Crape Myrtle - Razzle Dazzle

dbonsaiw

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I picked up this Crape Myrtle (Razzle Dazzle) yesterday at a steep discount. Loved the base, but hard to tell how the tree performed this season and if it's healthy. Thought it was nice enough to take a gamble. Spent a good part of the day yesterday removing moss and cleaning lichen off the entire tree.

It had a ton of exposed roots and I just threw some bonsai soil on top to cover it up a bit more.

I never worked with this species and need to read up. Plan is to repot into a grow box with better soil in the spring and reduce the size of the canopy. I'll get this guy into the mulch pile shortly and possibly give it some additional winter protection.
 

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dbonsaiw

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Trying to figure out what to do with this tree was somewhat frustrating, but an excellent learning experience. I looked at countless bonsai for inspiration and now have many more pics of trees on my phone than of my kids.

I still seem to change my mind almost daily, but believe the attached pic is a good direction for the tree. The proposed chops are also attached. Leader would be allowed to grow a bit to fatten things up and bottom left branches will get some wiring to set them in the right directions.

Otherwise, looking forward to getting this guy out of the mulch pile and into a grow box with bonsai soil.
 

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dbonsaiw

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Repotted and pruned back. I went to town on the roots, so I placed some sphagnum moss on top to keep those shallow roots moist.
 

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dbonsaiw

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Good morning crepe myrtle - about time.
 

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dbonsaiw

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Had to go out of town for 10 days and entrusted the trees to the wife - she did a great job and I came back to this.
 

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