Bonsai Trees

Well, I’m embarrassed to show you my collection of bonsai trees but I must… just to tell you that you should never take on more than you can handle (like I did) when it comes to bonsai trees. I had this great ambition of growing a few bonsai trees. I was going to be re-potting, pruning, and wiring them this spring but our spring was a bit warm so my time was spent watering and weeding my massive garden instead of taking care of my bonsai trees.

Now, we are in the peak of summer and it is ABSOLUTELY not the best time to do any kind of restructuring of the trees! Oh, I feel so bad for them. I really wanted to give them the best attention this year but it didn’t work out.

Take a look below of my weeping willow trees. I’m not sure what shaping I could do but these certainly don’t look like your typical weeping willows. I need to read a few books on how to shape these and all others below. I have plenty of bonsai books in my library, just haven’t had time to really read in-depth.

Below is my unhappy pink bougainvillea bonsai that I had about two years ago. It was one of my first three bonsai trees that I posted back in April 2021. It had lost a lot of leaves and branches. This was a few weeks ago. So sparse and so sad.

Here is my Kwanzan cherry tree bonsai below. I haven’t shaped it but it seems to be happy. I have to find out what shape I should wire it into to make it look more interesting. Anyone who is an expert in bonsai must be horrified by the crazy wiring I have going on here! These wires that came with the pots are REALLY hard to bend and cut. I couldn’t shorten them and I couldn’t bend them well so they are protruding above the soil weirdly like that.

So far my newly bonsai-potted California Gold bougainvillea is doing well. It hasn’t flowered but is leafy. I had this great idea of putting it in a super tiny pot (2.5 inches wide) below and I LOVE it, mini tree, VOILA!

Below are two of my first three bonsai trees, they are both wisterias. They can be seen in their better, earlier days in the post above from April 2021. These haven’t been shaped much but they seemed to be holding a decent structure. I’ve read in gardening books that if you don’t know how to prune or what to prune, better not prune because you may end up damaging the plant. I’ve killed a few precious plants by over-pruning.

The Dawn Redwood Grove bonsai trees are doing okay. They lost their leaves in the winter and this spring they sprouted new growth and have these beautiful dark leaves. This picture was taken last week but this week it is slightly brown from the heat.

This one below is the “Center Stage Coral” crape myrtle. It lost its leaves a few week before but just started leafing out again. I re-potted it this spring.

I’m having difficulty with shaping this jacaranda tree. It is so ODDLY shaped that I don’t know what to do about that big side branch with no leaves. Do you take it out since it doesn’t have any leaves? I don’t know. Anybody know?

Saving the best for last, my fringe flower bonsai. I bought this one last year and I’m so glad to see so many bright pink flowers blooming right now. I believe this blooms into the fall season here.

So there, that’s all of my favorite bonsai trees for now. I will show you other ones I have sometimes in the next few weeks.