I was wondering if anyone has bonsai plumerias. I have a few seedlings, and would like to experiment. Please post your pictures and give a few tips on how to go about it.
By the way, do not refer me to the Bonsai forum. I have already sent a message regarding my ivy plants, with no response whatsoever.
Many thanks!
Are Plumerias good bonsai subjects?
Typically, no, plumerias are not good Bonsai candidates in the traditional sense of Bonsai. They are tropical trees and want to be up to 30 feet tall. You could stunt their growth, I suppose, and keep root pruning and re-planting though for a few years. If you are just looking for one that will stay small, a Dwarf is probably what you are after.
Thank you, Clare! What a beautiful specimen!
How about this one!
for the love of plumeria don't do it!!!
Dete, this one is for you! LOL.
kukiat - my address is... LOL
i must admit it is cute. just feels like i would be caging a lion, with a magestic mane, that should be roaming the serengeti in a pride.
LOL, Kukiat! Don't tell me that is a Bonsai, or is it dwarf? It figures that the Thai growers would lead the way here too! I agree with Dete that it is very cute, but I always feel like that is wrong to do to a tree too -- Bonsai that is. I bet the flowers would be teeny tiny.
Clare, these are over three years old plumerias and they are more than dwarves. Most Singapore white seedlings are dwarves and grow extremely slow (too slow for me). It seems that some do not want to grow at all. These two pictures were taken from a plumeria contest in Thailand.
This message was edited Aug 20, 2007 1:29 AM
Clare,
Is that your tree? If so it is beautiful... I only wish...
Susan
Hi Kukiat! They are very interesting. These are Singapore White seedings then? I have a Dwarf Singapore White grafted cultivar, and it has probably grown less than an inch in the two or more years that I've had it. It is a ridiculously slow grower.
i just discovered that i have a slow grower, too. not even the arizona heat can drive this plumeria. it's on its own internal clock and will not budge! i don't dare cut any more branches off it. i think it would take the intire growing season to bud at the cut. this is also the same plumeria that didn't LEAF OUT until JUNE and it wasn't even affected by the cold like the later starters in socal. it's just slow!
dete
Dete, which cultivar is it? A named one? I had a red that was bare until just about a week ago, but it was affected by the cold.
clare - it's the one with the protruding leaf scars that's almost pencil thin on the new branches. i had it on the heat mat all winter and into springtime. wet tips for months but no leafing. leaves came in june with an inflo. kathy has a cutting of it that i broke off last summer. i had been rooting it up until springtime and it still didn't have much of a root system even though it was on the heat mat all year.
for some reason this is a fun one to me!
LOL, Dete. I have a 'San Germain' like that. It is rooted but barely. I started rooting it from a cutting over two years ago. It is very slow.
two years ago! c ya!!!
There are a couple of times that I pulled it out to see what was happening with the roots, and I was going to graft it, but the base is well-rooted, but the roots are very shallow. I can only attribute this to being a slow grower, and it might have had some root rot over the winter that scaled back the roots a bit. 'San Germain' is said to have one of the best fragrances so its a keeper.