a nohoper, I can probably find room in the garden somewhere for it. Greth - South Australia, Zone "?"   Greth  Posted on Friday, February 09, 2007 - 10:27 am EST :    Okies, here is the outline of the flowering ash shape at present. The upper branches are still flexible enough (I think) for one of them to be swept downwards. Obviously, if this guy is to be a bonsai at all, its gonna be a biggish one, but I liked the way the trunk was thickening at the base. I like the neat little leaves, and it flowers as a bonus. It isn't quite straight, the trunk seen from above sweeps around in a slight spiral - maybe this could be emphasized? What do you reckon, can this be used, or is it a candidate to shade the chookhouse? Greth - South Australia, Zone "?"   Treelover  My Favorite Photo My Garden Posted on Friday, February 09, 2007 - 01:50 pm EST :    Greth, Im not sure what that species is but im guiessing its a Eucalyptus? Looking at your little drawing one style suggests itslef to me, Literati! I would get rid of that second branch on the right hand Y, hang on I'll do a virtual show you what I mean Treelover - County Durham,UK, Zone "8/9"   Karalyn  My Weather Posted on Friday, June 29, 2007 - 06:03 pm EST :    Treelover, I have been starting to propagate many plants. Some you have mentioned are Pyrantha, spiraea, forsythia, holly, weeping pussy willow, globe willow, apricot trees, cherry trees and hawthorn, the 3 latest ones are self sown seedlings. I have 3 different cotoneasters, thuga, rose of sharon, burning bush, purple sand cherry, Hakuro Nishiski willow, ninebark, and more. Artic Willow, lonicera, virginia creeper, Japanese red Maples from seed, graft laceleaf maples on green Japanese maple wood stock. I've seen a cotoneaster grafted onto a hawthorn tree. I would like to attempt that. Anyway, thought I would chime in let you know that I'm just interested in Bonsai in general and bought a couple books on it. But from I've read so far, to begin a Bonsai, one needs a fairly old tree with good roots to begin growing as a Bonsai. Karalyn Idaho Zone 6   Treelover  My Favorite Photo My Garden Posted on Friday, July 13, 2007 - 10:34 am EST :    Karalyn, yea thats about right, but it all depends on the size of bonsai you want. If you weant a really big bonsai then obviously the trees going to have to grow for a lot longer to get a thick trunk,but if you want a smaller bonsai, which I prefer, then you only have to wait a few years for a cutting to get thick enough to begine trainng(just let the cutting grow in the ground like a regular plant). Treelover - County Durham,UK, Zone "8/9"

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