Portulacaria afra "Prostrate"

A few of my fun trees.

Tree 1(10cm high):



Tree 2 (8cm high):



Tree 3 (12cm high)



Tree 4 (15cm high):



Tree 5 (18cm high):



Tree 6 (15cm high):



Tree 7 (10cm high):



Any comments or advice on the trees will be welcomed.

Lennard

Jade had been my favourite.
As it ask less attention and slow growing
Tree 2,3and 6 looks great
Thanks for sharing
Regard
Aman

Nicely done Lennard.

Aman this is not the Jade. The Jade tree is Crassula arborescens or C argentea and C ovata. Portulacaria afra is the Elephant bush or Pork bush.
If I had a penny every time I say this.....hihhihihihi

I wonder if anyone has ever done The Spekboom (Porkbush in Afrikaans) as it grows in nature?

Love and light

Thanks andrew for correcting me.
I did not the name u mentioned.thanks

But portulacaria afra is also know by the name of dwarf jade.
Pls check wiki
We mention them jade here
This is y i named jade.
Regards
aman

amanluthra688 wrote:
But portulacaria afra is also know by the name of dwarf jade.

Ironically Portulacaria afra are much bigger plants than the Crassula plants!

Here is a pic of both forms together:



There is a lot of varieties of this species going around - I have collected 8 varieties and added this variegated forms of the upright variety with the smaller leaves to my collection - I was lucky enough to spot them along the roadside during my recent trip to the Eastern Cape:



The other interesting variety is the cork bark one - will take a pic and post it soon.

Thanks for the positive replies.

Lennard

Lennard,
Great work. Thanks for sharing.
Jerry

I didn't even know there was a "Prostrate" form of Portulacaria afra!

Here, Portulacaria are very difficult to keep. They are sold as house plants, but they lack the light and other climate factors when we have to bring them indoors, so they lose leaves in the winter, and in the spring they make long internodes before yopu can safely take them outside.

I don't think they like the Northern hemisphere so much   

They loose there leaves in winter? Get out!

Lennard its interesting that you found the variegated form in Nature, I think that is awesome and a rare find indeed!!

amanluthra688 wrote:Thanks andrew for correcting me.
I did not the name u mentioned.thanks

But portulacaria afra is also know by the name of dwarf jade.
Pls check wiki
We mention them jade here
This is y i named jade.
Regards
aman

Yes I gather that you name them Jade. And this is why Wiki is also now confused, because somebody somewhere in the Northern hemisphere did not use the right name at the right time and now the whole India is also confused along with Wiki ,or is it Vicky. hihihihihihihihi

So here I am trying to correct you,. India and Wikipedia! Gawd the things I have to do.....hihihihihihi

What confuses the masses is that you do find the Dwarf Jade as well and has nothing to do with the Elephant bush.

As with me......Andrew? Who is Andrew? See how easy name can be misread!

Love and light

This is why you must know the scientific names and not just the common names. Cedars that are juniperus, etc.

I am interested in seeing this cork bark variety lennard.

Andre Beaurain wrote:They loose there leaves in winter?  Get out!

I can't take them out, it was an exceptionally warm winter this year but the temperatures went down to -5 °C for a couple of days. We usually have a few days below -10° C, so they wouldn't survive.

And they don't lose all their leaves, but in the past days, we had 0/-2 ° C in the morning and up to 20° C in the afternoon, so I think it's still too early to take them out.

Crazy weather...

Andre Beaurain wrote:

Lennard its interesting that you found the variegated form in Nature, I think that is awesome and a rare find indeed!!

I am very lucky to have these one growing.

I took the cuttings at the beginning of the holiday near the Addo Elephant Park. I wrapped them with tissue paper and watered the tissue paper every third day. This went on for 30 days during the holiday. The last few days we stayed at the Augrabies National Park and I placed the cuttings on the porch to get some sun. The second last day the baboons raided everything and shredded and ate my cuttings. This was the only cuttings left from about 20 I took!

I do have the tricolor prostrate variety - very glad I have found these!

Lennard

My "forest" made from three cuttings from a big Chinese import someone brought to our club meeting 4 years ago. Never knew what became of the mother plant:

Here is my Portulacaria.  It is currently my only tropical bonsai, and my oldest tree.  I haven't repotted it since I got it 9 years ago.  Every summer I plan to repot it, but it always seems so healthy, I put it off.


It does lose a few leaves when I bring it inside in the autumn, but it maintains decent vigor throughout winter with no artificial light under a skylight.  I must admit that it is very much neglected. lol
-Preston

It appears that they like nothing more than 'being neglected'. The less I fuss over them the happier they seem to be.

prestontolbert wrote:Here is my Portulacaria.

It's really very nice, Preston.

I would personally put it in a wider pot, but that's a matter of taste, once again   

prestontolbert wrote:Here is my Portulacaria.  It is currently my only tropical bonsai,
-Preston

Tropical tree....that is so ironic,  if they could hear that, the trees I mean, Im sure they will smile inwards.

