AusBonsai

Spring is a great time of year as deciduous trees leaf out and others flower.
Please feel free to add photos of spring flowering bonsai species.
The massed flowering of P. 'Elvins' along with the hardiness of being a plum should make this an ideal flowering species for bonsai. Why don't we see more of these? i believe Elvins originated in Melbourne so it is also a local cultivar.

Thick stems and long internodes along with a propensity to sucker makes for a less than perfect tree but early mass flowering can make up for that for just a few weeks each year.
Sometimes referred to as Dwarf Russian almond. Massed, double flowers are great but, unfortunately, the trunks don't thicken much. Usually grows as a multi stem shrub but with some patience and time we should be able to develop some good spring flowering bonsai from these. These were common in older gardens but have dropped out of fashion now so you may be able to find one to dig somewhere near you. Like most prunus they transplant easily so you can collect the whole clump or just a few of the outer suckers to get started. Also comes with white flowers.

Good idea Shibui, I'll play.
Of course this is a plum, a wild one I dug last year. It has more thorns than any plum I have ever dug but it has made up for that with a good flowering.

Lovely Neal, Surely you have more than one Plum to show Watto
Cheers
Kirky

Those almond flowers are stunning shibui! I like them very much

One of the azaleas we know as Kurume type. They mostly have smaller flowers so i thought it might make a smaller bonsai.

Not bonsai but spring flowers in the garden. A weeping flowering cherry I grafted a few years ago. It has grown pretty fast and I now get seedlings popping up in the garden beds under the trees. Some show weeping character and others grow upright.

What, another plum?
You know the rules, everyone should have a plum!

One of my dad’s azaleas- a few weeks back - apparently the flush is in full swing now.

And another



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Increased flowering again this season so I must be doing the pruning and feeding right.

I originally posted this in the winter flowers thread. Now it’s almost covered in flowers. Not a really suitable tree for bonsai but it’s still pretty once per year.

Prunus Shirotae:
Last week


Last week:


Today:



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Melaleuca are starting to flower in the garden.
Melaleuca elliptica is unusual in that it flowers directly from bare wood (trunk and branches). The flower is quite large so would suit larger bonsai but a nice bright pink. First year this has flowered for me.

Melaleuca armillaris has a typical flower on elongating shoots. Much smaller that M. elliptica

Crab apple just opening up .

Beautiful Sno!


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This is a bit late - it's long past flowering by now, but our club had a "virtual show" this year due to the plague, so I was able to "show" my crab apple Floribunda. The trunk was ground-grown, and got sunburnt when I laid it over into a cascade. Over the years it has rotted away quite nicely, without affecting its vigour, but I'm not sure how to keep it as it is, now - Earl's Wood Hardener makes things shiny, and I don't think lime sulphur soaks in far beyond the surface.
Gavin