Brazilian Pepper (Schinus terebinthifolius) - Moyogi

This one was in my gramma's backyard. Here we call it Aroeira.

This picture is from september/2008


This one is from october/2008


This one is from today 03/25/09. Even though it ain't the right time here for repoting, i've decided to pot it. This species is quite rustic, and there where no root pruning, so i think she'll do just fine.

That's a good start. Can your tree keep it branches? The ones I've tried in Florida have had a tendency for the branches to die and new shoots take their place - not good when you've worked the branch. As a result I no longer try to make bonsai out of them. I just pull them out of the ground and throw them away.

PS In Florida we call it Brazilian Pepper and its now considered an invasive species as the seeds go every where and then the trees displace native flora. I've only seen a couple made into bonsai and none too well. There is a decent bonsai of this at the US National Arboretum in Washington DC made from a specimen that came from Hawaii. Do you have any photos of a good bonsai made from this species.

Well Rob, as for the branches, during al this time that i've worked with teh species (i've got other two from seed) i've only lost one or two branches...
When they are more mature (thicker) is quite hard no to sprout. The new ones die more easilly. The key is not remove all of the leaves, even though i've done it a few times. Another good hint is not to water to often, so the leaves don't grow too much.

Here where i live is quite easy to find it. The birds love the seeds, therefore, it grows like weed...

Just a short note to add to the comments about the Brazilian Pepper. I had this specimen in a wooden planter next to my pool for 30+ years and 15 years ago when I started my bonsai pursuits I retrieved the half dead tree from its planter and with only one branch left alive it finally grew a new top. These trees are not normally used as bonsai material but are very common street trees in So.California. They put out red berries in Nov-Dec so in Hawaii they re referred to as the "Christmas" berry tree. I have not found it to be fussy and is easy to care for but not easily made to bud back on older branches.
Gary Lai

glai wrote:Just a short note to add to the comments about the Brazilian Pepper. I had this specimen in a wooden planter next to my pool for 30+ years and 15 years ago when I started my bonsai pursuits I retrieved the half dead tree from its planter and with only one branch left alive it finally grew a new top. These trees are not normally used as bonsai material but are very common street trees in So.California. They put out red berries in Nov-Dec so in Hawaii they re referred to as the "Christmas" berry tree. I have not found it to be fussy and is easy to care for but not easily made to bud back on older branches.
Gary Lai

Gary, your tree looks great.
The leaves look a bit different than the variety we have in Florida. Ours looks much like the one posted by frk_leal.
Hmm, maybe I should dig up a couple from behind my yard and give them a go again.

Hi Rob,
Thanks for the comments. Someone once said to me..."if you have a choice of being good or lucky, take lucky anyday!".....so I guess I was lucky as the tree just wanted to turn out this way. I showed this several weeks ago at the Huntington Library's "Bonsai-A-Thon" event and several viewers told me they had never seen this species in a bonsai display before. The real attribute for this tree is the bark on old trees gets gnarly and craggy but the branches tend to go in all directions. It was a real treat for me to have John Naka critique this tree at a Kofu Kai meeting many years ago shortly before he passed away. At that time of the year it was full of flowers but no berries. My tree has never had berries, only flowers.
Gary Lai

Updating...
There's no significant changes...

Hello everyone.
After 7 years here is the updates on this three.
It has been forgotten all over on my mom's backyard for about 5 years, meanwhile, my mom's gardener did some unintended hard prune that cause a major part of the trunk to die back, therefore the extensive new shari.

These are from November, 2015, when I collected it. Notice the dead wood from the "accidental" prune.



And these are from July.




As soon as possible I'll update the post with new photos.