Crepe-myrtle - Lagerstroemia indica

[Dorian Fourie]

In July 2015 I got this Crepe-Myrlte from my father. He had it growing under a bush in the yard. The branches were all growing towards the light and had become very long. He did not want it anymore and asked if I would like to try and bonsai it. I first thought it was a galpinia-transvaalica (Wild pride of india) but was later told that it was a Crepe-myrtle (Pride of India)


I decided to cut it right back and then wait for September 15 (Spring) before I would repot it.


In Mid Sept 15, I removed it from the pot and it cleared away all the old soil and did a severe cut back on the roots to fit it into a new pot.


I decided to leave it to settle and recover.

 

[Dorian Fourie]

In the beginning of Oct 2015 I started to work on the wiring and styling of the tree.


Once the growth gets older it hardens off and makes it almost impossible to wire and bend without cracking the branches.


I cleared off loads of unwanted growth and wired the branches as carefully as I could with a 1mm wire



After all the wiring was done.


At the end of Oct 15, it was growing like mad


In the beginning Dec 2015 it had gone wild and had loads of buds waiting to open.

 

[Dorian Fourie]

I then got stuck into it and cleared out many of the unwanted branches and removed loads of the growth.


Just of 1 1/2 months later (Mid Jan 2016), it had once again grown wild and some flowers had come out.


I once again cut back, cleaned out and removed most of the wire.


March 1 2015 - Same story.


Also loads of suckers growing out of the base of the tree that had to be removed.

 

[Dorian Fourie]

March 1 2015

I just got stuck in and cut it back again.


End May 2015 - End of Autumn

I had some great autumn foliage colour


One week later - June 7 2016 - All the foliage was off


Sept 11- 2016
Time to cut back some of the growth and tidy it up.

 

[Dorian Fourie]

I had our monthly bonsai meeting this past weekend and I decided to take it along to get a new pot at the nursery and to repot it immediately

It was quite a tight fit but I got it in and I believe that pot works very well with the tree. I also did some more wiring on 2 of the branches to improve the overall flow of the tree and removed one of the front branches that didn't quite fit in with the overall view



I then got stuck in with putting some moss into the planting


This morning I took one with natural light.

 

[Dorian Fourie]

So exactly 1 yr and 2 months apart. Quite a change



So lets hear your thoughts and any suggestions on this?

Anybody have good advice on how to reduce the leaves?

 

[Craigm]

Nice progress @Dorian Fourie ,
with all the crepe myrtle post here I just found myself a small one to start working.
cheers for sharing.

 

[Dorian Fourie]

Nice progress @Dorian Fourie ,

Thanks so much

 

[Anthony]

Dorian,

beautiful in leaf, beautiful in flower. and beautiful in winter, what more could you want ?
Just let it age and perhaps work more on the winter silhouette.
Thanks for showing!
Appreciated.
Good Day
Anthony

 

[sorce]

I don't know if it was 3 or 4 times you cut it back, but it seems too much.

I'd like to see those branches thicken up some...and try to lose the vase shape a couple of the branches are creating when you do cut it back.

But I know nothing about these.

Nice.

Sorce

 

[Dorian Fourie]

Dorian,

beautiful in leaf, beautiful in flower. and beautiful in winter, what more could you want ?
Just let it age and perhaps work more on the winter silhouette.

Hi Anthony

Thanks so much. Definitely still a long way to go. I have to work on the ramification no doubt

 

[Dorian Fourie]

I don't know if it was 3 or 4 times you cut it back, but it seems too much.

I'd like to see those branches thicken up some...and try to lose the vase shape a couple of the branches are creating when you do cut it back.

But I know nothing about these

Thanks Sorce

Definitely have loads of thickening up to do. Right now all of the branches are very uniform ie thickness so one or 2 have to be left to grow uninterrupted to make a difference.

I will enjoy the view for now knowing that in a month it will be so overgrown.

 

[sorce]

Real nice moss job too...

And I dig the pot!

Sorce

 

[Dorian Fourie]

Real nice moss job too...

And I dig the pot!

Needle nose tweezers and loads of patience.

I agree on the pot. My first thought was a flat rectangular or oval pot but then that one was shown to me and it just worked. I think when it flowers too it will be a great match

 

[jeremy_norbury]

Inspirational - I'll post it on Reddit.

 

[Giga]

good job!

 

[LanceMac10]

Excellent fall coloration!!!

Well done. Especially with "nothing to something" type material.
Has a bright future.
About as bright as those TWO huge monitors staring you down!!

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Dorian, great progression. I love the pot-tree combo.

 

[just.wing.it]

So exactly 1 yr and 2 months apart. Quite a change
View attachment 117525


So lets hear your thoughts and any suggestions on this?

Anybody have good advice on how to reduce the leaves?

Amazing and inspiring!
Thanks for sharing this!

 

[Dorian Fourie]

Inspirational - I'll post it on Reddit.

Thanks so much Jeremy.
Let me know the link.