Rare species of bonsai

Hi Iris

I did some research on my mesquite. It appears the trees we know as "Kiawe" in Hawaii are a species of mesquite native to Columbia, Equador And Peru. "Prosopis pallida" was introduced to Hawaii in 1828 or so, and has become natralized. Do to there habit of shooting a long tap root I understand the mainlanders failures. I too have tried to collect some with no sucsess. I aquired a non styled Kiawe with good roots and have managed to get it close to finished. Because the leaves "sleep" at night ive been told its no good as Bonsai, but i think its beautiful. I plan on doing some expirments with cutting the tap root of a specimen I plan on collecting but leaving the tree in the gound, maybe root hormone at the base to encourage more fine roots then digging at a later time , too be continued....

Arno

[quote="Ed van der Reek"]Here a rare specie,it is a Purple smokebush
This tree is a bushy up-growing shrub with dark purple leafs and yellow flowers,Autumn-color is amazing.
Very rare as bonsai,I have seen two on internet.
Greetings Ed



We had a smokebush with much the same foliage (in the house we had before I went to university as an adult student for 3 years.) I tried to take cuttings a number of times when I went back to the town, but unfortunately none of them took. Nice tree, I'm a wee bit envious.

Hy Jeff Lahr,

Since i once had a border in my garden with over a hundred different real geraniums.
I think your wonderful geraniums are called officially Pelargonium.
I have a with pelargonium for years, now i am thinking of styling it a bit.

Sunip

Hy Gordonb,

I saw the Cotinus Coggygrria royal purple (purple smokebush) from Ed van Reek.
There where also two on the German forum.
There are also ones with green leaves is saw on the Italian forum.
This gave me some courage, since i got three of them.
Nice species for bonsai!

Regards, Sunip

Hi Sunip,these specie starts with green leaves and change from colour in Autumn.
Greetings Ed

sunip wrote:Hy Gordonb,

I saw the Cotinus Coggygrria royal purple (purple smokebush) from Ed van Reek.
There where also two on the German forum.
There are also ones with green leaves is saw on the Italian forum.
This gave me some courage, since i got three of them.
Nice species for bonsai!

Regards, Sunip

There is a redleaved variety aswell, they start red.

Peter

About the cotinus coggygrria.
Yes when you google you find some color variety.
Fun there for bonsai.

Sunip

A couple of varieties I am mucking around with
This first I am not so sure of the species. We call it Thorns of Christ or something but a google search shows me other trees. It has brilliant cascading flowers.
Mother in law had a large tree and some seeds found their way into our garden. I just let a few grow. Very hardy I chopped the tuberous root of this a year ago and basically turned it into a big cutting and it bounced back no worries. But I lost the top of this one to a colder than usual Winter last year.
Pulled it out for a little trim and wire today.



Another is silk floss tree or Ceiba speciosa. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceiba_speciosa I believe they are related to the Baobab tree. I bought the seeds of EBay a few years ago. Still trying to learn the care for them. The first year they where fine in the shade house over Winter but last year the cold gave them trouble as well. They have recovered well now but I am still a little apprehensive in treating them too hard. I did give them a light trim today.
I reckon they would make a cool looking forest with those prehistoric trunk thorns.

You can see a couple that seem dead. Although one has refused to bud out agian for two years it is still green under the bark?

Hi Brett,

I think that the first tree you have posted pics of is Erythrina Crista-galli. Pls confirm if its flowers look like this.. if they do then this indeed is Erythrina Crista-galli


Ravi

I did a google search on that Ravi and yes I think you have hit it. Thanks Kindly

Hey Brett,

Thanks for confirming. I too have a tree of this species. A very good trunk girth of about 4 inches diameter but unfortunately the tree as a bonsai branches very poorly. The branches die back immediately after flowering. I have seen trees of this species in nature and they seem to be fine with branch ramification and all. However as a bonsai I seem to have failed like so have my friends in the local club who have tried it as a bonsai.

Ravi

Ravi, Brett,

Imortelle and Silk cotton, no work.
Sorry.
Khaimraj

the cotton will be hard to make as bonsai. Please do post the progress later on that tree.

Ravi.
The parent tree had many dead branches. I was thinking it must have been from the cold as I did not see this on the Google pictures. Maybe it is as you say. I won't throw it in the bin just yet anyway

When you guys say the Cotton tree do you mean the Silk floss tree? If I fail with these I will still enjoy seeing what happens as they grow in a pot.

