Eric,
I purchased this tree when I had first only been hearing about crape myrtles being usable for bonsai. I happened to see some at a local landscape nursery while they were still leafless, and noticed that this one in particular had a much nicer trunk and Nebari than the others. At the time, I had not read much, if anything, about them at all, and was not aware that there was a dwarfed variety. I realize now that this tree may never amount to much more than a learning experience. Since I bought this tree, I have kept an eye out for a dwarf variety that has some potential, but so far have not seen anything that really caught my eye.
The growth certainly seems to be a bit coarse, especially the shoots emerging near the apex, but I had assumed that this was at least partly a result of several conditions. I have been fertilizing this tree heavily and it has plenty of room for root growth in the 5 gallon container since I repotted it this spring. I removed probably 2/3rds of the bottom of the root mass, and it is potted in pretty coarse soil. There also is hardly any ramification at this point. This tree may also serve to be a valuable lesson in reducing leaf size. I noticed that some of the smaller, weaker shoots near the base had leaves that hardened off at just over an inch. My hope was that by increasing ramification, reducing fertilization, smaller soil particle size and restricted root development in a smaller pot may keep leaf size to a tolerable minimum. What has been your experience?
Also, I understand that these trees bloom on the end of new growth, so I never really intended to let it bloom as it would spoil the eventual design anyway.