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My father in law taught me there are three things a bonsai needs in order to be happy: sunlight, water and wind. The problem with keeping a bonsai indoors is that it suffers when it comes to those three things.
Peoples perception of bonsai are skewed because of the media where they see film or pictures of bonsai inside. Bonsai can be displayed inside, but ...
11
That is a type of jade plant.
I want to preface my advice by saying that bonsai die, it's what they do best and if you want your plant to look like a bonsai you are going to need to prune it hard which may kill your plant.
If it were my personal plant, I would cut that thing right down so that each branch only had an inch still remaining so that I would ...
11
Looks like an elm of some kind. I am unsure of the specific variety, but I will say that Zelkova serrata (white bark Chinese elm) is a popular bonsai species. I understand that some elms will behave as an evergreen indoors, but generally they will drop leaves in response to shortened daylight hours (I keep mine outdoors and they seem to drop leaves primarily ...
11
Sorry, but this is definitely not real. I'm including the best short article to explain why we see green, yellow, reds, sorta purples but not blue leaves. There is a plant that while the leaves are young produce a blue pigment (reflects blue light) to protect the new leaves from herbivores and there is ONE fern in the rain forest that is very blue. ...
10
Basic styles
Formal Upright Style (Chokkan)
Informal Upright (Moyogi)
Slant (Shakan)
Cascade - Kengai
Windswept - Fukinagashi
Raft Style - Ikadabuki
Forest Bonsai - Yose-ue
Broom Style - Hokidachi
Unique Bonsai Styles
At first glance, many bonsai styles can be identified by the basic
descriptions.
They may also be combinations of shapes, ...
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Here is a good picture list of Bonsai styles:
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My first reflex was Crassula ovata, aka. jade plant or money tree, but after taking a closer look, I now id it as Portulacaria afra, the dwarf jade plant.
Both are succulent plants from southern Africa, looking quite similar on a first glance and both are popular bonsai plants. But the Crassula ovata has egg-shaped leaves , the Portulacaria afra more round ...
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The small sprouts, and the grass like cereal plant (which I can't identify 100%, but which does resemble Carex, not something you particularly want), are weeds because they're growing somewhere you don't want them. Remove them, your bonsai tree needs all the root room it can get, it will not appreciate having to share that tiny amount of soil with any other ...
9
My suggestion is to begin by finding a picture of a bonsai that you would like to copy. You should find one with the same type, size and structure as the one you have.
Regardless of the size of bonsai you have, the idea is to make it give the feeling of a tree in the wild. Just like art, it doesn't have to look exactly like a tree in the wild, it just has ...
9
They look far too thin and spindly, which probably means they are not getting enough light. If they are indoors, they are probably also too warm in a heated house, and watering "every day" seems much too frequent.
Remember these things are TREES. They can germinate and survive out of doors, in whatever conditions the climate throws at them. They don't ...
9
I am assuming that you are in the desert areas south of the Mogollon Rim. I suggest that you consult/contact the Phoenix Bonsai Society.
Bonsai is generally dominated by pines, but I think the extremely low daytime humidity might be too taxing for Japanese black pine (pinus thunbergii). However, I do know that Aleppo pines (pinus halepensis) can be grown ...
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From what I understand, ficus is a pretty hardy tree. The way a bonsai works is that people either collect a bonsai from the wild, grow one, find a nursery plant that will work (either a random nursery or specialty bonsai nursery), or you purchase/receive an already started bonsai.
They are put into bigger containers or even the ground to encourage growth, ...
9
Bonsai means a tree in a pot and, therefore, presumes a woody perennial. Remarkable, what you've done with basil. Since you've done this, you likely can 'bonsai it' by applying some basic principles.
Every plant grows, so there must be a technique to keep the canopy of foliage more or less constant. This means developing ramification: as your view moves ...
9
It looks like Ficus benjamina, though its hard to be sure of scale in terms of size of the leaves from the photo - image and info here https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ficus_benjamina. Your plant doesn't look like a bonsai, it just looks like a Ficus benjamina that's lost some of its leaves, but instructions as to how to make a bonsai from this plant can be ...
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Before anything else, if you really want to keep a bonsai alive, I highly, highly recommend you invest in a good book on bonsai care. Something you can reference any time to help you get a feel for the plant's needs.
It's a Juniper. These can be kept as bonsai for 100's of years. It's winter, and the plant is dormant. It needs cool temperatures (45 ...
8
What is cascade style and what are the basic steps involved?
