Top Bonsai Choices
Wisteria
This type of plant has about 10 species that produce woody, twining, deciduous climbers, great for Bonsai. The leaves, which are good size, will alternate in color from deep green to pinnate. With the leaves being made up of smaller leaves, they are great for a number of Bonsai styles.
Now keep in mind when training a Wisteria that they do not conform to the “normal” Bonsai styling. In other words, they are purposely styled to show off their amazingly fragrant flowers. Therefore, you would choose the style that best suits the species you plan to grow.
The colors are beautiful and include colors of pink, purple, white, and blue. Then the flowers that bloom in the spring have green seedpods. While you can choose whatever species you prefer, the two most popular for Bonsai include the Wisteria Floribunda and the Wisteria Sinensis.
The one drawback to the Wisteria is that when they are planted in the ground, you will need to encourage flowering. First, remember that for Wisteria to bloom, they have to be mature, typically around the age of10. Then, you can prune all the shoots down to within six inches from the trunk. If you do this after flowering and repeat it two to three times in the
fall, you will find that springtime brings more buds.
Feeding the Wisteria is also important in that they need to have fertilizer low in nitrogen. Not only will this help your Bonsai stay healthy, it will also discourage excessive leaf growth while not affecting the flowering.
Care
Crabapple
Flowering Crabapples actually make great Bonsai choices. Covered with beautiful foliage and flowers in the spring, they then have miniature green apples in the summer that will actually ripen to many different colors. Additionally, the foliage will turn red, orange, and yellow in the fall, giving this Bonsai brilliant color. Then in the wintertime, the Crabapple will develop amazing fruit and colorful flowers.
While Crabapples do quite well for Bonsai, they do not obtain low grafts as good as other trees. However, if you use root cuttings, you will find it not too difficult. Then try burying the under stock one inch at a time, which can be done by making vertical slices in the bark. Next, apply hormones and cover the area with good soil. Then, you want to try to move the root zone upward. Another option is layering.
Another challenge with under stock suckering is that if the top of the plant is pruned, this under stock will become over stimulated, even more than the scion. The result is a huge explosion in the growth of suckers, which makes the trunks too large and difficult to train.
After training the Crabapple, you will then need to place it in the pot. Just remember that a cutting the size of a pencil will take several years to produce a trunk that is one-inch thick. However, once they are planted, you will find they grow quickly and will need pruning within weeks. When the roots have filled the pot, the leader will need to be cut back to about
three inches. Just be sure you leave a section of close internodes.
If you want unique and radical bends in the trunk, you can create multiple trunk cuts. This creates a soft and interesting look. The process is then repeated, each time adding a few inches of the trunk. You will generally get a little bit of tapering with this but very subtle. However, what you do get is crooked trunks and great growth.
Even though the Crabapple grows quickly, getting a good taper on Crabapples is difficult. Since they always want to develop as cylinders as they get older, the only thing you can try is to reduce the whips to about six inches after they have been allowed to grow wild for two years.
Then, if you throw numerous branches below the cut, going in all directions, the plant will respond quite nicely. This process can be repeated as much as you want. You will find that the multitude of lower branches form into one massive lower trunk. If you prefer, these lower branches can then be removed if they become too large for the Bonsai. Using this method, the Bonsai should develop a six-inch trunk in about four to five years.
Care
Bonsai Gardening Secrets
This type of plant has about 10 species that produce woody, twining, deciduous climbers, great for Bonsai. The leaves, which are good size, will alternate in color from deep green to pinnate. With the leaves being made up of smaller leaves, they are great for a number of Bonsai styles.Now keep in mind when training a Wisteria that they do not conform to the “normal” Bonsai styling. In other words, they are purposely styled to show off their amazingly fragrant flowers. Therefore, you would choose the style that best suits the species you plan to grow.
The colors are beautiful and include colors of pink, purple, white, and blue. Then the flowers that bloom in the spring have green seedpods. While you can choose whatever species you prefer, the two most popular for Bonsai include the Wisteria Floribunda and the Wisteria Sinensis.
The one drawback to the Wisteria is that when they are planted in the ground, you will need to encourage flowering. First, remember that for Wisteria to bloom, they have to be mature, typically around the age of10. Then, you can prune all the shoots down to within six inches from the trunk. If you do this after flowering and repeat it two to three times in the
fall, you will find that springtime brings more buds.
Feeding the Wisteria is also important in that they need to have fertilizer low in nitrogen. Not only will this help your Bonsai stay healthy, it will also discourage excessive leaf growth while not affecting the flowering.
Care
- Full sun mix with partial shade is best
- The Wisteria will need morel water than many of the plants and trees used for Bonsai growing
- You will need to repot about every third year in the spring
- Style for the flowers, not the overall plant
- Leaf spot, aphids, and brown scale are common problems
Crabapple
Flowering Crabapples actually make great Bonsai choices. Covered with beautiful foliage and flowers in the spring, they then have miniature green apples in the summer that will actually ripen to many different colors. Additionally, the foliage will turn red, orange, and yellow in the fall, giving this Bonsai brilliant color. Then in the wintertime, the Crabapple will develop amazing fruit and colorful flowers.While Crabapples do quite well for Bonsai, they do not obtain low grafts as good as other trees. However, if you use root cuttings, you will find it not too difficult. Then try burying the under stock one inch at a time, which can be done by making vertical slices in the bark. Next, apply hormones and cover the area with good soil. Then, you want to try to move the root zone upward. Another option is layering.
Another challenge with under stock suckering is that if the top of the plant is pruned, this under stock will become over stimulated, even more than the scion. The result is a huge explosion in the growth of suckers, which makes the trunks too large and difficult to train.
After training the Crabapple, you will then need to place it in the pot. Just remember that a cutting the size of a pencil will take several years to produce a trunk that is one-inch thick. However, once they are planted, you will find they grow quickly and will need pruning within weeks. When the roots have filled the pot, the leader will need to be cut back to about
three inches. Just be sure you leave a section of close internodes.
If you want unique and radical bends in the trunk, you can create multiple trunk cuts. This creates a soft and interesting look. The process is then repeated, each time adding a few inches of the trunk. You will generally get a little bit of tapering with this but very subtle. However, what you do get is crooked trunks and great growth.
Even though the Crabapple grows quickly, getting a good taper on Crabapples is difficult. Since they always want to develop as cylinders as they get older, the only thing you can try is to reduce the whips to about six inches after they have been allowed to grow wild for two years.
Then, if you throw numerous branches below the cut, going in all directions, the plant will respond quite nicely. This process can be repeated as much as you want. You will find that the multitude of lower branches form into one massive lower trunk. If you prefer, these lower branches can then be removed if they become too large for the Bonsai. Using this method, the Bonsai should develop a six-inch trunk in about four to five years.
Care
- The Crabapple is a ravish eater, and will need to be fed high levels of calcium
- You will want this Bonsai to get as much full sunlight as possible without it becoming scorched during extremely hot days
- With Crabapples, Crown Gall can be a problem. This parasite will create wart like nodules on the surface roots, as well as the plant’s crown.
- Because this is a fruit tree, you will find that several different types of pests try to enjoy a meal on your Bonsai. Therefore, it is important that you inspect the plant on a regular basis.
- Although you might see powdery mildew, this is generally not a serious problem. If you do get the mildew, it can be treated with an organic fungicide.
- This particular type of tree will suffer from root rot. When this happens, place the tree in a denser soil, which will help reduce the summertime watering requirement.
Bonsai Gardening Secrets
