what is the most difficult to kill species for bonsai in general?

Leo in N E Illinois

The Professor
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Been doing bonsai to some degree or another since I was 15 or 16 yrs old. I'm 65 now. Only been serious since maybe 2002 or 2004. At any rate, I have killed at least one of everything I have tried. The goal is to learn consistent care. When care is consistent and within range of what the tree will tolerate, you can have a nice long lived tree. I kept a pomegranate going for 39 years, started with a cutting. Left it out too late into the autumn, and a hard freeze killed the roots. It took a year to die, but die it did.
Note to self: Pomegranates do fine down to around +25 F or - 4 C, for short periods of time. They possibly can tolerate colder, it was 12 hours of +19 F, or - 7 C that killed it. Key was during this time the roots froze to the ambient 19 F. I found I don't have to worry if the night time temps are 25 F and above. Oh well. Stuff happens.

Basically, I have killed some really tough, resilient trees. That is no honor. To anyone asking though, I will suggest Amur maple, and any of the locally native maples. I have Ulmus rubra, Slippery Elm, and Ulmus pumila, Siberian Elm and also American elm, and find them near indestructible. The Chinese elm is pretty hardy too. I winter my lace bark trunk Chinese elm on the ground outside right now.

Bittersweet, Celastrus is another I have found pretty durable. Got left on a shelf, did not get set on the ground, yet leafed out as normal in spring. Not sure which species I have, given where I found it, it is probably the non-native, invasive species rather than the North American native species.

I've had bald cypress and Dawn Redwood. Of the two Dawn Redwood is faster growing and more winter hardy in my area. Both are "easy", but for indestructability, you can't beat dawn redwood, Metasequoia.

I have a number of azaleas, and since the passing to the great compost heap of my pomegranate and oldest JBP, an azalea is my longest in my care tree at the moment. But I have killed a lot of azalea too. They are good reliable performers if you keep your care of them "inside the lines". So seriously they are a good one to learn to master, they have specific requirements that are different than a juniper or an elm, but once you figure out what the narrower range is, if you can be consistent, they respond very reliably.

Hinoki, Thuja, and Pinus banksiana are proving to be better adapted for bonsai cultivation in my care than I had previously thought.

So pick your target, and take a deep dive into the range of conditions it will tolerate.
 

RKatzin

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Like Leo, I haven't found anything I can't kill with the proper neglect or over indulgence. My concern is what's the hardest tree to keep alive? For me it's been collected Pacific yew. Zip for Rick so far! I do have a small whip I collected a few years ago and though it's going strong, it ain't what I call rock and roll! I have some things figgered and I'm having another go at it this spring. They've been my nemesis, just can't seem to keep one going.
 

Arlithrien

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What soil do they like?
and any more info on the species.
In my experience, the firebush although not a common bonsai plant is near impossible to kill.

I trunk chopped it with a machete, ripped it out of the ground, cut off a lot of the root system and put it in a shallow pot of low quality dirt from my yard. Not only did it survive but the severed roots still in the ground threw up shoots of their own.
 

Ngidm

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I have a Portulacaria afra that I have tried to kill for the last fifteen years. Grown from a pencil-sized cutting. Seems like every few years I try a new attack: over-pruning, re-potting multiple times in a year (I was young and had too many cool pots), abject neglect for years, low light, four cross-country moves, and any number of other insults. It just keeps giving. I've taken many, many, many cuttings (which are impressively bulletproof to strike, btw.), and pruned in a manner akin to a tasmanian devil's eating habit. I'm pretty sure you could pour a cup of soil on your windowsill, mix it with salt, and it would grow on nothing but insults and angry glares. Smile at the thing and it shines. Fast grower gives strong positive feedback if you do ANYTHING right.

Portulacaria afra. As impossible to kill as a bonsai get. And easy to get.

--N
 

vp999

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In my personal experience and I've only been in the hobby for about 3 years, Korean hornbeam is the toughest for me. When I first starting out I bought some pre bonsai KH in the hottest part of summer and pulled the tree out of the nursery can, trimmed the roots to fit in a small bonsai pot without doing any care research and the tree lived. Last fall.. I bought some KH to make a forest and one of them only have 1 root left and it survived also.
 

Carol 83

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I have a Portulacaria afra that I have tried to kill for the last fifteen years. Grown from a pencil-sized cutting. Seems like every few years I try a new attack: over-pruning, re-potting multiple times in a year (I was young and had too many cool pots), abject neglect for years, low light, four cross-country moves, and any number of other insults. It just keeps giving. I've taken many, many, many cuttings (which are impressively bulletproof to strike, btw.), and pruned in a manner akin to a tasmanian devil's eating habit. I'm pretty sure you could pour a cup of soil on your windowsill, mix it with salt, and it would grow on nothing but insults and angry glares. Smile at the thing and it shines. Fast grower gives strong positive feedback if you do ANYTHING right.

Portulacaria afra. As impossible to kill as a bonsai get. And easy to get.

--N
I agree. Just wondering what is West Central IL. What towns are you near?
 

bluone23

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Japanese Quince - did not receive water for almost 2 weeks in summer.
In early autumn it bounced back
 
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Privet. It'll grow anywhere in anything
Oddly, this is the only species that I cannot keep alive.
They slowly die, one branch at a time over the course of several years. I am clueless as to why I am the only person on the planet that cannot keep a privet alive.
 

just.wing.it

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Portulacaria afra. As impossible to kill as a bonsai get. And easy to get.
There it is!
Took till page 3 to get there, but yes. P afra is by far the "hardest to kill".
I took a cutting last year, it accidentally rolled off the bench and I literally trampled it flat, I was absolutely sure that it was dead, it was crushed flat.....but I put in a small pot of turface, and it's alive and strong today. It took about 4 months to look like anything other than a squished cutting.

P. Afra laughs in the face of death.
 

Arnold

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Probably one of the hardest to kill are Ficus retusa, Ulmus are pretty tough also, Cupressus sempervirens and Juniperus x pfitzeriana in the conifers are very hardy also
 

canoeguide

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P. afra is the perfect gift for friends or family that express interest in your bonsai, but don't have much time, knowledge, or skill. They're easier to care for than most houseplants. When you visit, give it a trim for them.
 
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Siberian elm seem to take a lot of abuse… l imagine any invasive plant would be a candidate.
 
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