Cascade style is where your tree trails down over the side of its pot. The overall most basic shape of a bonsai is a triangle, in order for your bonsai to maintain a nice shape you should be able to shape the tree around the idea of a triangle from the viewing side. The viewing side is the side of ...
8
Your Bonsai will grow bigger if it roots deeper and that appears to be happening. The good news is the Bonsai survived the cat! Bonsai will need pruning of roots at some point, so transferring is not as bad as you think.
You can do this carefully, and transfer the Bonsai back to a smaller pot. You might want to prune both the roots and the shoots.
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It appears much like a dwarf jade plant (Portulacaria afra); thick ovular leafs, segmented trunk and stems are all very jade-like. Portulacaria afra is a tropical plant that can and often is grown indoors. It can be propagated by simply breaking off a leaf and sticking it into damp soil. Crassula, known commonly as 'jade' tends to make thicker stems than the ...
8
The short answer is that they must be of the same species.
There are lots of practical problems making successful grafts, but putting these aside (i.e., assuming grafts are done by masters of the trade), the chances of success decline, the less closely related the plants to be grafted are.
Essentially, there are no problems within a species, such as ...
8
I usually identify ash trees in the forest first by the bark, then by checking for the oppositely arranged compound leaf and the friendly leaflet shape they usually have. Since this is a bonsai, it of course isn't going to show the same mature furrowed bark a forest ash would. That being said, that definitely looks like an ash leaf to me. In the one photo ...
7
There are a couple of things it could be. Usually dropping leaves en masse is an indication of a larger health problem. It's hard to tell with just a single picture, but based on my experience I think this is part of the standard annual cycle.
Weather has been crazy in recent years, but looking at my own yard fruit trees have started flowering etc. etc. so ...
7
If it’s a bonsai from some hardware store or something, I guess…
… it’s a Fukien tea bonsai, a relatively common plant species used in bonsai.
There’s various scientific synonyms for it, some of them are:
Carmona retusa
Carmona microphylla
Ehretia microphylla
It’s quite characteristic with its leaves’ glossy, spotted look:
Note that due ...
7
Unglazed terracotta is a porous material so water can pass through it, albeit slowly. This can be a very effective way of delivering water without drowning the plant. For bonsai, overwatering is quite easy, due to the limited water usage by the plant, and I would be tempted to stick with the setup as supplied unless you want to change it for some other ...
7
Looks like a Zelkova parvifolia, I have one myself too. There are many care guides, like here and here.
You should water it daily (if necessary), and the water should be able to flow thru the soil (no swamp in your pot). Best time to trim is in springtime or summer, I don't know where you live, where I live it is winter now. The long green shoots can be ...
6
The trees you mention, styled like bonsai but grown in the ground, are definitely NOT topiary. I believe you are looking for Niwaki (or Niwagi or Niwa-ki or Niwa-gi); this is the Japanese name for styled and dwarfed trees grown in open ground. Try Jake Hobson's book Niwaki: Pruning, Training and Shaping Trees the Japanese Way.
As an aside, there are several ...
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Oaks do take to bonsai. Two sources I've found are here and here.
Of course I also checked with a local bonsai expert to make sure that I would be able to do it "right" without hurting the 6 inch high self-started seedling. If I had been told I couldn't do it without killing it, I would have planted it at the edge of a neighbor's field - with permission, of ...
6
I dug an oak up 5 years ago and placed it in a gallon size container and have had much success keeping it at its original height (2 feet tall for 5 years). This spring I took it out of the one gallon container, trimmed 1/3 of the root ball off, and placed it in a larger 5 gallon container. One month later and we have leaves! Relieved that it took to the new ...
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A bit unconventional, but if you want something that will grow quickly, train well & produce beautiful flowers and fruit with proper care, you could try a chili plant. fatalii.net has some wonderful examples of chili plants trained like bonsai. Scroll down his page for info on growing & more photos.
Bolivian Rainbow Chili Bonsai
EDIT:
Results like ...
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I believe with ginkgo trees, leaf reduction is most commonly achieved through regular pruning in spring and autumn.
There are a few things to note however:
the leaves do not reduce by much, so they are naturally more suited to medium to large bonsai.
ginkgo trees don't heal well after pruning, so never cut flush to the trunk or concave. Leave a stub and ...
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You don't need to do anything besides your regular regimen for now. Just make sure it's well watered and fertilized. Either the other trees will come back or they won't. If they haven't show growth by the end of the summer, I'd either scrap the bark and see if there is any green or gently bend different parts of the tree and see if the flex or snap. If they ...
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