Complete Noob but the bug has bitten

[Fluffyyyzzz]

Good day all,

I hope everyone is well.

Just a little back story, I recieved a Black Monkey Thorn Bonsai about 5 years ago from my friend and I loved the tree, but unfortunately I went away and didn't have anyone to look after it, I tried everything (dripper systems) to keep it alive while I was away, but alas it did not make it. Ever since then I've been quite afraid of getting another one and spent all my time growing roses and I'm loving it.

That is until recently...

A bought a tree on a whim, a Bougainvillea (pale purple in colour) in fact, and thought it would look great climbing behinded my roses on the wall and I'm almost positive it would of. Alas, I decided "what the hell" and bought a bonsai pot. That was 5 days ago and now I have two new trees (Juniper Skyrocket and Lemon Cypress) wired up and in "training" pots as they were both 1 meter and 70 cm tall.

Reason for this forum is I am obviously a complete novice (probably could tell by the tree selection) and wanted to see if maybe there were any suggestion about styling and what you think of what I have done. The idea is to take a bit away from the cypress and juniper but from what I read they don't back bud and have very fragile root systems and will get them in to bonsai pots slowly.

Bougainvillea : I've gone for a sweeping look. It looks a bit weird but want to try make it bushy at the top with a "sweep" to the left.

Juniper Skyrocket (More pale in colour) : honestly not sure, probably chose the wrong plant and the trunk splits into two. I tried separating all the branches to get a more open look. The issue with this is that it grows to the sky as constant wiring will need to be done.

Lemon Cypress (light green in colour) : sort of the same issue here from my resource, where there isn't a huge amount of information, is it advised to keep as much foliage on as possible and slowly bring it down. I also just tried to keep everything super open. Apparently they grow like wild fire.

Anyway, sort of a show and tell and maybe hopefully get some advise from all you wonderful people.

As much as I want to keep these plants alive and super healthy and beautiful they were all on special and I was to learn as much as I can about them before investing as a more traditional tree and making something spectacular.

Thank you for reading my super long thread

Much love from South Africa!

 

[SeanS]

Hello, welcome fellow South African

 

[Fluffyyyzzz]

Hello, welcome fellow South African

Awe! Sorry I needed to do this...

Had a look at you Instagram you have some wonderful trees.

 

[SeanS]

Awe! Sorry I needed to do this...

Had a look at you Instagram you have some wonderful trees.

Thanks for the kind words, doing my best to try to move SA bonsai forward

 

[awarrenj]

Having completed my first year with bonsai I will share my mistakes. near the beginning I focused on getting different species; well, that was good but I didn't pay enough attention to how the tree looked. So today I have several species of not so nice trees and wish I hadn't bought them.
I am in Ky and our winters during the next several months can be really cold. I friend told me I should not buy more trees until I had gone through a complete cycle of weather to see whether my arrangements for dealing with all weather conditions was good for the trees. (This may not be an issue for you in S. Africa.)
All to say, my enthusiasm for this hobby ran ahead of my knowledge. I could have saved some money by exercising a bit more patience and doing more research before buying a number of trees.
Hope my mistakes in some way may be helpful to you.

 

[Fluffyyyzzz]

Having completed my first year with bonsai I will share my mistakes. near the beginning I focused on getting different species; well, that was good but I didn't pay enough attention to how the tree looked. So today I have several species of not so nice trees and wish I hadn't bought them.
I am in Ky and our winters during the next several months can be really cold. I friend told me I should not buy more trees until I had gone through a complete cycle of weather to see whether my arrangements for dealing with all weather conditions was good for the trees. (This may not be an issue for you in S. Africa.)
All to say, my enthusiasm for this hobby ran ahead of my knowledge. I could have saved some money by exercising a bit more patience and doing more research before buying a number of trees.
Hope my mistakes in some way may be helpful to you.

