ROR Erodium

[ABCarve]

I saw a very small Erodium (mame) at a show last year and just had to give this a try.
The starter plant was in a 1 x 1 x 3” plastic pot. The roots went to the bottom and long enough for a good start wrapping them around the rock. Aluminum wire was used to hold it in place, buried in the clay pot and left to grow. I kept tabs on it through winter and periodically removed soil to expose more of the roots.

 

[ABCarve]

Once spring arrived it really took off growing and by July the roots had grabbed the rock tightly enough I thought it was ready for the repot into something shallower.

 

[ABCarve]

Once it was established and growing well again I decided it looked too much like a ground cover and started thinking about it way to get it more vertical. Traditional wiring techniques to more damage than it worth, so this is my solution.
Some of you may know I use foam insulation board for other things. This is a horseshoe shaped piece designed to fit around the crown of roots, forcing all the branching up away from the stone which will hopefully expose more the roots and trunk once it’s removed. The other thing it accomplished was establishing something to anchor more vertical wires and keep branching moving the same direction. I’m going to leave this on through the winter and see what happens.

 

[ABCarve]

So I'm into this for just about 1 year. Starting to look like something.

 

[ZombieNick]

I asked this in another thread and I didn't get a response so maybe you can help. I have Erodium as ground cover and I never thought about using them for bonsai. I stumbled on a few post here where people were able to make convincing mame with "trunks". What I am unclear on, is if there is a certain variety that will turn woody, or if the "trunk" is just the roots. The variety I have is "Heron's Bill" and has been ground growing for a couple years now, but doesn't appear to have any woodiness at all. I like your RoR idea, I think I'll give one a shot.

 

[ABCarve]

I asked this in another thread and I didn't get a response so maybe you can help. I have Erodium as ground cover and I never thought about using them for bonsai. I stumbled on a few post here where people were able to make convincing mame with "trunks". What I am unclear on, is if there is a certain variety that will turn woody, or if the "trunk" is just the roots. The variety I have is "Heron's Bill" and has been ground growing for a couple years now, but doesn't appear to have any woodiness at all. I like your RoR idea, I think I'll give one a shot.
View attachment 473965

I think they would all turn woody, although I’m shooting from the hip on that. It’s a pruning thing and having it in a pot so it can’t spread. This is a white one I’ve had for maybe 6 years. It was repotted by only putting more soil under the existing root ball which is how it got the negari look. Both of these are high maintenance keeping them cleaned out and pruned. Probably once every two or three weeks. Most pruning is done with tweezers.
You could probably pull some from your garden and start one. I have mine growing in APL shohin mix. They dry out quickly and need to be kept moist. Daily watering even in winter.

 

[ZombieNick]

I think they would all turn woody, although I’m shooting from the hip on that. It’s a pruning thing and having it in a pot so it can’t spread. This is a white one I’ve had for maybe 6 years. It was repotted by only putting more soil under the existing root ball which is how it got the negari look. Both of these are high maintenance keeping them cleaned out and pruned. Probably once every two or three weeks. Most pruning is done with tweezers.
You could probably pull some from your garden and start one. I have mine growing in APL shohin mix. They dry out quickly and need to be kept moist. Daily watering even in winter.


View attachment 473998

Lovely tree, great example of the "trunks" I was referring to. Thanks for the info, I'll pull a couple and give it a shot!

 

[August]

This is so sweet! Ive been curious about "perennial" bonsai for a while. When you're watering perennials at the garden center, it's hard not to just stare at them all day and make plans. There's certain penstemons that seem to produce "wood". I think the tricky part is preventing the classic perennial dieback, at least in our climate.

 

[ABCarve]

This is so sweet! Ive been curious about "perennial" bonsai for a while. When you're watering perennials at the garden center, it's hard not to just stare at them all day and make plans. There's certain penstemons that seem to produce "wood". I think the tricky part is preventing the classic perennial dieback, at least in our climate.

How about lavender!

 

[Carol 83]

I think they would all turn woody, although I’m shooting from the hip on that. It’s a pruning thing and having it in a pot so it can’t spread. This is a white one I’ve had for maybe 6 years. It was repotted by only putting more soil under the existing root ball which is how it got the negari look. Both of these are high maintenance keeping them cleaned out and pruned. Probably once every two or three weeks. Most pruning is done with tweezers.
You could probably pull some from your garden and start one. I have mine growing in APL shohin mix. They dry out quickly and need to be kept moist. Daily watering even in winter.


View attachment 473998

Love it. I've never seen that plant around here, maybe I'll have to look around for one.

 

[ABCarve]

Love it. I've never seen that plant around here, maybe I'll have to look around for one.

They are not hardy up here which is probably why you don’t see them at the garden store.

 

[Carol 83]

They are not hardy up here which is probably why you don’t see them at the garden store.

Probably so, we don't have anything good here.

 

[ABCarve]

Update

Coming along…. Just getting started with a lot of flowering.



Here’s one I started last year to become a semi-cascade in one of my root pots.




This is about 8 years old in a negari style.

 

[ABCarve]

Coming along with actually seeing some of the structure of it. This spring I’ll pull it up out of the pot more to expose some more roots and stone.