Holly Bonsai Tree
Gathering up holly branches to decorate your front doorway this holiday season and for many years to come could be a lot easier, if you have holly bonsai trees growing by your front entranceway. A holly tree with leaves with sharp edges can be planted in the ground or you can grow it in a tall container.
The dwarf holly bonsai tree pictured here is thrives in full sun or partial shade and must be kept outdoors. This holly specimen is approximately 15 years old, 13 inches across by 8 inches and 16 inches tall. Although if you grow this evergreen tree in a pot you could bring it in at Christmas time for short periods of time.
If you would like to see other trees that you could use go to this page on small evergreen trees.
Small Trees For Patio Area
Many home and garden landscape magazines show you all kinds of different trees and shrubs that you can plant along the edges of your patio. But did you know the best small trees for a patio area are japanese bonsai trees.
Your choices in a small ornamental tree for the patio area is between a deciduous or an evergreen tree. Deciduous trees are best if you enjoy seeing the leaves turn color in the autumn months. If your patio gets a lot of shade then an evergreen may be best for you.
If you don’t want your patio container tree to be over 2 feet in height then outdoor bonsai trees are the perfect choice, some varieties do flower and produce fruit. These are not dwarf trees but full grown trees that are easily trained in a bonsai style. As with any small patio tree grown on a deck it still must get a bit if direct sun to grow properly. Read more
Bald Cypress Bonsai Tree
If you are from Florida or Louisiana and miss being home, grow a bald cypress bonsai tree as a reminder of your home state. These bonsai trees make great gifts for people that have recently moved away.
Here you have two choices of cypress bonsai trees Read more
Japenese Bonsai Tree Care
Now that you have had your bonsai tree for awhile its time to clean it up and have it looking its best. Spring is a good time to do this in the cooler climates or if you are in the southern states where it is warm all the time you can follow this procedure anytime.
Preparing your bonsai to display as a specimen of a healthy tree.
There are a few simple steps to follow in order to have your bonsai tree looking its best. First lets clean up the soil and roots.
- 1. remove a very shallow section of the top soil and old moss without hurting the roots.
- 2.Cut any old dead roots or thin crossing roots that are lying on top of other roots. You can either cut them off or what is best try to reset them straight into the soil.
First take away any debris, weeds or moss that has grown there. If their are weeds growing and they seem to go down fairly far you can use a thin stick like a chop stick to carefully loosen the soil around it and then pull them out so you don’t damage the small tree roots. If there is a hole left, fill it in with more bonsai soil mix. Replave the top part of the soil, only about a 1/2 to 1 inch depth with a grit, like very coarse sand. An alternative to this which I like best is to remove about an inch of soil and replace it with the same type of soil mix that your bonsai tree is growing in. Brush the excess soil away from the trunk area.
To clean the trunk I like to use a small soft wire brush. After this many growers like to cover the soil of outdoor bonsai trees with moss, to emulate small grassy mounds. Just remember to remove it in the winter months because it can hide pests. In the spring you need to keep an eye on it because birds like to take it to build nests.
Your pots that the tree is growing in is the next part that needs to be taken care of. A dirty bonsai pot looks untidy and takes away from the whole look of the tree. Wipe the pot down with a damp cloth removing dust and dirt. Apply a thin coat of olive oil or vegatabel oil to the pot with a brush being careful not to get any on the tree or into the soil. This will give your tree a neat shiny polished look.
If your outdoor or indoor bonsai tree is older you may want to re-pot it in a nicer bonsai pot and add a new soil mix with fertilizer. I never change the entire potting mix, I like to remove only 2/3 thirds of it so that the tree doesn’t think it is being replanted and go into a temporary shock.
If you need more Soil mix go here.
If you would like to see other pots that are available go here.
outdoor bonsai shrub
Small ornamental bonsai shrubs you can use as a specimen tree on your patio or in the garden by your front door.
This outdoor bonsai shrub is a flowering jasmine, the color is yellow.
Price is 49.95 – more details and shipping information here
This is a true small jasmine shrub growing only 12″ tall. Native to NW India and the Himalayas. It has very nice gold/green tiny leaves. The blooms appear very thick during late winter and into spring with yellow 1/2″ flowers that contrast with the bright green branches. This bonsai is a rare deciduous tree and needs to be kept outdoors.
Next up is another favorite outdoor bonsai tree, bothe of these shrubs are classified as a flowering bonsai tree.
More details here
Winter Jasmine is native to western China and has been cultivated in the West since the mid 1800’s. It has bright, glossy, green pinnate leaves divided into 3 oblong leaflets. We grow this winter hardy, vine-like shrub into tree form. Before the foliage appears this flowering beauty bears 1″ bright yellow blooms at the base of its stems and slowly blooms up the stems. By late winter it flowers at the tips of the stems. Branches will root and produce new plants where trailing branches touch moist soil.
One of the more popular outdoor bonsai shrubs is a forsythia it also happens to be a one of a kind bonsai tree. This outdoor bonsai is an early flowering deciduous shrub which we have grown into tree form. Flowers profusely in early spring before the leaves appear. The flowers are 1″-2″ and are bright golden yellow, bell shaped with 4 narrow petals in groups of 1-3 at each node along the branch. Oval serrated green leaves appear once the flowers have opened.
- You can get more deatails of this bonsai at the nursery here.
It is 12 years old and potted in an 8″ blue rectangle container.
