Prunus glandulosa

milehigh_7

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I was able to pick up 2 pink flowering almond (Prunus glandulosa) for aprox. $4.00 each. They have .75" trunks now so it will be a few years before they are ready but I think they were a pretty good deal at that price. They are blooming now and I thought you all might like to see the flowers.

BTW: Anyone else use this species for bonsai?
 

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thumblessprimate1

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I was able to pick up 2 pink flowering almond (Prunus glandulosa) for aprox. $4.00 each. They have .75" trunks now so it will be a few years before they are ready but I think they were a pretty good deal at that price. They are blooming now and I thought you all might like to see the flowers.

BTW: Anyone else use this species for bonsai?

I've been enjoying Walking Dead, so I hope no one minds that I revive this old thread. I just picked up one of these minutes ago. I think $4.00 is a great deal. I paid thrice that amount for mine.

Curious how yours is doing as I've never had one of these before. I could learn a lot from you. Mine looks to be a cutting with nice taper. Will post photos later.
 

onlyrey

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I found one at a garden center near my new home with about a 1" trunk. I couldn't help myself and bought it right away ($18). I wondered why having such small flowers they weren't popular for bonsai. So before doing any work on it, I did a google search and found two sites were they said that these "bushes" were short lived :mad: ...

One site said that they usually start declining after 10 years.
The other said that if you took good care of it, it could live 20 years.
Although, somebody here claims that they live much longer than that.

So, after devoting years to turn these beautiful trees into bonsai, it would just decay and die. The one 1" that I bought could be 3 or 4 years old, so if I dedicate to it 5 years, it would be presentable just about the time that it is due start "declining". If you guys can prove me wrong, please do.
 

Cadillactaste

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I have seen them sold as bonsai...on eBay. They bloom amazingly...I have one in the yard. Though it doesn't seem to have a thick trunk...and very weedy in branching. I bet one could achieve a cascade with this style. And just enjoy it for the time they have it.
 

onlyrey

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I also like the blooming and the scale of the flowers. I'll go fir a cascade; who knows, maybe the tree outlives me.
 

onlyrey

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Here's the flowering almond I talked about last year. It is in a temporary pot. I cutback and wired during spring last year and maintained it by pinching new buds through summer. I took the wiring this past winter and will rewire this spring. Going for some sort of semi-cascade.

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JoeR

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Nice you don't see almonds all that often. Very nice flowers. Like you said it may be the age thing.

Didn't I read an article about how bonsai can theoretically live forever? Not sure of it's accuracy obviously. Of course eventually something will cause it's demise granted but I still think you can greatly extend the trees lifespan, not sure though.

Have you thought about putting it in the ground like the senior members on here always say?
 

milehigh_7

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LOL well mine did good for a few years and I lost it in a famous Vegas Fall temperature spike. I lost about 50 that year. It was late September and the high temps had dropped reliably into the mid to low 90's for a few weeks. Then one day we spiked back up over 115F. I came home from work to potato chips for leaves and stems dried clear through. Most plants can handle the heat if they work up to it gradually but spikes are a killer.
 

M. Frary

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Double pink flowering almond. I bought a nice one a few years ago. The wife loved it. It lasted one winter. And part of the next in the ground here.
They do look like they would make a nice bonsai. Small leaves and small flowers. If a trunk of girth can be found.
 

defra

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This one still alive ?
I bought one costing me 1,50 € lol
Its small and young and will go into the ground for some years :)
 

Leo in N E Illinois

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Flowering almonds do not have a pre programed life span. In theory they can live hundreds of years.

However, they are fairly disease prone, and various fungal & bacterial rots often kill of trunks in less than ideal climates. In the ground, they replace dead trunks with new shoots from the roots. I've seen old ones in the landscape, they were mostly younger, less than one inch diameter trunks.

If you are good at keeping peaches disease free, they could make decent bonsai. You seldom see them as bonsai because few can keep them disease free.
 

defra

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Thnx leo very helpfull i planted one with a single trunk in the ground to grow out

I guess thats the reason why the branches get often get grafted on other trunks
 
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