what do you think of "gleditzia" as a bonsai?

[the grasshopper]

well im pretty sure its a gelditsia as it was bought from a nursery stock grower, when i told the guy i was going to experiment with it for bonsai he said he isnt sure that this gleditsia would work or not but to give it a try and see what happenes. the tag on the pot said gelditsia also so im pretty certain it is a gleditsia. i found a way to get it to work as a small bonsai by having just the trunk and a few branches trained up to follow the trunk in a verticle position, then when the compound leaves shoot they act as the branches with the smaller leaves acting as the actual leaves to create an illusion of branches with small leaves. in my opinion it worked and i like it, but its by no means a txt book bonsai and breaks alot of rules so there will be critics. but there is no harm in trying new things i think

[squizzy]

I would have said that gleditsia leaves look a lot different from the leaves you have on this tree. There must be other types that I am unaware of.

Squizz

[shibui]

I just had another look at the leaves and I reckon Squizzy is right. The leaves on this bonsai are not gleditsia tricanthos and I can't find any reference to other species.

[the grasshopper]

well im no expert but a quick search on wikipedia says that there are 12 different species of gleditsia.

Gleditsia amorphoides (Griseb.) Taubert
Gleditsia aquatica Marshall - Water locust
Gleditsia australis F. B. Forbes & Hemsley
Gleditsia caspica Desf. - Caspian locust
Gleditsia delavayi Franchet
Gleditsia fera (Lour.) Merr.
Gleditsia ferox Desf.
Gleditsia japonica Miq. - Japanese honey locust
Gleditsia macracantha Desf.
Gleditsia microphylla Isely
Gleditsia sinensis Lam. - Chinese honey locust
Gleditsia triacanthos L. - Honey locust
Gleditsia triacanthos inermis - Thornless honey locust

so id say its one of those 12 species and must be one of the thornless ones too as it has no thorns. id put my money on it being the last one 'tricanthos inermis' i did a separte search on that species and reading the discription of the foilage is pretty spot on to the leaves on my tree. have a look and see what you think.

http://hcs.osu.edu/hcs/tmi/plantlist/gl_nthos.html

correct me if im wrong, but im almost certain it must be that species as the leaves start off green and then do go golden yellow and stay that way for quite some time before falling off in winter and the compound leaves can get to 10 inches long with smaller leaves coming off them which is also described as being common in that variety .

[the grasshopper]

pretty sure its not a white cedar, or a golden rain tree. considering the tag on it said gleditsia and the guy i brought it from said it was a gleditsia. ill go back and ask him if he knows exactly what variety it was

[the grasshopper]

further research ive found out that there are even more sub varietys of tricanthos inermis lol im not 100% sure which variety it is but there are obviously many varieties and sub varieties of gleditsia so it is quite possible that it is one of them, interesting topic now im keen to go see the grower and ask him if he knows which variety it is

[thuynguyen001]

I am with Squizzy, it is a Golden rain tree

[the grasshopper]

like i said i am no expert, it may well be a golden rain tree. my opinion was that it is a gleditsia purely because thats what the tag on the pot said and thats what the nursery stock grower said it was. squizzy may well be right i dont know. once the tree shoots its new leaves in spring i will add better photo of the foliage so you guys that are experts, shubui, mojo, squizzy ect... can get a better look at the leaves

[the grasshopper]

you know what, you guys have led me to research golden rain trees and after only a short time of study, i am inclined to agree with you squizzy. although the leaves do somewhat fit the discription of a gleditsia, images i found of a young golden rain trees foilage do look alot closer to the mark only because of the fact they have a jaggered edge on the leaf. where as the pics i found of the gleditsia show a rounded edge on the leaf. but this means that the guy that grew the tree at the nursery has named the tree he is selling the wrong name which i found hard to accept that a nursery grower would do that now that i have done my own research (thanx to you squizzy) i am almost certain that you are right

[the grasshopper]

i went back to see the guy i bought them from today, he said that they probably are golden rain trees well looks like ill have to admit my guess's were wrong. and your guesses were right squizzy. well done on identifing them correctly squizzy

[squizzy]

I wasn't out for proving you wrong but I am happy you now have the right I'd. By the way I think it still
Might be worth you getting a hold of a gleditsia and trying it. I have seen some impressive bark and angular branching on gleditsia and I think maybe they might just make a great bonsai. You may just need to consider the size of your tree so you can keep the compound leaves in some sort of proportion.

Good luck grasshopper.

Squizz