Old Buttonwood

This little beauty was given by one of my best friends, Allen Carver from Jupiter Bonsai. He has had it for over 20 years, but if you know how trees survive in his nursery, then you know why it looks like this. I got it over six months ago, re-potted it, super-thrived it, and immediately gave it three month fertilizer. It has an amazing root ball. I just wired it three weeks ago and cut the leaves 3/4 of the way. Lets see how it turns out.

Allen is good people, is the mass on the bottom right all trunk or is it beside/on a rock? How has that worked out for you in the past cuttin the leaves as opposed to cutting whole leaf and leavin petole? I wish you and Dorothy & Ernie lived next door

Phillip Elliott wrote:..I wish you and Dorothy & Ernie lived next door

Noo..

Hiram, that is a lovely tree! I see some buds starting to come out from the curved part of the trunk.

Best,
Dorothy

hello. i'm new to the forum/club and i own a native plant nursery in oakland, california. i'm curious as to whether this is Cephalanthus occidentalis - which is what we call 'Buttonwood' here? common names are problematic, as i'm sure you know. if it is C. occidentalis, i'm amazed that it can be grown as a bonsai. i find that they dry out so quickly even in 5 gal containers. how do you keep it moist enough to grow like this? it is beautiful, whatever it is. thanks.

That's one lovely tree mate! Wow. If you can get the new growth to move and have the character of the old growth, you're gonna have a real little porker there! Fantastic!

Andrew

This is a Conocarpus erectus, and it grows in the keys. Phillip it's a little bit of both, it's on a rock, awesome aged bark, and it does have large nebari. Thank you Dorothy for your nice comments. I started the leaf cutting late last year. So far they are back budding great. Ed is teaching me how to work with them.