AusBonsai

Russell Coker wrote: John's post about trimming bougainvilleas that are brought inside for winter protection reminded me of something...

When I was a kid I had a great aunt (the one who first told be about bonsai) with quite a green thumb. She lived here in Mobile and I lived a couple of hours east of here in Florida. Without a greenhouse she always had beautiful bougainvilleas. Her trick was to let them dry out completely in late fall, they'd drop all of their leaves and look like pots of dead sticks. When they were smaller she'd put them in an unheated upstairs bedroom, and when they got too big to move she'd stick them in the corner of her garage and maybe put a space heater in with them on nights that were going well below freezing. So there'd they sit for 3 or 4 months until she dragged them back outside and watered them when it warmed up enough. They'd pop out in full flower without a green leaf on them, then grew like weeds the rest of the summer.

Anyway, seems like an easy way to store them in the winter AND have a spectacular flower show in the spring. Anyone ever try this?

R

Paulneill wrote:I have read about this technique of tricking a tree into thinking it not getting any water. The tree thinks it's a gonner so it tries to reproduce and promotes a shari load of flowers. Its a technique that could be practiced on un trained trees before trying it on some better bonsai.