Types of Trees
Types of Trees for Bonsai: So Many!
You can use practically any shrub or tree for bonsai work. Bonsai experts usually recommend that you start with something other than pine. Instead, beginners should try to find a type of tree that is easy to work with.
The dwarf garden juniper is a highly-recommended first bonsai tree. These trees are easy to find and very affordable, plus you can work on them nearly any time and they prune very easily. Dwarf garden jumper cuttings root very well, which lets you start growing new trees even as you continue to work on the original.
Bonsai aficionados tend towards several other tree varieties for a number of reasons. Beech
Beech is great for bonsai work, and various species of beech can be found in temperate zones around the globe.
Southern beeches are much like their northern counterparts, except that southern beeches come in evergreen and deciduous varieties. You can handle southern and northern beeches much the same way, but remember that you need to avoid leaf trimming southern evergreen trees.
You don’t need to pamper your beeches, but if you want them to do better, try lime soil instead of peat-based compost.
Cedar
Like beeches, there are many varieties of cedar trees. It’s important to note that cedars have rather weak roots when they’re potted. Cedar roots are fleshy, not rigid, which makes them vulnerable to the cold; you’ll need to shelter your cedar to protect it.
Cedars, like other conifers, thrive in gritty, loose soil, so you should choose that kind of soil for cedar bonsai.
Cherry
Cherry trees are part of the Rosaceae family,one of the largest plant families in the world; aside from cherries, there are apples, pears, cotoneasters, quinces, raspberries and blackberries, true roses, and strawberries, plus everything in between.
Apricots, plum damsons, gages, and peaches are part of cherry’s subfamily Prunoideae (also called Amygdaloideae) and, like cherry trees, they’re all great for bonsai. Apricots – called ‘mume’ in Japan – flowers the earliest out of any cherry-related trees. For best results, you want to plant cherry-family seeds in autumn. They require cold winters in order to germinate properly. Cherry trees can grow from cuttings, but this is more difficult than with the dwarf garden jumpers. Cherry plants take anywhere from ten to fifteen years to begin flowering.
A good bit about cherry trees is that they don’t need any special attention. Make sure you prune your tree in mid-summer so your tree has enough time to develop flower buds for the upcoming year. If you let your tree bear fruit, it may drain the tree so thoroughly that it will die.
Elm
Elm trees are very forgiving; you can plant them successfully in a wide variety of soils and they’re readily available, as you can find native elms in most parts of the northern hemisphere.
The two most common elm species sold are zelcova and Chinese elm. Both species are great for bonsai, though Chinese elm is not quite as sturdy as zelcova; still, you should look for what sort of elm grows around you and work with that. Chinese elms is a particularly easy-to-use tree for bonsai work. In temperate areas it’s deciduous, but in sub-tropical and tropical areas it can keep its leaves throughout the year. Chinese elms are usually sold as indoor trees, but this is a misidentification.
Elms can be grown fairly easily from seed, but you won’t get quick results if you go the seed route.
Ginkgo
Like larch, dawn redwood, and swamp cypress, the maidenhair tree – better known as ginkgo biloba – is a deciduous conifer, so it does lose its leaves in the winter. Ginkgo was thought to be extinct for a long time as its existence was only discovered through fossilized leaves, but in the 1940s, living ginkgo biloba was found in China. Ginkgo trees are either male or female, so they reproduce sexually. Ginkgo is a great tree for bonsai, but it’s resistant to styling because of the way it grows, so you should just let it assume a natural shape. Usually, ginkgo will take the shape of a candle flame. They don’t respond well to being wired, so the preferred way to change the tree is to find a bud that points the way you want it and prune to it. Other than its styling, just treat it like a normal bonsai tree, since it doesn’t need special treatment for food or water. But, like cedars, ginkgo roots are soft so you’ll need to shelter them in the winter. Ginkgo’s new leaves tend to be very soft, so you should use tools or just pinch them out. Be forewarned, however: if you cut into old ginkgo wood it will heal very slowly.
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