Making bonsai from Haleria lucida (Tree fuchsia)

I am trying to develop a bonsai from this tree, it looks as if it has great potential for this.

The base is already looking pretty good...4 years

I know it's been awhile, but I am curious to know how your tree is coming along? IMO I would have taken off the branch that goes straight up, it looks like it would make a semi-cascade Bonsai.

We moved since I took the pic, and unfortunately the tree did not make it.

Did you leave it or did it die??

Died, unfortunately it is very dry here, and he needed lots of water...we moved the plants over a 2 week peroid, 200km drive, 5 trips, and well as it goes, he did not get the attention needed.

You will find something else. Have you tried growing a Boabab tree in
a container. I have two in pots, and it is about time to bring them in as they can not
take winter and I sure do nt wish to lose them. They are very pretty little trees. I will try to
take a pic for you when the rain stops. I have them named from a friend I knew from
work. he went to Canada, I liked him very much. Diop & Thiop that is my trees name.
My name is Charleen

Rian here, I have a few Acacia's, boabab, Marula tree, and so on. Attached ficus tree..

Rhus burchelli (Karoo-kuni)....small tree or bush.

Rian, they are Beautiful. How old are they?
The roots are fabulous. You did a great job.
My boabab are not small trees as in Bonsai, they are at the taller height.
But I am still keeping them small, by keeping them in a smaller pot. have not trained roots yet either.
I love what you have done.
Charlen

I do not worry about all the "fuss" of bonsai...I love it and let the tree tell me. I do not really heve the time to spend with them so I just keep them going best I can. The Ficus is about 25 years I think, and the Rhus now about 5 years.

Rian, here is pic of my Boabab Trees.
This is third year for them. They are about two foot tall, I cut the center out,
there litte trucks are growing pretty good. I like my little
trees very much.
Charleen

Very nice! Growing strong as well. I will take some more photo's of some of the other bonsai I have and add them. They are all fairly young...but it is something to talk about...I am just doing some driver updates on the pc, about 900meg's worth and it takes bandwidth...so I will add them when I done with that.

This message was edited Oct 13, 2009 5:55 PM

I don't know too much about computors but I manage fairly well.
I will try to get you some pic of mine as well.

As promised, this is a leapard tree. Does not have thorns. They are all now getting leaves.

Heteromorpha trifoliata - Wild parsely tree (direct translation)

The tree is developing an interesting base, and the bark also makes horizontal rings, which is one of the nice things about this one.

This is a "blinkblaar wag-'n-bietjie", I will add the scientific later, meaning glossy leaf wait-a-minute (LOL), as it has thorn and it will snag you, causing you to stop in the field and untangle yourself, therefore the name!

Base is developing "interestingly", LOL.

Kei apple, Dovialis caffra, also getting new leaves. Fast grower.

Base starting to look nice, I think.

Acacia (Hook thorn - Haakdoring), he looked much better before we moved, but got a knock, so I'm leaving him to grow for now, because he has a nice base, we will see.

This is some kind of European tree, I do not know the name.

Rian, do you rearange the roots on the rocks. I love all the pictures.
Will send you pic of my Mimosa I dug up and planted this year.
It is a baby, I should be putting a label on them like yours.
Charleen

Yeah, I start with little rocks, lifting them, but with Acacia one needs to be carefull, they have long taproots, and when damaged they die. This is a coastal coral tree.

this Mimosa tree has leaves very similar to your Acacia trees.
Are they also called a Locust tree? Do they have little thorns
on them? My mimosa does'nt. I may try to lift it as you have done.
Charleen

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/adv_search.php?searcher%5Bcommon%5D=Locust+tree&searcher%5Bfamily%5D=&searcher%5Bgenus%5D=&searcher%5Bspecies%5D=&searcher%5Bcultivar%5D=&searcher%5Bhybridizer%5D=&searcher%5Bgrex%5D=&search_prefs%5Bblank_cultivar%5D=&search_prefs%5Bsort_by%5D=rating&images_prefs=both&Search=Search&searcher[common]=Locust

Checkout link above. There are a few locust trees. As far as I know, they are also called "false acacia" trees. I am NOT a specialist, but I think they grow pretty fast. I think I have one too, not sure which species though, but it grows nicely until it gets too much african sun and not enough water, then it wilts. I've tried to kill it a few times (lol), but it keeps coming back. I now give it filtered sun under another big garden tree with a few of the other ""Europeans"" and it seems to grow nicely. My Acacias are in full sun, the acers (maples), judas tree, ginkgo, and locust live under the big garden trees.



This message was edited Oct 16, 2009 3:57 PM

Have you ever noticed, that when you have something you really like you really have to fight to keep it alive;
whereas if you have something you don't care if it makes it or not. It will Survive!! Nature is really
amazing. I am sure you have lots of interesting plants to try to work with.

You are so correct....The tough ones are usually the rare ones as well.