False Azalea/Fool's Huckleberry (Menziesia ferruginea, a PNW Native) Bonsai?

[Thomas Mitchell]

Does anyone know of successful efforts to use Menziesia as bonsai/penjing?

I've decided to focus my bonsai efforts going forward on plants native to my area and this is one I find intriguing in addition the vine maples and the normal firs, spruces and hemlocks. I have some acreage on the Olympic Peninsula that has a lot of Menziesia seedlings. They usually grow out of mossy nurse logs and have a thin trunked graceful habit. I'm thinking of some non-traditional, literati influenced styling.

Menziesia ferruginea

False Azalea Habitat: Shady to open coniferous woods with acid humus, moist slopes, and streambanks, from middle to subalpine elevations. Bloom time: Spring. Range: Alaska to California east to the R

www.wnps.org

A few samples from the yard below.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Not I. Interesting choice.

You may be he first to choose this shade and moisture loving ericacae in a bonsai attempt!

I can recall when hiking we tried to avaiod these bushes as they gave off a noxious smell when we brushed against it.

Good luck

cheers
DSD sends