Plectranthus....whats that?

[ABCarve]

omg, it looks great
Last year i also bought that plant, but it has too lagy-long branches. So, i should trim it back hard, right?

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You might want to take off the lower growth close to the soil line and choose if you want a twin trunk design. Other than that let it grow and develop the trunk(s). Enjoy the flowers!!!

 

[ABCarve]

Purple summer flowers look really nice with orange. Just starting to bring some plants back inside.

 

[pweifan]

Do you have any other pictures of that Lantana? That looks great!

 

[ABCarve]

This plant flowered constantly from last year’s cutback. It was just getting too big and falling over. Timing the cutback so new growth is emerging when it’s warm enough to leave out in the sun and not burn the leaves.

 

[Crazy Diamond]

How it responded to the hard pruning?

 

[ABCarve]

It’s all coming back. Just brought it outside for some real growth.

 

[ABCarve]

Before and after! Flowers were getting leggy and all the weight of the added growth makes for a very shaky tree. This can break off the segmented branches if you're not careful. I'm seeing this being sold as mallsai quite a bit lately under the name of "bonsai mint". The foliage has a nice fragrance but I don't think it resembles mint.

 

[penumbra]

I'm seeing this being sold as mallsai quite a bit lately

Crap, and I was growing some on.
This is not an endorsement.

 

[InstilledChaos]

What kind of temps does this get down to during the winter in your “greenhouse?” I have a couple smaller ones that I keep inside over winter. Always looking to reduce my winter indoor plant count though.
Also - you find it does well with daily watering? Isn’t this a succulent? I restrict water somewhat like with my P. Afra. You’ve found better response with the more regular watering?

 

[Crazy Diamond]

The foliage has a nice fragrance but I don't think it resembles mint.

I have several Plectranthus species, some of them smell to me almost savoury like a very strong Oregano with other herbs mixed in them. Im not very found of the smell usually xD

 

[leatherback]

in german it is called an incense plant

 

[ABCarve]

What kind of temps does this get down to during the winter in your “greenhouse?” I have a couple smaller ones that I keep inside over winter. Always looking to reduce my winter indoor plant count though.
Also - you find it does well with daily watering? Isn’t this a succulent? I restrict water somewhat like with my P. Afra. You’ve found better response with the more regular watering?

The greenhouse gets down to 53f at night. I bring it in when nights are consistently in the low 40s. It does resemble a succulent however I don’t know if it’s classified as such. It gets watered every day even in winter.

 

[Jojo!]

Hey! I'm glad I found you guys! Have a Plectranthus too! I've been growing it for 3 years now! It's kinda cool to see the difference in the bark textures between all of us! btw I love the pots you guys are using!

 

[ShimpakuBonsai]

Last week I visited the garden of Jerry Norbury (@jeremy_norbury) to look at his trees. It was very nice to meet him and talk about bonsai. Jerry gave me this little rooted cutting of the Plectranthus ernstii as a present.

 

[ABCarve]

Well time for new shoes. I'm hoping the orange pot will compliment the blue flowers once it starts. This was the first time it was root pruned since I got it as a cutting in 2015. It will be cut back in a few week once it recuperates.

As I mentioned in post #47 this material is very brittle. I broke a large piece of the lower right branch off last fall when pruning it. It was a very minor bump. When the plant gets large, simply walking with it you can feel the segmented branches bouncing with each footstep. Luckily I have replacement starting to grow where it broke off. The broken piece was just put into APL and has already started blooming. Might make a nice mame.

 

[ABCarve]

Spring pruning........there wasn't very much to do. No winter flowers to cut off. Looking back at last years mishap which broke a large lower branch off, it's amazing to see how fast this plant can regenerate. The arrows in the photos show the beginning of the new branch and one year later. I hadn't realized how much caliper it put on until I look at the previous year.

 

[Nybonsai12]

Awesome tree. Love the leaves on this one!

 

[leatherback]

Really really cool.
I should spend a bit more time on mine, considering your example of what these can look like.

 

[doc spring _work]

I love how unique this bonsai is all the little quirks make it absolutely beautiful

 

[Dorstenia]

I have a few myself, the ernstii version (like ABs, but not as nice LOL). I'll grab a pic of my old man's, his is almost 20 years old, it's where I took my cutting a while back.