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crepe myrtle bonsai
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Posted by
stephen9 (
My Page) on
Fri, Jul 13, 07 at 20:27
| I've grown other bonsai before with decent success. But now I want to try my luck with a crepe myrtle. My question is I took a sucker from a large crepe myrtle which I don't know the variety. But could anyone tell me if cutting the leaves off in early summer will allow for more to grow back smaller to get the leave to scale? If not what are some good varities for doing a bonsai. I'm hoping more than just razzle dazzle or snow dazzle. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: crepe myrtle bonsai
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| There are soem dwarf varieties of crepe myrtle which would be easier to work with for smaller bonsai. I know Brussell's sells them. For bonsai from the full size varieties, you will be looking at a pretty large bonsai, since the leaves do not reduce well, and if you want flowers, these are at the very tips of the new years growth, so you have to let them get pretty untidy looking to do this. That all being said, I've seen some pretty nice crepe myrtle bonsai, but they've all been from stump type bases, with lots of dead wood, so I'm not sure you will want to start with just a sucker. |
RE: crepe myrtle bonsai
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| I guess I figured as much. I just happened to root the sucker because I thought i'd use it in my landscape until I found a better one at a local garden center. Now I have a CM without a home. I still might find a spot on the side of my house to plant it and let it grow and work on the structure for several years and prune the roots when needed, then maybe I'll try to bonai it. |
RE: crepe myrtle bonsai
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| I'll have to check on the cultivar of crepe myrtle but when we hosted the MABA convention here in Milwaukee we had a crepe myrtle workshop and our former president took the class; I saw the tree on Saturday and it still has beautiful small leaves. It is only about 8" tall. Dana Quattlebaum (not sure how to spell it) from Brussell's even did a demo on a large crepe myrtle that turned out beautiful. Defoliating will bring in smaller leaves, and I'll see if I can find out what kind of crepe myrtle was used in the workshop. |
RE: crepe myrtle bonsai
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| I'm going to try natchez variety as a large bonsai. It'll be intresting how it will come out. The one I got I bought from a local nursery that came in a 3 gallon pot with several plants. I took one out to try to train in a tree like form. I'll look at some pictures of other crepe myrtle bonsai for ideas on pruning. |
RE: crepe myrtle bonsai
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- Posted by jimh 7b AR (My Page) on
Sun, Aug 5, 07 at 10:27
| A good dwarf crepe myrtle is 'Chickasaw' |
RE: crepe myrtle bonsai
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| If you want to keep some shape and still have flowers,in early summer when the new growth has about 8-12leaves, cut back to 2 or 3 leaves. New growth will appear. let it grow and you will have flowers at the tips of each.Mine has been doing well for about 10 years. |
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