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Hi everyone! I've been intrigued by bonsai for quite some time now, and have recently gotten quite enthusiastic about the hobby. I have a couple trees- A Ficus and Portulacaria Afra. I was strolling around the local garden center and found this one in a sea of generic junipers... and it caught my eye. It's still generic- and I wouldn't say it's a beautiful bon(mall)sai... but material can be expensive and a bit hard to come by around these parts. I bought it exactly as it- with wire and potted up.

All of that being said- I can't figure out what this is. A fukien tea?... but the bark doesn't really look right. The leaves don't quite look right either. Who knows (I know you do!).

Secondly- how do you think I should work this tree for the future? It seems to be a pretty awkward shape with all the branches coming from the same node. The tree is also small and young- and desperately needs a developed nebari and a more interesting and thicker trunk.

So what can I do to ensure it becomes better in the future? What kind of long-term plan do you envision with this?

Thanks a lot for your time!

Hi, and welcome.

My first guess would be a boxwood, Buxus spp. Alternative would be olive, but I do not really think so.
In either case.. It needs to be outside. Is that where it is?

If indeed buxus, you can -if the tree is healthy- still prune load of the akward branches away. The knot of branches will lead to ever thicker bulger at that point. Alternative it to consider a broom style tree: This style has the branches emerging from a singular point on the trunk. THat works well with the very straight trunk you have.

For the nebari.. It is a matter of every time you repot it, to properly prune the roots, aiming at having similar-sized roots all around the trunk, in the same plane.

Number one priority is to keep this healthy though. How long have you had it?

Thanks for the reply, leatherback.

After I posted, I saw it's similarities to the boxwood too.

It is indeed outside, where it will remain during the growing season. Depending on the kind of tree- it may or may not go indoors. If it's something that can't survive the harsh zone 3a winter here in the Canadian prairies- it will go to the unheated basement where I think it's probably around 10c... maybe cooler nested near the foundation.

I think the tree is healthy- but I have no idea how much care it got at the garden center. It has some strange white dust on the leaves in places- I'm assuming it's just dust from the gravel or calcium from the water. It seems to rub off.

It still gets well below 10c at night here... so until I know what it is for sure, I'm going to worry about it!.. especially that it came from a pretty warm greenhouse. Yeah, I figured that knot of branches would lead to a nasty reverse taper at one point- maybe sooner than later! I like the idea of broom style, that might be cool... and something I hadn't considered with my untrained eye. When I was thinking about design earlier, I had thought of ground layering way up the trunk to where the knot of branches start. (pictured in attachment)..maybe then the eventual bulge would then work in my favor? Maybe that would make for an interesting tree in the future... Or maybe I have no idea what I'm thinking!... Maybe... I'm not even using the term ground layer correctly!

Understood about the nebari- thanks for the succinct instruction.

I have had it for just a few hours.

Thanks again for the reply!

Box is hardy. SO unless you get frost again (Considering it was in a warm greenhouse it is in full spring mode already) leave it outside.

Yeah, a clum by layering can work too.

I would say: Practice and play. See where it leads. I think (hope!) this was not an overly expensive plant so good to get a feel for techniques with.

Yeah, we're quite a few degrees from freezing thankfully... so that puts my mind at ease a bit! Thanks!

Practice and play! Yeah! I have a small cheap hinoki cypress (you can see it in the background of some photos!) that I plan on experimenting with. This one... I don't know! It seems so challenging to find material here, I'm a bit over protective of what I have! I'm sure I'll get braver as time goes on, though.

What do you think are the pros and cons of both styles? Want to try to sell me on one or the other?

Anyone else have any input? Hit me with it!

For material, stop looking at 'bonsai'. The label alone quadriples the price. THese plants are nothing but regular garden shrubs. SO start looking in the hedging section. Get a big yew, eg.g. www.bonsaiempire.com/forum/progressions/9904-shokkan-yew

It sound like you have some good idea of what to look for. If you want to bounce your ideas off against a website:https://www.growingbonsai.net/growing-bonsai-yourself-selecting-nursery-stock-for-bonsai/

I think for your buxus the idea of a clump is really nice. It will help you learn new techniques (layering) and it uses the downside (bunched branches) as a positive (mutliple trunks).

TO be honest.. In my growing field some critter pulled out a few things, and one of them was an ugly-as-sin zelkova seedling (Was going to be a broome, did not like the bulge so planted it out, to chop low at some point). It was dried out, and over the last 2 months I got it to regrow roots. As it is now on my benches I look at it more often and I will make a clump from it later this year by layering, assuming it grows well:

Yeah, I try my best to avoid buying 'bonsai'.

Here is my confession- I'm interesting in having trees decorating my home and home office. Over the last couple of weeks, I've warmed to the idea of outdoor-only bonsai, and I realize that most fall into this category. I credit the wisdom and logic of the internet hive mind with slowly changing my perspective on this. That being said- the only way I can find material that is suitable for my needs are tagged as 'bonsai' (ficus, portulacaria, fukien tea, etc...), and why I've been avoiding shrub and yamadori material... but I feel like that might change in the future!

Ideally, I'd love to be able to have trees that can spend the winter indoors. Or spending the winter in my basement for their dormancy period, then bring them back upstairs and eventually back out again in spring. I'm willing to lose a tree or two experimenting with this.

That is a gnarly, ugly-as-sin zelkova. It has a lot of personality! I find it absolutely fascinating to see what people can do with what my amateur gaze deems as 'impossible'.

Speaking of growing- What kind of timeline should I tackle making design decisions? Should I layer it now? Should I just let it grow and get a feel for it? Should I pot it in a bigger vessel to have it grow faster? I'm absolutely not in a rush here... and pride myself on patience... But I want to make sure I'm taking the steps to work toward something great in the future.

What kind of timeline are you expecting with your zelkova project?

You are asking the wrong person.
Reasonable advice: Keep it alive for the year.
What I do (But I know I know how to grow plants in pots).. I would layer now. (The zelkova is a month away from layering. It really needs to get established. It was moved into the sun yesterday. If that causes no trouble and it picks up speed, I should have 1-2ft of growth by early june).

I know.. It is sometimes hard to get decent material. Just .. the bonsai stuff is often not useful either. Do a search for mallsai on the forum to get some ideas..

Many tree species from the tropics need to stay indoors. It is a bit of an effort to keep them happy at times. I have Jabuticaba and Brazilians Raintree that I try to grow as bonsai. And a whole bunch of bougainville one of which to be bonsai-ed (These are actually really fun plants, but foliage and flowers are only fitting in very large trees. But that does not stop me! Still hoping that with increase ramification, leaf size will go down a notch)

leatherback wrote: I know.. It is sometimes hard to get decent material. Just .. the bonsai stuff is often not useful either.

Hah! Wise words indeed. I guess I'm at the stage of just being happy to have the tree and work toward making them passable! I've seen some impressive mallsai transformations here!

I'd absolutely love to get my hands on a Buddhist Pine... but they are going to be really tricky to find here... and I'm sure it will be a terrible generic mallsai If I do find one. I think that might be part of the appeal for me... make something utterly uninspired and un-artistic... and turn it into something that inspired and artistic (hopefully)!

Interesting that you mention bougainville. A couple of months ago, before I feel down the rabbit hole... It was photo of a bougainville bonsai I saw that really captured my imagination. Are bougainville appropriate for indoor winters? Yours is beautiful! I bet it takes a long time before they are of the size where the flowers and leaves are proportional, though.

Mine stay indoors 5 months per year!