Spirea japonica 'Alpina'

Here we go again. Another offbeat tree. I did a search here on spirea & got zero. I just repotted a tiny daphne spirea, Spiraea japonica 'Alpina.' It is supposed to be a good shohin subject. There are a few pictures on the Internet. Bonsai4me has an article, but it doesn't say much. He does have a good progression series on the species. Does anybody grow this? No picture here yet because it doesn't look like anything. A stick in a pot. One of my buddies with a nursery sells them as pre-bonsai, so I had to have one. I have a couple of its larger cousins in the garden.
Iris

Hi Iris,
This is a spirea that i took out of the garden in 2008 it was planted in a pond basket.
In 2009 i put in the ground again till this spring, now it is in a plastic shallow pot to start the further development as shohin.
Trunk diameter above nerbari 2,8 cm.
As you have seen the Bonsai4me site, i can't tell you more.
So i am in the same position and curious if there will come some more information.
I am not sure on the spirea sort of this one, certainly not a Alpina.
Why you do not take one of the bigger cousins out of the garden and put the stick in the ground,
or are they a different sort?

regards, Sunip

I am working with this small Spiraea cinerea 'Grefsheim' since 2005. Still not flowering because I am building the branch structure. It flowers on the growth from previous year, so it must not be pruned after mid summer app.
Growth rapidly and I will now do some pruning experiments to see how it will develop its flowers. I do not know if it will work well as Shohin, but I give it a try.

Regards
Morten


2005


2007


2011

sunip wrote:
Why you do not take one of the bigger cousins out of the garden and put the stick in the ground,
Sunip

I wouldn't plant this in the ground; it is too tiny. I will see what it does.
I was thinking of potting one of them, Spiraea japonica 'Little Princess.' The other one is the next size up, & I don't remember what it is.
Iris

There are warnings that mature growth is brittle, but I managed to wire a curve in the trunk without wrecking it.
Iris

Here is more information on S. xcinerea.
http://www.paghat.com/spiraea.html
and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiraea

xcinerea is a hybrid: Spiraea ×cinerea (S. hypericifolia × S. cana)
Iris

I thought I posted an update, but the cybergremlins got it.
Here is the tree as originally potted. Not much, I admit.



Here it is in June, starting to bloom, more buds coming.



I'll never have one of those sumo shohins, so I have to be content with such as this. According to my notes, you prune back long shoots in the spring, then let it bloom, and prune after blooming. I don't think there is enough time in Zone 5 to prune before it is getting ready to bloom. I will prune it afterwards.
No masterpiece, but I would recommend it for beginners because it is easy to grow and blooms the first year. My spireas in the garden don't seem to have all the bugs & diseases of most Rosaceae.
Think it has any promise?
Iris

Hello, Mrs. Iris!
I wouldn't mind about promises since I enjoy all stages of my care about the spirea.
Just my opinion. I think every tree that keeps us content, calm, hilarious, is really lovely and I do believe that this blooming spirea offers to you lots of calm.

That´s a beautiful pot Iris!

Where did you get it? Loks like one I have that I got from an ex-club member; she got it during one of her trips up north but doesn´t remember where.

Thank you, I am very fond of that pot. Actually, I bought it for a few dollars at a local garden center. It does have a little chop on the bottom, but I have no ideal what it means. I'll have to show it to one of the experts in Rochester.
Iris

I´ll take of picture of mine and post it here for you to see...I have a small Nia Buxifolia planted there.

You have the same pot? Interesting. It may well be more-or-less mass-produced, but it is still a pretty pot.
Iris