AusBonsai

Hi all,

Went for a random Bunnings trip yesterday to literally waste time checking things out, I had nothing I needed to buy. Stumbled into the garden section cause you have to at least look in there for potential bonsai stock. Found this little beauty for a steal (I think)!
I have seen crepe myrtle as bonsai but never seen anything good that would make me want to buy one and grow with it. I saw this fella all naked in the discount shelf and literally thought 'yes' as I went to grab it. Even though I have no idea how to grow crepe successfully, I had to buy it cause it was $5.

The trunk has good flow and decent branches, I'm not sure what actually made me jump at it especially cause it had no leaves. Anyway, so I need some advice cause I'm a crepe myrtle novice.

I'm sort of feeling this as the front of the tree to one day have a good canopy. Any thoughts on this tree and any recommendations? Has anyone used this variety for bonsai with any photos they would like to share?

Forget about “fronts” and whatever at the moment - way too early, but this has some nice bones to it and if you let it develop for a year or 2 I think you’ll be rewarded with something cool in the not too distant future.
I’m pretty sure I would have grabbed it. Crepe Myrtles grow fast!

Despite all the great marketing names they are all really just Crepe Myrtle and all grow basically the same.
Will sprout from anywhere on the trunk and usually from the roots as well when you prune so never worry about how far back to cut.
Can tolerate radical root pruning so never worry about which root or how much to cut. I normally repot late winter when there are still no leaves but I have seen reports of repotting these at all times of the year.
If you want to see flowers you need to remember that flowers are on the tips of new growth so the shoots that grow in spring will have flowers later in summer. That means crepe myrtle bonsai generally get a but untidy by the time they flower. I believe it is possible to trim once a couple of weeks after the shoots grow and still get flowers on the regrowth that happens after that early prune. Continued pruning through spring and summer to keep it looking neat will usually remove any potential flower buds.
Flowers are nice but only last a few days so don't pass up the chance to build a good bonsai by pruning more often. Not having flowers for a few years will be more than made up for in a far better developed tree if you trim more often to build branches for a few seasons before letting it settle down to flowering.

I note that this is a dwarf variety. That's good because you won't have such a battle suppressing new growth but dwarf vars grow slower so it will usually take a few extra years to build up bulk and ramification.

You can select a potential front and aim at a particular shape if you like but I think this is very young and suspect it will change quite a lot as it develops over the next couple of years so try not to get too attached to any particular front or shape yet. I would just let it grow a bit and see what it looks like in a few years.

Thanks for your advice Shibui!

I had the day off work today and instead of doing my research I decided to repot this fella because I saw there was a sprout opening up and form your advice I took the chance to repot before he starts growing again.

The roots system was pretty pot bound, took a while to comb through the roots to find the main root system. Even after raking a load out it still help its pot shape and was sitting upright.

I trimmed a fair bit of root off and saw that there was some potential in the main roots if they were shifted to a better position. I used a bit of wire to have 2 roots in better position before I planted it. I'm gong to leave those wires on for a couple weeks as it grows before cutting them loose, I don't think having wire on the roots is overly health for the tree.

Here is the new home for the Myrtle. Pot is a little bigger than the previous one he came in. I cut away about 1/3 of the pot from the top to keep is shallow but also for benching and travel in the future as I'm moving end of year and don't want big pots in my car.