Begonia 'Lacy Dregei'

Picture as soon as I get around to it. I'll ask if anyone has grown it, but I will probably get nothing.
I bought it at the MABS auction for no good reason, like the Podocarpus.   The display area was darkish, & it looked like an ordinary clump bonsai. At first close sight, I was disappointed and planned to sell it, but it grew on me. It is essentially a small 5 tree forest group growing on a lumpy potato. I Googled on pictures of begonia bonsai, but I found nothing appealing. This bonsai follows several of the classic rules. The leaves are small and mapleish. Common name for this group is maple leaf begonia. The flowers are in scale, hanging, blush white. 'Lacy Dregei' is classified as semi-tuberous, but I would call it a caudiciform succulent. It is a hybrid of B. dregei x an unknown, but the dregei is dominant. B. dregei is a very old species and has numerous offspring.
It doesn't have a single lignin fiber to bless itself with, no bark, only a thin brown potato skin.
What fascinates me is that the stems are arranged according to the book, each a different thickness, different height, and different distance apart, following one of the classic templates. There are a few branches. The largest trunk has a few swellings. It looks like a python that swallowed a series of rabbits.
It is in the wrong pot, but I wonder what the right pot for this concoction would be. I wired the trunks and there it is. Big question, is it a kosher bonsai?
Iris

Well, here's another one nobody has a comment on. Here is a picture. I wasn't watching my husband & this is what I consider the back, but you get the idea of the plant.
I was tweaking the wiring & #1 stem snapped right off. These non-woody succulents are very brittle. I stuck it right back with cut paste & I'm waiting to see what will happen.




I think it belongs in a shallow oval pot or tray with a pastel glaze.
Iris

Interesting and unusual species for bonsai. I agree with the new pot choice, particularly if it can be potted a bit deeper since I find the basal tuber to be a bit tall.

Here is a recent picture. Sorry for the poor quality.




According to Bill, it is not a kosher bonsai. I believe the technical term is gelegen leben bonsai (lit. living in the neighborhood). Same category as my pygmy date palm. I gave it the pet name of "Wimoweh," because B. dregei is from Africa.
Iris

PS. For size, the pot is 7." The tallest tree is about a foot (30 cm.).
Do you see the tiny (1/8") white button at the soil line? Anybody know what it is? It does not appear to be an insect or a disease. I thought the tree was planning to make another tuber, but nothing has changed for several weeks.
Iris

I like what you have done with this begonia. I have never seen one more attractive than this one. Very nicely done. This hybrid, or group of hybrid isn't seen very often anymore. It was around more a couple decades ago, I haven't seen it offered much recently.

I had one of these from about 1980 to about 1995 - then went through my collection and got rid of plants that were neither orchid, bonsai or bamboo. Since then have re-acquired a quite number of non-orchid, non-bonsai plants - can't help myself. But I never re-acquired one of the caudiciform begonias.

I grew my as a semi-arid growing shrub. It got water every week, but I allowed a day or two bone dry between watering. seemed fine with that. If I let it grow out I would occasionally get flowers, especially in spring and summer. But it would look pretty lanky if it grew out to flower. I was never happy with the swollen joints at the internodes.

They can look pretty nice if you stay on top of it. I used clip and grow, every attempt at wiring resulted in broken stems, so I used only clip and grow. Did your repair job take?

Are they bonsai - I suppose if you tell people its a kusamono - it is bonsai, or part of the bonsai art. It certainly can be an attractive house plant, and using bonsai techniques you can definitely keep it more attractive than it would normally be. As kusamono it can be exhibited as the focal point of a display. Though coming up with the right accents to make a 2 or 3 point display with this may take some thought. Using as an accent plant to accompany a larger tree is an option too, though again, I can't picture off the top of my head what species this would display well with.

Leo Schordje wrote:I like what you have done with this begonia.

Thank you. Actually I can't take a lot of credit. As you can see from the first picture, I am just refining the original composition.

Leo Schordje wrote:Did your repair job take?

No. The plant does not have the same mechanisms we are used to in woody plants. I should have rooted the broken stem as a cutting.
It's not really a kusamono at present, since there is only one plant. I may try a ground cover. I can pass it off as a bonsai in our local club show, but it remains to be seen what they think of it on Broadway.
Iris

As you can see, although I keep it trimmed, it blooms occasionally. The little blush-white flowers are attractive without being obtrusive.
Iris

This is a bonsai of B. dregei that was done by Harvey Carapella, a distinguished bonsaist from Rochester.
Used by permission.
Iris

I definitely call Harvey's plant a bonsai - no doubt about it, who cares if it has wood. It would not take much time for you to get yours into as nice a state as Harvey's. If you like growing the plant - go for it. Harvey definitely set the bar high.

I like your begonia very much, whether it fits a definition of bonsai or not.  Your picture inspired me to post a picture (hastily arranged, sorry) of my pachypodium lealii.

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Sorry, I forgot to mention that that pachypodium is about 15 inches tall and I bought it about 5 years ago when it was as big as my thumb.

Your pachypodium needs work, but definitely has possibilities.
Iris

Unfortunately, the begonia developed a fatal rot. Although I had it in a coarse mix, it was still overwatered (I assume). However, if I see anything similar again, I will try it, although it was difficult to train.
Iris