Here are the leaves of a number of common plants that you may find in a bonsai nursery.
1. Japanese black pine (Pinus
thunbergii)
2. Short needled spruce
3. Yew (Taxus bacata)
4. Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria
japonica)
5. Chinese juniper (Juniperus
chinensis)
6. Trident maple (Acer trifidum)
7. Beech (Fagus sp)
8. Birch (Betula sp)
9. Chinese elm (Ulmus
parvifolia)
11. Crab apple (Malus
floribunda)
12. Various species of Prunus,
including flowering cherries,
peaches and apricots
13. Wisteria
14. Rock Cotoneaster
(Cotoneaster horizontalis)
15. Small-leaved species of
Azalea
Generally speaking, you should look for trees with small needles or leaves. The most popular evergreen trees for bonsai are pines, junipers and spruces.
Among the pines, short-needles varieties are preferable, although the Japanese black pine (Pinus thunbergii) can have its rather long needles reduced in size by removing all new growth every second year. Other popular varieties include Japanese cedar and yew.
Most deciduous trees can have their leaves dramatically reduced in size by not repotting too often and by leaf cutting. Again, varieties with fairly small leaves are generally preferred to begin with, and these include various varieties of maples, elms, hornbeams, beeches, and birches.
When choosing flowering and fruiting trees, bear in mind the size of both the leaves and of flowers and fruits. For instance, and normal apple tree will look very odd when it fruits, but a crabapple will look in scale with its tiny apples about the size of a small cherry. Many shrubs with small flowers and fruits, such as cotoneaster make excellent bonsai.
1. Japanese black pine (Pinus
thunbergii)
2. Short needled spruce
3. Yew (Taxus bacata)
4. Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria
japonica)
5. Chinese juniper (Juniperus
chinensis)
6. Trident maple (Acer trifidum)
7. Beech (Fagus sp)
8. Birch (Betula sp)
9. Chinese elm (Ulmus
parvifolia)
Read also: Bonsai tree species and care guides.10. Hornbeam (Carpinus sp)
11. Crab apple (Malus
floribunda)
12. Various species of Prunus,
including flowering cherries,
peaches and apricots
13. Wisteria
14. Rock Cotoneaster
(Cotoneaster horizontalis)
15. Small-leaved species of
Azalea
Generally speaking, you should look for trees with small needles or leaves. The most popular evergreen trees for bonsai are pines, junipers and spruces.
Among the pines, short-needles varieties are preferable, although the Japanese black pine (Pinus thunbergii) can have its rather long needles reduced in size by removing all new growth every second year. Other popular varieties include Japanese cedar and yew.
Most deciduous trees can have their leaves dramatically reduced in size by not repotting too often and by leaf cutting. Again, varieties with fairly small leaves are generally preferred to begin with, and these include various varieties of maples, elms, hornbeams, beeches, and birches.
When choosing flowering and fruiting trees, bear in mind the size of both the leaves and of flowers and fruits. For instance, and normal apple tree will look very odd when it fruits, but a crabapple will look in scale with its tiny apples about the size of a small cherry. Many shrubs with small flowers and fruits, such as cotoneaster make excellent bonsai.
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Anybody used a pieris as bonsai?
ReplyDeleteTo make this work as a bonsai, you're going to need more branching closer to the trunk. Right now, what you have are pom-poms. If you cut off the last pairs of leaves at the end of each branch (not now, wait until Spring), you might get back-budding. If not, then the entire design is screwed. Sorry.
DeleteI'm assuming that you're done developing the trunk. Keeping it in that tray will not do much for the development of a trunk. If you're not done developing the trunk, you'll need a good deep nursery pot or stick it in the ground to grow.
How well can those leaves be reduced? Right now they are much too long. If you can get ramification to increase, you'll be trying to feed many more leaves with the same sized root ball. This MIGHT lead to leaf reduction. It may also not affect the size of the leaves, but the number of them in any particular cluster.