I completely understand and agree with you and that is what I'm worried about now. I think you hit the nail on the head. The lemon and the skyrocket were in the moment buys but on clearance no more than 150 rand for both I guess that is around $8.

I just wish I read this before I went out today to be fair I just bought a tree that I've been looking for, for a while now the one that started the flame again. It's a Juniper procumbens Nana, I think they are stunning. This is the one I've done the most research on.

Luckily in South Africa the winters don't go much below -2 or -3. It can get colder but really and I'm in quite a hot area. Potentially need to worry about the heat in summers.

But I need to slow down now and get these one's to a point of really liking them and I'll start looking in to new ones... Maybe. Thank you so much for sharing that because is helps a lot and need to realise that slowing down and enjoying the process really isn't a bad thing at all.

 

[SeanS]

@Fluffyyyzzz where about in SA are you? I’m in JHB

 

[Srt8madness]

Could portulicaria afra and baobab thrive in your climate? Those are two great, fun species. I have experience with the first, have heard tell about the second

 

[SeanS]

Could portulicaria afra and baobab thrive in your climate? Those are two great, fun species. I have experience with the first, have heard tell about the second

@Srt8madness South Africa has very varied climate depending on where you live. My area (city of Johannesburg) has a temperate climate with summer highs of 30-36°C and winters dropping down to -2/-5°C as the extremes. I’m able to grow the same species you probably do.
South Africa isn’t all the image of “Africa” that you may have

 

[Fluffyyyzzz]

@Fluffyyyzzz where about in SA are you? I’m in JHB

I am in JHB as well.

 

[gooeytek]

Quality over quantity! I'm interested to see the progression of the Bougie.

 

[Bonsai Forest]

Good day all,

I hope everyone is well.

Just a little back story, I recieved a Black Monkey Thorn Bonsai about 5 years ago from my friend and I loved the tree, but unfortunately I went away and didn't have anyone to look after it, I tried everything (dripper systems) to keep it alive while I was away, but alas it did not make it. Ever since then I've been quite afraid of getting another one and spent all my time growing roses and I'm loving it.

That is until recently...

A bought a tree on a whim, a Bougainvillea (pale purple in colour) in fact, and thought it would look great climbing behinded my roses on the wall and I'm almost positive it would of. Alas, I decided "what the hell" and bought a bonsai pot. That was 5 days ago and now I have two new trees (Juniper Skyrocket and Lemon Cypress) wired up and in "training" pots as they were both 1 meter and 70 cm tall.

Reason for this forum is I am obviously a complete novice (probably could tell by the tree selection) and wanted to see if maybe there were any suggestion about styling and what you think of what I have done. The idea is to take a bit away from the cypress and juniper but from what I read they don't back bud and have very fragile root systems and will get them in to bonsai pots slowly.

Bougainvillea : I've gone for a sweeping look. It looks a bit weird but want to try make it bushy at the top with a "sweep" to the left.

Juniper Skyrocket (More pale in colour) : honestly not sure, probably chose the wrong plant and the trunk splits into two. I tried separating all the branches to get a more open look. The issue with this is that it grows to the sky as constant wiring will need to be done.

Lemon Cypress (light green in colour) : sort of the same issue here from my resource, where there isn't a huge amount of information, is it advised to keep as much foliage on as possible and slowly bring it down. I also just tried to keep everything super open. Apparently they grow like wild fire.

Anyway, sort of a show and tell and maybe hopefully get some advise from all you wonderful people.

As much as I want to keep these plants alive and super healthy and beautiful they were all on special and I was to learn as much as I can about them before investing as a more traditional tree and making something spectacular.

Thank you for reading my super long thread

Much love from South Africa!

Welcome to the Nuthouse, happy gardening!

