newbie here - coprosma kirkii advice wanted

Hello everyone im new here and would love to get into the art of bonsai any advice would be great also i have a 2 year old coprosma kirkii,
Any advice on what to do with it?
Thanks

Hmmm. I've never seen one as a bonsai. Google images comes up with lots of pictures, though not all of them are Coprosoma by any stretch of the imagination. They are a low-growing (1 foot) wide spreading (2+ feet) ground cover. Leaves are small enoough, so I can see no reason why they would not have bonsai potential.

I suspect the biggest problem will be getting a trunk that is large enough to provide the image of a mature tree. Yours is very thin (and very straight). It, incidentally, is one of the pictures of Crocosoma bonsai Google images brings up.

You might want to consider wiring it and putting a gentle bend in it. I have NO idea how brittle their wood is, however, so be careful it doesn't break.

Good luck.

ok thanks for your reply any other help would be great im not sure where to start

I'd be interested in where you got it. I should also imagine you wont find many of these in the UK as bonsai and I suspect the reason for that is that I'd doubt if it was hardy in the UK. If I am right in that, you would be doomed to a lifetime of keeping it indoors for a considerable part of the year. In short, you've started with a tree that no-one over here knows much about and probably won't be able to give you much advice on.

So, what to do? Keep your tree, put it in a bigger container, let it grow for a while and see what happens. In the meantime, get your bonsai understanding up to speed by reading up. THIS is a great start point, especially the two sections called Learning to Walk in Bonsai and Starting out with your first Bonsai. I'm not sure where in England you live, but there is bound to be a bonsai club near you. Go along to at least one meeting as you often gather a lot of information ina short space of time. And last, find a more accommodating tree to use as your first bonsai: British natives are good and I'd recommend Larch as they are easy to get hold of and relatively cheap.

But one last question: do you have a garden or patio as most bonsai are kept outdoors?

Hi Fiona not the best bonsai to start with then, We live in Norfolk and got it from a well known garden centre we also have a garden I'll have to look for an outdoor one
Thanks for your reply

Intresting post.

I also have a coprosma in my garden atm ...not a bonsai but I was thinking of starting one, either using this or with a new plant.
Mines the newer 'Pacific Sunset' var and quite uncommon here at the moment in the UK with stunning colour (almost looks like hot red wax has been dripped over the plant), and would look quit surreal as a bonsai (photos of mine bellow).



Hardyness? they claim its ok to -5deg but mines under a year old so I can't say if this is true yet, they seemed to love our poor summer thats all I can say mines now about 4 times the size of when I bought it.

I know in New Zealand and Austraila they are bonsai-ed quite offen and seem to have a good reputation, very hard to stress to the point of death and classed as a beginers bonsai even.
Heres a few webpages on them:
Coprosma bonsai
Nice one here
Full size windswept tree in the wild