Do Gardenia make good bonsai?

[JPG]

I have a couple of questions regarding gardenias. Firstly, do they make good bonsai and if so are they relatively hardy plants or tricky to grow as bonsai?

The reason I ask is that I have a gardenia that I planted a few years ago growing in the backyard (it was originally in a large pot that I inherited from from grandmother and then put it in the ground) and looking at the trunk I was thinking it might make a good bonsai. I wasn't going to do anything with it for quite a while (a couple of years probably), but as we plan to move house in a few years I thought it might be nice to remove it and do something with it prior to moving on. Is there anything that should be done with it prior to digging it up...any preparation that is required. I immagine it's rather stressfull for the tree to be dug up and then get a major pruning of both the branches and the roots. Should it be pruned heavily back while it is still in the ground and then let it recover for a few months before I dig it up?


I'll get some photos on the weekend when I have time, but the trunk is a good 5cm thick at a guess and it's current height is approx 1m. It's been in the ground for at least 5 years, if not more.

[fiveoffive]

I have one. Not hard at all.

[Jester]

Hi JPG, I have about 120 Gardenias being potted up as bonsai, (Mainly Radicans, but also Floridas and Aimee Yoshiba's) and I think they make excellent bonsai. The radicans are great because they have a small leaf but the trunks would take a long time to thicken up. Go to the other extreme and you have the Floridas with a big leaf but much thicker trunks. One of the reasons I like them is because the interval between the trunk and the first set of branches is short so it takes the form of a tree quite easily if that makes any sense. The branches of the radicans are very flexible and forgiving for wiring and root pruning and then putting into a bonsai pot is a sinch because like azaleas, they have a multitude of very fine roots so from my experience at least, even if I took off 75% of the root ball it would still have an excellent chance of surviving. I swear by "Miracle Gro for Azaleas and Camelias" as is not only has a good dose of Sulphur in it to keep the soil nice and acid, but it also has about 29% Nitrogen which is basically like rocket fuel for plants.

I also have about 20 that I will pot up as semi cascades.

Hope this info helps

John

[kcpoole]

Yep they make great Bonsai, aspecially the smaller leafed varieties.
I have 2, and treat just like everything else.

Lovely perfume when they flower, which for me is most of the spring / summer

Ken

[kcpoole]

Found a photo of One of mine when looking for some others tonight
This one had nothing on the right when colle4cted, but has slowly filled in there and another 2 years will be quite nice.

It has just been repotted last week and trimmed back hard on the left to force more energy into the right side of the tree.

Ken

[Hackimoto]

I love the simplicity of the single form of Gardenia jasminoides, see link below

https://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en& ... 24&bih=636

And some Gardenia Bonsai.

https://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en& ... 24&bih=636

[JPG]

A couple of photos as promised. I have no idea what variety this is.

One thing I will have to make sure when I eventually dig it up is to ensure I remove all of the grass roots that will no doubt be in amongst the root ball of the tree.

[kcpoole]

Yep that is the larger variety mentioned above.
re the roots, if you get Stubborn weeds in the pot, you paint the foliage ofthem with Zero or roundup and that will kill only the plant it touches

Ken