AusBonsai

Someone asked a while back if you can grow roses as bonsai.

This one is just a trunk in a pot at this stage, but it shows where you can go.

Its a climber, "Crepuscule" with small gold flowers, tough as bags. This one is 25 years old, was in my first garden, then at my sister-in-law's, then I looked at it....

Apparent reverse taper is a result of the trunk twisting on the way up. Shari did itself. Problems can come with roses that shoot constantly from the graft union - very difficult to get much trunk and age in that case.

Can be sweet, though.

Gavin

How'd Theis one ever end up Gavin?

Cheers,
Pearcy.

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It weakened and died. Not happy when I got it back, and didn't really like pot life.

Gavin

Yeah from what I've read I was thinking a large pot would be required in order to maintain the health of the tree.

What do you reckon, in your opinion are they not worth the effort? I have one in the yard with good movement and small foliage I'm considering digging.

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GavinG wrote:It weakened and died. Not happy when I got it back, and didn't really like pot life.

I had the same experience with roses Mr "G". They do not thrive in a pot well at all. Fool you by doing something and then....Die very quickly.

Glad to know I'm in good company. It might be worth trying two years in a bonsai pot, one year in a large pot to recover, but I don't have the material to experiment.

Roses also have trunk/branch/reticulation issues, if you need to grow trees in the traditional style. That said, from memory I think both Kobayashi and Kenji Murata have shown old, complex wild roses in a "natural wildflower" kind of style that presented very well indeed. Sometimes form isn't everything - age, grace, and the freshest of flowers can sometimes be enough.

Gavin