Flowering Bonsai?

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Chumono
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Thought I'd post a pic of these spring blooms.

Dave
 

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Mikee002

Mame
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A. rubrum of course.

How do you find A. rubrum works out for bonsai? I hear conflicting opinions regarding them as bonsai material. I'm in S. Fla and it's actually native to here, so it would be a logical choice.
 

jk_lewis

Masterpiece
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A rubrum is bonsaiable, but not easily. In North Florida there is a variety with very small (1.5-inch) leaves, and it is more suitable than the ones that grow around here (3 inches). I find, however, that developing close internode spacing and ramification is almost impossible. They would have to be large bonsai.
 

rockm

Spuds Moyogi
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I'd agree with Jim. The North Fla. subspecies is A. Rubrum "drummondii" and works a lot better than the main species.

I've run across some pretty interesting A. rubrum trunks, but they're not easy at all to handle as bonsai --- extremely long leaf internodes, stiff, upright growth habits and leaf size are all issues that ultimately made me give up on the species. It's too much of a headache and I've got more easygoing species to devote time to...:D
 

Mikee002

Mame
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I'd agree with Jim. The North Fla. subspecies is A. Rubrum "drummondii" and works a lot better than the main species.

I've run across some pretty interesting A. rubrum trunks, but they're not easy at all to handle as bonsai --- extremely long leaf internodes, stiff, upright growth habits and leaf size are all issues that ultimately made me give up on the species. It's too much of a headache and I've got more easygoing species to devote time to...:D

All great info, Thanks.
 

Bill S

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Jim Lewis has an article at Brents -Evergreen Garden works re. the red maple, check it out, he goes into depth. But being from Fla., it's probably based on the Fla. version of the tree, but I'd bet it works somewhat for the std. version.
 

Mikee002

Mame
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Jim Lewis has an article at Brents -Evergreen Garden works re. the red maple, check it out, he goes into depth. But being from Fla., it's probably based on the Fla. version of the tree, but I'd bet it works somewhat for the std. version.

I have that one bookmarked and have read it many times. Brent and the Evergreen Garden Works "articles" are a wealth of great info.
 
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