Brett Summers wrote:Ravi.
The parent tree had many dead branches. I was thinking it must have been from the cold as I did not see this on the Google pictures. Maybe it is as you say. I won't throw it in the bin just yet anyway

When you guys say the Cotton tree do you mean the Silk floss tree? If I fail with these I will still enjoy seeing what happens as they grow in a pot.

Here we just call it wild cotton tree. I hope you won't fail on this one, if you managed to keep it as a bonsai it's good for a forest planting because they always tend to grow straight up like a pine.
good luck Brett!

regards,
jun

Brett,

if you do a search on Ebay, you will see what will happen with the Silk cotton. Don't mean to be a kill joy, I grew that tree years ago. Why not invest your time in a Tamarind or Calliandra?
Whatever you decide, best to you.
Khaimraj

* Hee hee ask me some time about the Bursera s.[ Naked Indian ] and Guaiacum o.[Lignum vitae ] ha ha.

Khaimraj Seepersad wrote:Brett,

if you do a search on Ebay, you will see what will happen with the Silk cotton. Don't mean to be a kill joy, I grew that tree years ago. Why not invest your time in a Tamarind or Calliandra?
Whatever you decide, best to you.
Khaimraj

* Hee hee ask me some time about the Bursera s.[ Naked Indian ] and Guaiacum o.[Lignum vitae ] ha ha.

...yes, you are a "kill joy" Khaimraj! let the man explore the other trees. If the tree died then its dead but at least he tried...I also tried it to know success, but I am glad I did. Who knows he might succeed.

regards,
jun

Thanks Guy's
I did a google search for the silk cotton bonsai and I think I found the image you are talking about Khaimraj. Can't upload pics at the moment the server is down or something But here is a link
http://www.bizrate.com/plants-trees/silk-cotton-tree-10-seeds-ceiba-tropical-or-bonsai--pid1793844369/

Looks like something my mate Pol would like Is interesting because now I know what to avoid. Maybe I will grow them in what I call Veranda tree style. Large interesting trees that sit in a pot on the veranda but can't really be called Bonsai A large Forrest could be an interesting veranda tree.
Then agian maybe I try something different and keep them all in a small pot and see what happens?
Kind regards
Brett

Yes Brett,

but remember that is the immature form.

The spikes go as the tree ages - http://cache1.asset-cache.net/xc/97715815.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=77BFBA49EF878921A343B2C87A49D8F593D0851F147B3F456D8E834DA660EE2A19BBA3764D3A31DF

Until.
Khaimraj

Hi Khaimraj
I can not get the link you gave to work? But here is a picture of the parent tree of my seedlings the spikes do not seem to be going as the tree ages.

Brett Summers wrote:Another is silk floss tree or Ceiba speciosa. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceiba_speciosa I believe they are related to the Baobab tree. I bought the seeds of EBay a few years ago. Still trying to learn the care for them. The first year they where fine in the shade house over Winter but last year the cold gave them trouble as well. They have recovered well now but I am still a little apprehensive in treating them too hard. I did give them a light trim today.
I reckon they would make a cool looking forest with those prehistoric trunk thorns.

You can see a couple that seem dead. Although one has refused to bud out agian for two years it is still green under the bark?

I could've sworn these were Pachira aquatica, Money tree. The leaves look just like them. The thorns are basically the only difference.

Oh I just found another as bonsai. That's more like it

From Bonsai Argento
http://bonsaiargento.blogspot.com/2008/11/felab-2008-la-expo-la-de-afuera.html

Hi Ryan I would say they are definatly Chorisia speciosa here is the Ebay seller I got the seeds from

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/RARE-SILK-FLOSS-TREE-BONSAI-CHORISIA-AWESOME-/390259023760?pt=AU_Plants_Seeds_Bulbs&hash=item5add401f90

I just had a browse through the rest of the trees on Bonsai Argento. It seems they have several species not often used in Bonsai and some very interesting trees. Also a few more Chorisia speciosa Bonsai.

Here is a page of many cotton tree bonsai. They use the common name Palo borracho
http://www.bonsaiwu.com.ar/galeria/autoctono/

Hi Guys, Erythrina are often seen as garden trees in warmer climates and the really good ones are always coppiced. I have seen lots of them in the northern parts of New Zealand they are certainly spectacular plants.
Craigw