The Elephant bush comes form the Western to Eastern cape.  It grows in what is called Thicket and Noors veld, just over the mountains that runs along the coast, on the sea side, they grow thick and lush forming waves of growth,  Huge euphorbia trees and large Aloes grows between them,  supporting their weight and makes them grow taller. Its almost impossible to walk through this entangled mass of plants...

On the other sides of the mountains ( where the clouds stops)  you find the Huge dry Karoo, and Small Karoo semi deserts, Noorsveld,( Noors is a small spiny euphorbia)  here you find them as small bushes no higher than your chest, sparsely separated and usually on the South side of hills and mountains, struggling to survive, but loving it.
Almost nothing here grows higher than your knee. The veld though is very rich in species and varieties of succulents, many still to be discovered..

 In certain areas Famers over grazed their veld, and sadly it almost never recovers, becoming even more desert.
Sometimes it gets so dry that the farmers are forced to to burn the Euphorbias to get rid of the thorns to feed their hungry sheep,  and its has been recorded that the seep are so hungry they catch alight from eating the still burning euphorbias.....

Still think they are tropical?  

Love and light

Andre',

for those of us that are ignorant of South Africa's climate zones [ i.e. me ] what are you talking about zone 9 or 8 or 10 or other ?
I am afraid, I need either a winter low figure , celsius /centigrade is fine or some description - snow, frost, or other ?
Thanks in advance for your patience extended.

The elephant bush, gives no problems in a no chance of frost zone, but our upper temperature is just 33 deg.C [ say 90 to 93 deg.F for less than an hour during the day.back to low 70's by evening.]
Later.
Khaimraj [ IIIoyyoyyoyyo as Trinidadians say it    ]

* Checked google, no zones, just descriptions, that I can't link to.

I'm in Port Elizabeth and the spekboom grows like crazy here. PE falls in the transition zone between summer and winter rainfall, so we generally get rain whenever it feels like it! It is regarded as a mild weather area, i.e. cool summers and not so cold winters. The summer temperatures range from minimum of around 18 to maximum of 30 deg C and winter 4 to 18 deg C. No snow or frost, however, we are known as the windy city for a reason, which can dessicate plants in shallow pots quite quickly.

I have the plant all over the garden and in pots of all shapes and sizes and only water them once a week (more if there is a strong wind) and not if we have rain. They definitely prefer to be abandoned :-)

If they grow in the shade or if they receive too much fertilizer or water, then the growth becomes lanky and long between internodes. Some people only water them when the leaves start to wrinkle (but I find that a bit cruel!)

I hope that helps a bit with understanding their natural environment and growth habit.

Some people eat the leaves in salad btw.

Marco Giai-Coletti wrote:  Some people only water them when the leaves start to wrinkle (but I find that a bit cruel!)
Some people eat the leaves in salad btw.

Thanks Marco-
Its funny, I licked my fingers once after pinching it and I thought it tasted ok. I do allow the leaves to wrinkle from time to time.

Alain-
Thank you. The last time it was repotted, the trees dimensions were right for the pot! lol.

Andre-
All I meant by tropical was that I bring it inside when it drops below freezing outside.

-Preston

Artist:Cristian de Ross from Caxias do Sul, RS. Brazil...
https://www.facebook.com/cristian.deross/media_set?set=a.273675095980078.83813.100000127689577&type=3

Whoops, bad manners,

Marco, apologies for not saying thank you.
Wow, everyone grows great trees, save me.
Thanks for the new images.
Later.
Khaimraj

tmmason10 wrote:
I am interested in seeing this cork bark variety lennard.

The cork bark variety - still nothing as bonsai yet!


Three varieties of the "normal" Portulacaria afra:



The middle one is the same as in the Addo Elephant Park.

Where the others originate from, I don't know.

Lennard

Lennard

Your fat leave variety, isnt it just the yellow leave form?   It grows naturally in Garcia pass near Riversdale, Western Cape.

Where did you find the Cork bark variety?

Luciano your tree is awesome..

Marco, Im the one who eats shoots and leaves.    

Love and light

Khaimraj Seepersad wrote:Andre',

for those of us that are ignorant of South Africa's climate zones [ i.e. me ] what are you talking about zone 9 or 8 or 10 or other ?
I am afraid, I need either a winter low figure , celsius /centigrade is fine or some description - snow, frost, or other ?
Thanks in advance for your patience extended.

Pick your temperature, and you will find it somewhere in the country...  South Africa is vast, Im not about to give a lesson in geography and weather patterns....I do have a business to run you know..  

Lennard lives in a Summer rainfall with frost
I live in Winter rainfall with not frost, snow on the mountain peaks in winter.
Marco lives in the transitional phase with frost on grassy open areas.
Neli lives in Zambia......that has nothing to do with RSA....
I know of some people who lives in the deserts too....no rain. Very sad lives. To awful.

Love and light