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Elm & Contoneaster Bonsai

Joe1980
12 years ago

So today, we had a family trip to the graden center, where I found a display of popular bonsai species. They aren't trained into bonsai or anything, but just small starter plants. I was quite excited, because they had all the species that everyone says are hard to find, such as the shimpaku juniper, which I now have to work on. Anyway, I picked up 2 others, that caught my interest. One is an elm, specifically "Ulmus minor 'jacqueline hillier'" which from what I gather make great bonsai subjects. The other is a "Cottoneaster dammeri 'strieb's findling'", which looked appealing to me.

So, my question is basically if anyone has worked with these, and if you have any tips. They came in 4" pots, and I will be starting out by bare-rooting them, and putting them in an 8" pot with gritty mix. My usual fear of winter applies here, so I'd like to make sure of how I deal with that.

I have read some sources saying that the elm can be wintered indoors, but I do not intend to do so. I have also read conflicting information on the cold hardiness, so say zone 5, others zone 6. The average winter in my area of WI is zone 5, but for some short times in winter it can hit zone 4 temps. I'd like to plan ahead and have my wintering quarters ready, but I am limited right now to either my shed, which will obviously be whatever the temperature is outside, my garage, which is attached and can sometimes get into the mid 40's, or on my deck outside. I'd like to hear some ideas from the experienced bonsai growers as to what method you use for wintering, especially if you are in an area with very cold winters. Thanks in advance!

Joe

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