Flowering bonsai attracts butterflies

Without further ado, let me present my next project in my bonsai collection. Number 15.

ID: 0015
Nickname: Shasta
Type: Butterfly Bush
Age: 2 years
Grown: cutting
Last repotting: 2016?
Wired: never

This tree is incredibly easy to grow. The only thing to be careful of, is don't let the roots grow out the bottom of the pot. It is an invasive species, and will spread through the roots.

Normally these trees grow in bush form. As you can see, it forms buds all along any branches exposed to sunlight. Since the branches take a very long time to become thick, it does not have to spend very much energy pushing buds along the thin branches, and it can also push out long whip-like branches very quickly. This variety of tree will do everything in its power to push out as many long branches as possible, so it can create beautiful purple flowers for the bees. This is the second year of growing this tree from a cutting, and it has already flowered. For those of you traders out there, we call that a fast return on a cheap investment.

It has no clear front or back yet. We'll see what it does next year. Most of my trees tend to look too two-dimensional. I really want this tree to spread out more to create a more rounded canopy. Having a circle of flowers crowning it in all directions in the summer is my vision for this tree.

The only thing to consider about maintenance on this tree is to wait until after it has grown long stems and flowered before any pruning work is started. Pruning in June would be a big mistake, and might mean you get no flowers until next year. It was the end of September, and all of the flowers dried up, so I felt it was a good time to give it a trim to the proportions I desired. It has a good curvy trunk already, most of the branches are splitting into Y's and that is good, so I'll allow the current branches to remain, and just keep them short to encourage more ramification of many smaller branches in the next season. This tree would be a great choice for beginners who are afraid of wiring, and want a tree that sort of styles itself into an interesting shape.

These branches will swell up and get thicker over the rainy winter season. Last winter it actually kept most of the green leaves on, even in the freezing snow.

August 30, 2017

July 29, 2017

July 26, 2017

My family used to live next to a dangerously crazy neighbor. He was schizophrenic, paranoid, a bigot, and shouted profanities and cursed everyone to go to the place way down under. He was also under house arrest, though he sometimes went around the neighborhood to explore and make threats to anyone he passed by. His family posted all kinds of "No Trespassing" signs around a huge fence they had professionally built, probably because they didn't want to get into legal problems if somebody provoked this dangerous man.

This property they lived on had a total wild variety of unkempt trees growing all over their yard and fence. I really miss the hundreds of free blackberries we used to get in our backyard, because that thing from their yard spread everywhere. I'm sure they liked that it concealed their view of us, but they still used to yell at us if they thought we were eating their berries. The said the berries were for the birds.

The crazy neighbor also had a few flowering trees that I really envied. One was a Forsythia and the other was a Butterfly Bush. Fortunately, both of them were tipping over our side of the fence, and I decided to take some cuttings a week before we moved out of that house. Both of them now grow happily cared for in my own collection now.

July 7, 2017

Here is my collection of large, leafy trees. I found a good use for them.

That big laurel bush was trimmed very heavily, and I had planted a Lily of the Valley in the shade next to it. Unfortunately, after the major pruning work, the shady part of the yard turned into a full sunlight area.

With a little help from these friendly trees, I was able to create a miniature shade zone to help conceal the new planting. It seems to be doing okay, but has not flowered yet this first year. The ground gets very soggy here, so I think it should do well.

Eventually I had to move the Butterfly Bush back to the deck in the fall, because the roots were starting to tease their way out the bottom of the pot and into the mud. I have a nice empty bonsai pot with its name on it. Bonsai pots are better than regular pots. The nicer bonsai pots have four feet, two large drainage holes, and also include a matching tray. This facilitates drainage, and allows an air space under the pot to prevent roots from escaping underneath. I will probably repot the Butterfly Bush in the spring.

June 1, 2017

This is what the tree looked like through most of the past winter. I grew a lot over the summer as you can see in the photos above. After my pruning work, it looks very much the same. It will take many years and patience before this tree ever looks like it has a thick trunk and mature branches.

Thank you for reading my post. I hope you feel inspired to find beauty in unexpected places.