City Sprite Zelkova and Allee Elm

[stu929]

I say I’m new as I’ve been lurking for some time but I haven’t gotten much experience until recently.

Additionally I was at a local nursery and saw they had a handful of trees in their reject pile due to some die off from frost damage from early 2022.

As a result I was able to pick up an Allee Elm, and American Hornbeam and a City Sprit Zelkova. Obviously the hornbeam can be a solid candidate for bonsai but I don’t know much about the other two. Given the size of the trees the price was far to good to pass up and at worst I got two trees to plant in the yard.

My hope is I can learn a little about air layering with this and then as they get even thicker do a chop and start to develop them from the ground up. As is all have pretty good sized trunks 2-3 inches across and plenty of material to try to layer off next year.

As it turns out they also have a Japanese snowbell, a okame cherry, an Akebono Cherry, an eastern redbud, tulip poplar and a few others for great prices but I have no experience with any of these so I just grabbed what I though would work well.

Any feedback is always appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Allee elm is the trade name for Ulmus parvifolia 'EmerII', it was cloned from a tree on U of G campus in Athens Georgia. In general all Ulmus parvifolia make decent Bonsai, this is a good choice.

Zelkova 'City Sprite' is a dwarf zelkova and should be a good choice for bonsai. Looks like its growth rate is fast enough to not cause problems. Some super slow growing dwarf species are a problem. Dwarf zelkova are fine.

And American hornbeam is always good.

3 solid choices. Are they grafted? If not, you may not need to air layer them unless they are too tall. The elm and the zelkova likely have been tissue cultured, meaning no graft scars. But if they were grafted, they should air layer easily.

The styrax, snowbell, is the best on the list of other possibilities. Cherries can be done, and done well, but can be problematic. There are a few skills to learn with cherries. Redbud and tulip poplar are generally viewed as very poor choices for bonsai.

I would suggest looking for a flowering crab apple to round out the collection.

 

[stu929]

Allee elm is the trade name for Ulmus parvifolia 'EmerII', it was cloned from a tree on U of G campus in Athens Georgia. In general all Ulmus parvifolia make decent Bonsai, this is a good choice.

Zelkova 'City Sprite' is a dwarf zelkova and should be a good choice for bonsai. Looks like its growth rate is fast enough to not cause problems. Some super slow growing dwarf species are a problem. Dwarf zelkova are fine.

And American hornbeam is always good.

3 solid choices. Are they grafted? If not, you may not need to air layer them unless they are too tall. The elm and the zelkova likely have been tissue cultured, meaning no graft scars. But if they were grafted, they should air layer easily.

The styrax, snowbell, is the best on the list of other possibilities. Cherries can be done, and done well, but can be problematic. There are a few skills to learn with cherries. Redbud and tulip poplar are generally viewed as very poor choices for bonsai.

I would suggest looking for a flowering crab apple to round out the collection.

Leo

These are all pretty big trees with lots of growth up top. No they aren’t grafted but I figured I could get a lot of usable material to keep me busy for a few years and then chop the trunk and start building that up next year or the following year. I’ll try to get some pictures up here shortly.

They didn’t have any crabapples when I looked but I will make sure to look again. I had two I planted outside my fence to fatten up and some critter ate the bark all the way around the they died. Was not very happy about that. Lost two crabapples and a cherry to what I’m guessing was a rabbit.

 

[stu929]

Allee elm is the trade name for Ulmus parvifolia 'EmerII', it was cloned from a tree on U of G campus in Athens Georgia. In general all Ulmus parvifolia make decent Bonsai, this is a good choice.

Zelkova 'City Sprite' is a dwarf zelkova and should be a good choice for bonsai. Looks like its growth rate is fast enough to not cause problems. Some super slow growing dwarf species are a problem. Dwarf zelkova are fine.

And American hornbeam is always good.

3 solid choices. Are they grafted? If not, you may not need to air layer them unless they are too tall. The elm and the zelkova likely have been tissue cultured, meaning no graft scars. But if they were grafted, they should air layer easily.

The styrax, snowbell, is the best on the list of other possibilities. Cherries can be done, and done well, but can be problematic. There are a few skills to learn with cherries. Redbud and tulip poplar are generally viewed as very poor choices for bonsai.

I would suggest looking for a flowering crab apple to round out the collection.

Oh I’ll make sure to grab the snowbell then as well

 

[stu929]

Hornbeam, slightly larger than the can.

 

[stu929]

Elm with peeling bark similar size to the can, maybe slightly larger.

 

[penumbra]

Okame Cherries are great trees.. Not the easiest to bonsai but worth it imo.

 

[stu929]

Zelcova, slightly larger but looks like it may in fact be a graft.

 

[stu929]

Okame Cherries are great trees.. Not the easiest to bonsai but worth it imo.

I can always go back. It would be 20 bucks for a mature tree. So lots of layering practice plus a large trunk to chop later.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

nice, you got some caliper there. You don't have to spend years trying to bulk up the diameters of your trunks.