Paperbark for bonsai?

[dboeren]

Are there any paperbark or similar looking species that are suitable for bonsai and that will grow in zone 7b (North Georgia)?

Our neighborhood has several trees which I believe are paperbark birches and they look really cool so I was wondering if it's possible to reproduce that look in miniature and how old the trees would have to be for the bark to start peeling like that.

 

[edprocoat]

dboern, I do not know but have wondered about this. I have seen them in clumps of 3-5 trunks about 7-8 feet tall at big box store nurseries with the bark starting to peel and they look nice. I know a man who has them growing and when he cuts a trunk off it suckers a new one out and sheds the trimmed branch. I have wondered if the most strong trunk was kept, and chopped and the others cut off flush and new suckers removed as they appeared if it would sprout from the trunk. The ones I see are usually about $49.99 and that's too much to spend on an experiment.

ed

 

[bonsaiBlake]

I think the biggest problem with using birtch species for bonsai is being a pioneer species they are not very long lived, generally less than 100yrs. I'd say go for it though. Just cause you wont be able to pass it down doesnt mean you can make a sweet treee.

 

[dboeren]

I think the biggest problem with using birtch species for bonsai is being a pioneer species they are not very long lived, generally less than 100yrs. I'd say go for it though. Just cause you wont be able to pass it down doesnt mean you can make a sweet treee.

If my biggest problem is that *as a beginner* I might actually create a tree worth tending for 100 years and someday one of my descendants might think to himself "gee, what a selfish jerk great great granddad was for choosing this species" then I think I can handle that

Anyway, the beginner class I signed up for is tomorrow so I'll bounce it off the instructor there too. No reason to make any decisions now when I'll have access to a lot more information tomorrow.

 

[bonsaiBlake]

Also birches and other pioneers such as alders and some species of aspen, will have random branch die back over the winter. Losing a crucial design branch from one season to the next can set you back aways. Again doesn't mean you wont learn something from throwing one in a pot and seeing what happens. Let us know what happens. . .

 

[Alain]

According to Heritage seedling's catalog the paperback maple is good for bonsai (Acer griseum).
It's suitable for zones 5 to 8

i find them pretty cool too and would love to purchase some barefoot seedlings from them to make a forest unfortunately the minimum order to this nursery is $500, which makes a bunch of trees, and way too much money for me