From Seed Division: Ginkgo, Pin Oak, American Elm, Sycamore, and Flowering Dogwood

[Gabler]

I'm sowing the following seeds:

Ginkgo biloba​

Quercus palustris​

Ulmus americana​

Planatus occidentalis​

Cornus florida f. rubra​

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I'll post pictures later, when I take the seeds out of cold stratification and sow them outside this spring.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

For bonsai all are good choices except the Planatus occidentalis, sycamore. The sycamore has a coarse branching pattern, and very large leaves. It will likely frustrate your efforts to reduce leaf size and get fine ramification. Try to work with it. You might have more success than others have had.

The rest are excellent. I have a fair number of ginkgo seedlings scattered around.

 

[Gabler]

For bonsai all are good choices except the Planatus occidentalis, sycamore. The sycamore has a coarse branching pattern, and very large leaves. It will likely frustrate your efforts to reduce leaf size and get fine ramification. Try to work with it. You might have more success than others have had.

The rest are excellent. I have a fair number of ginkgo seedlings scattered around.

I'll more than likely plant them in the ground to grow into full sized trees, but I figure it can't hurt to experiment. Worst case scenario, I learn something.

 

[Gabler]

I've added some more seeds to the mix. The unlabelled nuts on the top left are shag bark hickory. They're not for bonsai, but for planting in the ground. Same with the dwarf maples.

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[Gabler]

Cold-stratifying in the refrigerator didn't work. Most of the seeds mildewed and failed to germinate. I've tried again this year with Quercus alba, Ginkgo biloba, Cedrus libani, and Pinus echinata planted outside in peat-based soil. The white oaks have begun germinating. I'm expecting at least twenty of them, though so far, only the roots have grown, not the stems. I've found the stems tend to come much later than when the radicle first emerges from the seed.

 

[Gabler]

My chestnut oaks are thriving, so I’m gonna go ahead and give them their own thread.