Advice on trees requested

[revericalm]

Hi all,

I'm getting back into bonsai after a few years, and am wondering what kind of trees I should look at getting. The last few I had bit the dust after about a week of 100+ temps. I live in western Nebraska, where summer weather is hot and dry. At its peak, it ranges in the upper 90s to 100s. Winter weather varies, though daytime temps in the 30s and 40s are mostly the norm. Nighttime lows are in the teens and 20s typically.

I have a closed-in front porch with a large, southern-exposure window with venetian blinds. I have been thinking I could use it for wintering trees, as it protects well from freezing. Occasionally the temperature out there will drop below freezing, but the warmth of the house generally keeps it pretty warm.

So, to sum up the weather here, I'd say it's usually pretty temperate in the winter, with occasional drops below freezing, snow, etc. In summer, it's extremely hot and dry. And windy. It's windy probably more often than not. 30-40 mph winds are not uncommon.

The trees I'm considering are: Italian cypress, dawn redwood, hinoki cypress, trident maple, shimpaku juniper, japanese maple, white and black pine, european olive. I'm also thinking about getting a few indoor trees (jade, boxwood, gardenia).

So I'm looking for some advice on which trees might do best where I live and tips on how to manage them in this climate. I'm also wondering if anyone has any advice on how to make the most of the front porch as a growing area. Any tips would be most welcome!

Eric

 

[revericalm]

P.S.

Also, could anyone advise me on whether any of the trees I mentioned could be grown successfully inside with the help of growing lights and utilizing the porch for wintering. Thanks!

 

[tmmason10]

I was going to suggest ficus microcarpa but then you said you would be wintering them on the porch, and they won't like the barely above freezing temps. Your porch sounds perfect for overwintering hardier trees, so I suggest Japanese maples. I've had some really good luck with them, though they will be thirsty if they aren't protected from those extreme temps in summer.

 

[revericalm]

Thanks, Tom. I have plenty of space, so growing indoors isn't a problem. I'm more concerned about the summertime heat, and whether my front porch might not be too warm at times in the winter. Do you think I could grow maples indoors and then move them to the porch in the fall?

 

[revericalm]

Maybe a better question for me to ask is what steps I would need to take to grow the trees I listed given my local climate, and if any have such particular needs or characteristics that would make them inadvisable to attempt to grow here.

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Hello Eric,



I wouldn't try to grow any of those trees indoors. None of them will survive indoors, and it takes years of indoor growing experience to make them somewhat live indoors. As Tom said, Ficus make great indoor plants, but Maples and others, not so much.

 

[fredtruck]

Dawn redwoods will work outside in those temperatures.