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Hi all,

New to the forum! My name is Panos, I live in Stockholm Sweden and would like to finally start a bonsai from seed, only I have no idea what to choose. I live in an appartment with a covered/closed balcony that gets sun literally all day, meaning that in the summer it's like a greenhouse! I am actually able to grow tomatoes and watermellons on the balcony! I would like to start a flowering bonsai but can't really find anything that fits the criteria. I have a Japanese red maple which is very young and seems to be doing ok so far (its almost through its first winter, in my balcony that is). Is there anybody in my situation that can help me, or anybody that knows what would work for me? FYI, the balcony is always 3-4 degrees C warmer than the outside, but as already mentioned becomes like a greenhouse in the summer, even with the windows open.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance.

Panos

Panos, welcome.
Unfortunately I can't be of any help, all the suggestions I could offer are from tropical trees that will surely die in Sweden.
But Prunus Mume and Japanese Quince came to my mind, they don't care about the cold.
And the flowers are stunning.

trying to grow from seed is much more difficult than any other way. It is the slowest, it will be many years before any species will flower if that is what you want. It would be much easier to grow from either cuttings or better a nursery plat. The problem you have is that there are no species that flower and do well in such an environment. I would suggest that you try Hawthorn or Cotoneaster or Forsythia but none of these will survive inside. You need to be able to put these and other species outside all year. But whatever you decide don't waste time growing from seed, or at least try cuttings etc as well.

Hi Clicio,

Thanks for the reply! I actually very recently found about the prunus mume, and yes it is stunning, but from what I have read it can be tricky and lengthy to manage to get dried seeds to germinate. The best soliution i habe read is to use seeds from fresh fruit, but as you can inagine it’s pretty much impossible for me to find that.

Thanks for the tip though, I’ll do a search on japanese quince.

Panos

Hi m5eaygeoff,

Thanks for the repl and your suggestions.

I know that starting anything from seed is not straightforward and takes time, but to me it's just so much more fulfilling starting from seed, it gives me a sense of accomplishment in the end (assuming it works!). Finding cuttings or trees from which to take a cutting is pretty much impossible, and the same goes for nursery plants. There is a store that sells everything bonsai, including cuttings/nursery plants, but it's over 600km away and I don't know if they can send something like that by post, and I'm guessing even if they do it would be too expensive for me.

I have done some research as to what flowering varieties can handle cold and it seems that all cheries are in that category; not forgetting that most of them are gorgeous when they flower. As mentioned, I have a red maple on the balcony which has survived one summer and will experience its second soon. As of yet, it is still alive and kicking, and has also started to bud, which means it is healthy (can also be seen by the vibrant red bark on it).The red maple is my absolute favourite tree variety to make a bonsai from, so hopefully if it's still alive by next year, I will be able to take a cutting and start a bonsai from that. But like anyone who loves bonsais, stopping at just one is out of the question, and until the maple is ready for me to take a cutting I would like to start something else from seed. I have found two cherry varieties that I would like to try and it is the japanese cherry aka prunus serrulata and the cherry plum aka Prunus Cerasifera. Both require cold stratification so I don't think I will be able to start this year, but I can at least prepare for next winter.

Sorry for the long reply!

Thanks again.

Panos