Physocarpus "Diabolo"

There have been some threads on recently showing more uncommon species being used as bonsai, so I thought I'd add to the mix.

This is a Physocarpus 'Diabolo' which is more often used as a shrubby small tree at the back of a border.



It is fairly impervious to anything the Scottish climate can chuck at it, and if you prune it regularly you can get it to stick to a few main trunks which have beautiful peeling bark.




The leaves are a nice burgundy colour and it throws out a mass of small pinkish red flowers every late spring on the old wood.

I hack mine back regularly and a few years ago decided to try to root a handful of cuttings on the basis that it is a quick grower and is a tough little nut. I've sold most on to people wanting garden shrubs but one was looking good as a potensai. Four years on and it is now shaping up to be a decent shohin. I've managed to get the papery bark, and the leaves are gradually reducing. I did a serious root prune earlier this year, but have decided to return it to its washbowl for the meantime until I can decide what sort of pot I want to put it in and to let it fatten up a bit more. By its growing nature, it is unlikely to develop fine ramification but there is a decent outline to be had.



It's really just a nice little piece of whimsy to play with in the hope that I'll be able to say that I have at least one tree in whose development I have had the major hand. Height approx 10inches. Trunk diameter 1 inch.

I'm so happy to see someone else trying this species.
I deiced a couple of years ago when I found this 'Dart's Gold' at a nursery.
It's going goo so far. They grow quite quickly.