Your First Tree For Bonsai

Author:

Yuki

Almost any type of tree or shrub will be suitable for bonsai.  In general, most experts agree that pine trees aren’t good for the beginner.  When you are ready to work on your first tree you should select a species that is ‘forgiving’ to the beginner.

One of the most often recommended is the dwarf garden juniper.  They are readily available, take pruning well, can be worked on most of the year, and are generally inexpensive. They also root well as cutting, so you can begin starting your own ‘mini nursery’ as you shape your first tree.

There are some other species of trees that are ‘perennial’ favorites among bonsai growers.

Beech Trees

Beech make excellent Bonsai, there are types of Beech spread throughout the world’s temperate zones.

They tend to be grown in informal styles, and leaf trimming every other year will reduce the size of leaves on the larger types. It is important that leaf trimming is carried out as early as possible, as beech may not come back into leaf that year if it is left to late.

The Southern Beeches are closely related to beeches from the Northern hemisphere, differing in that they have both deciduous and evergreen species. From a bonsai viewpoint the can be treated as their Northern counterparts, except that you should not leaf trim the evergreen species.

They have no special needs but tend to do better in an alkaline (lime) soil rather than a peat based compost.

Cedar

There are throughout the world many species termed ‘Cedar’. Probably the first thing that springs to mind about cedars is that they have, when in a pot, quite weak root systems. The roots themselves being rather fleshy, are prone to damage by frost, so the trees must be sheltered when conditions demand it.

As with all conifers they will do better in a more open, grittier soil than their deciduous counterparts.

Cherry

The Cherry is a member of one of the largest family of plants on the planet, the ‘Rosaceous’,  The Rose family is really diverse, with the Cherry family at one end, apples and pears, then Quinces, Cotoneasters, through the Raspberry/Blackberry group, past Roses themselves and on to Strawberries.

The Cherry family itself includes Apricots, Peaches, Plums Damsons and Gages, all of which will make good Bonsai. The Apricot or ‘Mume’, as it’s called in Japan is the earliest flowering of the group.

The Cherry family propagates easily from seed, sown in the autumn. The seeds need a cold winter to germinate. They will take from cuttings but can prove difficult. Plants grown from seed or cutting can take ten to fifteen years to flower.

They have no particular needs, as far as their cultivation is concerned.

Pruning should be carried out in mid summer, allowing time for next year’s flower buds to develop.

Allowing them to set fruit may stress the tree beyond its ability to survive.

Elm

The elm family is a group of trees that will forgive you almost anything, will grow in a range of…read the rest of this article..

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