 

[Srt8madness]

@Srt8madness South Africa has very varied climate depending on where you live. My area (city of Johannesburg) has a temperate climate with summer highs of 30-36°C and winters dropping down to -2/-5°C as the extremes. I’m able to grow the same species you probably do.
South Africa isn’t all the image of “Africa” that you may have

I may be younger but I definitely know SA is not like the rest of Africa. That said I guess I had it in my mind that you or another poster from SA grew Baobab bonsai. P. Afra is an easy and fun species for a beginner as well.

 

[Fluffyyyzzz]

Quality over quantity! I'm interested to see the progression of the Bougie.

100% I do like them but maybe it's because I've just started with creating my own bonsai but probably as I progress I might get a more frustrated with them.

 

[Fluffyyyzzz]

Welcome to the Nuthouse, happy gardening!

Thank you very much.

 

[Fluffyyyzzz]

I may be younger but I definitely know SA is not like the rest of Africa. That said I guess I had it in my mind that you or another poster from SA grew Baobab bonsai. P. Afra is an easy and fun species for a beginner as well.

No you completely right you can buy boabab bonsais at most places but I'll definitely look on to the p. Afra.

 

[SeanS]

I may be younger but I definitely know SA is not like the rest of Africa. That said I guess I had it in my mind that you or another poster from SA grew Baobab bonsai. P. Afra is an easy and fun species for a beginner as well.

Haha fair enough @Srt8madness, I thought with the suggestion of baobabs and spekbooms you assumed we lived in the African savannah
No offence intended

 

[dbonsaiw]

Welcome aboard

 

[Srt8madness]

Haha fair enough @Srt8madness, I thought with the suggestion of baobabs and spekbooms you assumed we lived in the African savannah
No offence intended

All good. I really enjoy P. Afra myself, it's been the fastest grower from cutting to credible "bonsai" for me. The neighbor kids love to eat the leaves too.

 

[eugenev2]

Good day all,

I hope everyone is well.

Just a little back story, I recieved a Black Monkey Thorn Bonsai about 5 years ago from my friend and I loved the tree, but unfortunately I went away and didn't have anyone to look after it, I tried everything (dripper systems) to keep it alive while I was away, but alas it did not make it. Ever since then I've been quite afraid of getting another one and spent all my time growing roses and I'm loving it.

That is until recently...

A bought a tree on a whim, a Bougainvillea (pale purple in colour) in fact, and thought it would look great climbing behinded my roses on the wall and I'm almost positive it would of. Alas, I decided "what the hell" and bought a bonsai pot. That was 5 days ago and now I have two new trees (Juniper Skyrocket and Lemon Cypress) wired up and in "training" pots as they were both 1 meter and 70 cm tall.

Reason for this forum is I am obviously a complete novice (probably could tell by the tree selection) and wanted to see if maybe there were any suggestion about styling and what you think of what I have done. The idea is to take a bit away from the cypress and juniper but from what I read they don't back bud and have very fragile root systems and will get them in to bonsai pots slowly.

Bougainvillea : I've gone for a sweeping look. It looks a bit weird but want to try make it bushy at the top with a "sweep" to the left.

Juniper Skyrocket (More pale in colour) : honestly not sure, probably chose the wrong plant and the trunk splits into two. I tried separating all the branches to get a more open look. The issue with this is that it grows to the sky as constant wiring will need to be done.

Lemon Cypress (light green in colour) : sort of the same issue here from my resource, where there isn't a huge amount of information, is it advised to keep as much foliage on as possible and slowly bring it down. I also just tried to keep everything super open. Apparently they grow like wild fire.

Anyway, sort of a show and tell and maybe hopefully get some advise from all you wonderful people.

As much as I want to keep these plants alive and super healthy and beautiful they were all on special and I was to learn as much as I can about them before investing as a more traditional tree and making something spectacular.

Thank you for reading my super long thread

Much love from South Africa!

Welcome to bnut.

Once you've got the hang of keeping the trees alive, there is a number of places in Jhb that sell pretty good material to provide you with a jump start. Lessons i personally learned was spending more time and money on better material rather than material that will take forever to fix.