by Zach Smith | Nov 17, 2014 | Care, Chinese Elm, Elms, Potting, Soil, Watering, Wiring
Beautiful little Chinese elm forest
Another of my favorite and best bonsai for beginners is the famous Chinese elm, Ulmus parvifolia; it is a member of the Elm family, Ulmaceae.
A native of China, it was introduced to the U.S. in the mid-19th Century as a replacement for American elms killed by Dutch Elm Disease. Very hardy, cold-resistant, pest and disease-resistant, Chinese elm is a superior species for bonsai … when grown properly (see Worst Feature below).
Chinese elms:
- grow to 50’ tall and 1-1/2’ in diameter, and
- have leaves that are ¾ to 2” long, 3/8 to 3/4” wide, elliptical, saw-toothed, and shiny dark green.
Best Features
Growth habit: Chinese elm is a fast grower. In the ground they can produce branches that are six feet long in a single season. The new shoots of containerized specimens grow fast as well, but also produce secondary branching within the same growing season. Growth is in distinct rounds, usually three each season.
Leaf-size reduction: the leaves easily reduce to ¼” with ramification. No special techniques are required, the leaves reduce on their own.
Ramification: outstanding, beginning in the first developmental year as the new shoots produce secondary and even tertiary growth with no prompting.
The Chinese elm forest you see here was created in 2012 from material grown as cuttings. The primary training was to (more…)
by Zach Smith | Nov 17, 2014 | Care, Elms, Potting, Soil, Watering
Cedar elm bonsai in its third year of training.
The Cedar Elm is among my chosen five of the best bonsai trees for beginners. Cedar elm, Ulmus Crassifolia, is a member of the Elm family, Ulmaceae.
Its natural range is East Texas into Northern Louisiana and Southern Arkansas. It’s a primary species, growing to heights of 80’.
The leaves are:
- elliptical or lance-shaped,
- sometimes blunt at the tip and sometimes sharp-pointed,
- 1-2” long and ½ to 1” wide.
- a shiny dark green above with a leathery feel,
- hairy beneath,
- coarsely saw-toothed with rounded teeth (the rounded teeth of the cedar elm’s leaves are about the only way to distinguish between cedar elm and winged elm in young specimens).
The bark of cedar elm is light brown and furrowed into broad, scaly ridges. It takes at least a decade before bark begins to form.
Best Features
Growth habit: cedar elm backbuds very well on old wood. The specimen pictured below was estimated to be about 40 years old despite only having a trunk diameter of 1-1/2”. It had only a single branch when collected, but produced ample buds to allow for proper development of the tree’s structure.
Cedar elm has two or three rounds of growth each season, which (more…)
by Zach Smith | Nov 17, 2014 | Bald Cypress, Care, Chinese Elm, Elms, Hornbeam, Sweetgum, Wiring
There’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…)
by Zach Smith | Nov 17, 2014 | American Elm, Elms, Wiring
Back in 2010 I collected an American elm from the side of a rural highway.
It had a great flared base, with some deadwood extending to the soil, and good taper to boot.
I figured to style it into an informal upright, and once it had thrown new branches that’s just what I set out to do. It grew all right for that season, but frankly it turned out to be only a so-so bonsai-in-the-making.
I gave it the minimum attention necessary, but for the most part it stood ignored among all the other trees.
Then 2011 came and I kept it watered and kept looking at it in an attempt to find a decent bonsai in the material. In the meantime, the dead area of the trunk grew bigger, leaving a couple of odd veins of living tissue and some branching that didn’t help the appearance one bit.
By the end of the growing season I was ready to toss it out.
Then it hit me:
Why not lay the thing down and see if it wanted to be a (more…)
