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, Potting, Soil, Watering
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.
(more…)
