The most disappointing species...

[Forsoothe!]

Different strokes for different people, yes, but sometimes we undertake what should be a good bonsai only to find that it won't work for us. For me it's been Cotoneaster. I've seen many nice ones of every size, and they have nice flowers, but for me they are nothing but trouble and failure with bull canes that grow too straight, need to be chopped back too regularly, wounds that don't heal right, and then they croak over winter.

 

[Hartinez]

Different strokes for different people, yes, but sometimes we undertake what should be a good bonsai only to find that it won't work for us. For me it's been Cotoneaster. I've seen many nice ones of every size, and they have nice flowers, but for me they are nothing but trouble and failure with bull canes that grow too straight, need to be chopped back too regularly, wounds that don't heal right, and then they croak over winter.

I keep trying cotoneaster myself, but the problem for me is always some type of fungus. Through the season the plant is great, great, then within 2 weeks time is completely decimated. You’d think i would learn my lesson but i keep trying like a complete psychopath.

 

[Mapleminx]

I’ve never tried cotoneaster and seeing posts like this makes me grateful I didn’t for the sake of my sanity

 

[Cadillactaste]

I had went back and forth...between that or pyracantha. I chose Pyracantha...and never regretted it.An easy species for myself anyways.

 

[Carol 83]

My nemesis is Parrot's Beak (Gmelina philippensis) I've tried them a couple of times. They do great outside during the summer, but seem to decline steadily once indoors for the winter.

 

[HorseloverFat]

Rhodies and I don’t “jive” well together.... might be PARTIALLY my climate...

I’ve got some deciduous seedlings going.. so we’ll see!

 

[QuantumSparky]

I had went back and forth...between that or pyracantha. I chose Pyracantha...and never regretted it.An easy species for myself anyways.
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I just discovered Pyracantha a few weeks ago when I was browsing a new corner of the nursery, and immediately fell in love! It must be the thorns that drew me to it but it also helps that literally all the options there had really nice trunks with plenty of movement. Now it's just a chopping game with mine, I'm doing the final rough cut in the spring and hoping for lots of budding!

 

[Mayank]

Different strokes for different people, yes, but sometimes we undertake what should be a good bonsai only to find that it won't work for us. For me it's been Cotoneaster. I've seen many nice ones of every size, and they have nice flowers, but for me they are nothing but trouble and failure with bull canes that grow too straight, need to be chopped back too regularly, wounds that don't heal right, and then they croak over winter.

Where do you keep it over winter? Outside with the rest of them? I put some of my "delicates" (Chinese elm, winged elm, possibly my Satsuki this year, etc) in the garage for winter. I get a larger box, line it with mulch and then place the pots on that and cover up to the trunk with more mulch and water off and on (more off than on...).
Are cotoneasters not hardy in MI?
Sorry for the questions. I don't know much about them...

 

[Berra]

JBP. In my climate, they typically don't get a second flush. Super long needles. Summer too short, not sunny enough. They typically cannot survive winter unless in unheated garage or similar, I don't have one. Or it's just me... Anyway, I will avoid JBP in the future

 

[BrianBay9]

I just discovered Pyracantha a few weeks ago when I was browsing a new corner of the nursery, and immediately fell in love! It must be the thorns that drew me to it but it also helps that literally all the options there had really nice trunks with plenty of movement. Now it's just a chopping game with mine, I'm doing the final rough cut in the spring and hoping for lots of budding!

Don't let those nice trunks with movement fool you. New growth will be ramrod straight and they break easily once lignified. Wire in all the movement you want while the new growth is green.

 

[Perplexody]

My nemesis is Parrot's Beak (Gmelina philippensis) I've tried them a couple of times. They do great outside during the summer, but seem to decline steadily once indoors for the winter.

This worries me as my favorite tree I own is my parrots beak but it's never been through a winter so I'm crossing my fingers that it makes it

 

[Paradox]

Boxwood for me. Every one I ever tried got leaf miners and the insecticides to deal with them are illegal for sale here

 

[coh]

I'm 0 for 2 with cotoneaster. One I think was lost because the pot didn't drain well, the other I'm not sure. It was nursery stock that I worked into a bonsai container this spring, it leafed out and looked fine but then just slowly died off. I just unpotted it the other day and there had been no root growth at all. May try one more but perhaps the universe is trying to tell me something.

Also have had trouble with sweetgum, they seem to lose branching for no apparent reason (at least the one I have) and don't ramify well. I had a beautiful double trunk with great bark in my growing bed. A few years ago the larger trunk started showing signs of trouble and the upper part of it died back. I dug it this spring and potted it but it never flushed out. Strange because I got a decent amount of root. Spent about 10 years growing that thing. Very disappointing.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

JBP for sure.
JBP sucks, simply put. Other people in my country seem to have no problems with them. In my yard they die faster than I can germinate them.

But then again, I treat my trees pretty Spartan. No protection at all. JBP is weak, needs to be handled with silk gloves. No thanks!

JRP beats it by miles.

 

[Forsoothe!]

Where do you keep it over winter? Outside with the rest of them? I put some of my "delicates" (Chinese elm, winged elm, possibly my Satsuki this year, etc) in the garage for winter. I get a larger box, line it with mulch and then place the pots on that and cover up to the trunk with more mulch and water off and on (more off than on...).
Are cotoneasters not hardy in MI?
Sorry for the questions. I don't know much about them...

I overwinter all hardy trees on the garden in full sun. Cotoneasters are hardy here, I just do poorly with them. Actually, I should amend that. I have an older one that was once Jack Wikle's that is a show tree...
My problem has been with several dwarfs I have had that were short-lived and had die-back every year until they died. (I'm transitioning to dwarfs in my old age).

 

[Wulfskaar]

Great topic! It's interesting to see people's

For me so far... My jacaranda looked like it was going to grow great until a Santa Ana wind event last fall. Dried and shriveled faster than I could deal with it, even with watering multiple times per day. I also have a Shishigashira maple that I can tell is going to need a lot of special love in order to make it to spring.

The trees that have worked (survived) for me well in Southern California (so far) are JBP , Coast Live Oak (obviously), Chinese Elm, Boxwood, Crape Myrtle, and Italian Stone Pine. Surprisingly, my Bristlecone Pines and Oriental Spruce are doing really well too.

I think sticking with trees that work well in your home climate makes life a lot easier for us and for the trees.

 

[Mikecheck123]

Back when I was in zone 10 I bought three bougainvilleas over the years and they all died inside of a year.

And I still don't know why. They're supposed to be tough!?

Wimps.

 

[Carol 83]

Back when I was in zone 10 I bought three bougainvilleas over the years and they all died inside of a year.

And I still don't know why. They're supposed to be tough!?

Wimps.

I have a few. They are pretty tolerant of everything except overwatering. Lesson learned.

 

[Mikecheck123]

I have a few. They are pretty tolerant of everything except overwatering. Lesson learned.

Guilty as charged.

 

[Esolin]

I gotta climb on the Cotoneaster-bashing bandwagon. I lost half of mine this summer to sudden fungal/heat(?) issues. I'm not buying any more. If/when the remaining ones die, that's it. Pyracantha do waaaay better so I'm sticking to those.