Best Bonsai Trees for Beginners – Bald Cypress

by | Nov 17, 2014 | Bald Cypress, Care, Potting, Soil, Watering

BeginnerTreeBaldCypress

The National Champion Bald Cypress – at Cat Island National Wildlife Refuge

One of the best bonsai trees for beginners is the Bald Cypress, or Taxodium distichum. A member of the Redwood family, Taxodiaceae, it is a primary tree species and can reach heights of 100-120’ with a trunk diameter typically between 3-5’. Larger and older specimens are known and documented, including what you see to your left, the largest tree east of the Sierra Nevada and the sixth largest in terms of overall volume in the United States.

This is the national champion bald cypress, 94’ tall with a 17’ diameter trunk (it’s a single tree with two trunks). I live a mere 17 miles from it. Nice…

The needles:

  • are flat,
  • are crowded,
  • are feather-like,
  • they occur in two rows on green twigs,
  • are dull green above and whitish beneath, and
  • they turn reddish-brown in the fall and drop along with the twigs.

The bark is brown or gray, with long fibrous or scaly ridges. It peels off in strips.

It’s my opinion that bald cypress is the undisputed King of American Bonsai and again, they are one of the very best bonsai trees for beginners!

Best Features

Growth habit: Bald cypress is one of the more vigorous species grown as bonsai. Although you can expect only three rounds of growth each season, each round of growth is very dynamic.

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Best Bonsai Trees for Beginners – Deciduous Species

by | Nov 17, 2014 | Bald Cypress, Care, Chinese Elm, Elms, Hornbeam, Sweetgum, Wiring

Pix-BonsaiThere’s nothing as exciting as getting bitten by the bonsai bug.

You see a photo of a masterpiece bonsai, or better still you go to an exhibition and see wonderful specimens in person. You’re amazed that a fully mature tree which should be 100’ tall is only 2’ tall, and its leaves are tiny but perfectly shaped. You’re hooked and you want to be able to grow bonsai yourself.

This elicits the second question every new bonsai enthusiast asks, the first being, “How do they do that?”, namely: “What are the best bonsai trees for beginners?”

It’s a simple question with a reasonably simple answer.

The best bonsai trees for beginners are without a doubt those that are:

  • easy to keep alive in a shallow container, and
  • are quick to train into suitable representations of mature trees in nature.

As a beginner, the last thing you want is (more…)