Pinus Elliottii Hem#2 - First wiring

Spring is here, the slash pine are pulling new candles and this little guy, although being 2 weeks late compared to the other slash pines I have, finally decided to pull new growth all over the place.

This pine was originally from a friend's collection and I got custody of it so to speak.

I've left it alone so far and have been looking at a way to approach it.

The original owner was going for a windswept style, but got stuck on the two opposing

branches which made the design he had in mind non-feasible.

I was stuck in this line of thinking initially ( ie forcing a windswept style into it ) but managed to get

out of that line of thinking and saw some possibility with an informal upright style. 

So that's the first styling towards creating that informal upright style.

The tree still needs lots of free growth and needs to be repotted in a bigger container, but 

for now I'm going to let it grow freely for say 2~4 growth cycles (roughtly 1~2 years) before repotting it.

Slash pine (pinus elliottii) before styling

That opposite branch is one of the main issues. I can't remove it right now
but its not in the best location either.

Wired the section I wanted to reposition

Et voila! Already much better :)

Top view

There was lots of leggy growth with bud located
on the extreme ends of the branches. Not really ideal for creating ramification.

I decided twist and compact the branches to bring
them closer to the main trunk. 

Top view after the branches have been wired too.

I was left with this lil problem guy.

Same store as for the apical branches :
long leggy growth, no bud closer to the trunk

I decided to go for the same technique as above, give the illlusion
that the branch is shorter and closer to the trunk by twisting the
branches and bringing compacting them closer to the trunk

I decided not to wire all the branches on this one. I'm still not sure
if I'm going to keep it of now in the long term so I wired only the major branches
with some potential to be retained later on.

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Overall I'm satisfied with the end product at this time.
There are lots of bad and unwanted structures that I should have removed, but I'm leaving this for next year.
There are several leggy growth at the base of the trunk that won't be used later one, but I'd like to use them as sacrificial branches to give more girth to the base.

Slash pine (pinus elliottii) before styling

Slash pine (pinus elliottii) after styling

Bonsai @ Salon de la Maison et du jardin 2014

Today was the last day for the exhibit for home and gardens in Mauritius. Lots of interesting new stuffs mingled with the usual old stuff at the exhibit. This year I got the impression that there were more nurseries than before and mixed in the lot there were various "bonsai", "pre-bonsai", "mallsai" and "potential bonsai" mixed in.

There were at least 6 or 7 nurseries present but only the three below had bonsai related stuffs.

Serre de Palma
Serre de Palma has been importing mallsai and providing them on the market for several years now. The prices are pretty low compared to other nurseries.
Prices starts as from around Rs900 upwards.

Species sold as bonsai were privet (Ligustrum) and chinese elm (Ulmus parvifolia).

There were flaws typical to mallsai ( bad cuts, poor ramification, poor branches ) and I don't even care to think of the roots states. But the trunk's taper (taper = thicker base getting thinner towards the top) was present and the trunk's movement was already interesting with good movement.

All in all its a pretty decent price for a starter material for beginners.

There were other plants that could be used as bonsai though, like this beautiful Juniper.

There were also lots of other garden plants including bougies, orchids and cactus on sale.

La Main Verte
La Main Verte located in Curepipe has been specializing in conifers and evergreens for several years now.
There's a huge variety of false cypress (Chamaecyparis),various thuja, dwarf holly (Malpighia coccigera) and bamboo for sale.

The prices were relatively steeper here. Rs2000+ for the bonsai ( plants in bonsai pots ) and similar plants in nursery pots were around Rs1500+

There's a huge potential here but I find the plants pretty much shrub like. There's no taper, no branches/ramification work done here. It's pretty much a normal plant placed in a bonsai pot for me but I could be wrong.

Pépinière Exotica
Pépinière Exotica had a huge variety of plants on display (as usual) and price tags for garden plants in general were affordable. There were several adeniums that looked ready for a bonsai pot.

There was this one massive adenium plant for a record price of Rs 19,500.

There were several bougainvillea at Rs 2,500 on display at the entrance of their stand that I though had lots of potential as a pre-bonsai material. The taper was there, the ramification was acceptable. A few wires here and there and you could get some nice bunjin or informal upright bonsai out of them.

The only unknown criteria would be the roots. If the plant was grown in those large containers for a long time and without any root training, I might end up with long lateral roots instead of a compact feeder root system. This part might need some work but overall that looked like a huge promise as a pre-bonsai or starter material.

There was this little plant that also got my attention.

A Scouring Rush or Barred Horsetail (Equisetum japonica).

I'm not sure of its growing habit, but I'm wondering if it could be used as a kusamono ( Kusamono are the equivalent of grass in a pot, as compared to bonsai which are trees in a pot )

Trochetia Boutoniana National Flower of Mauritius

This time the article is not related to bonsai [yet] but on one unique plant that I hope one day I'll be able to create a bonsai out of.

Trochetia boutoniana also known by its native Creole name Boucle d'Oreille is a shrub from the Trochetia genus endemic to Mauritius. Trochetia boutoniana is the national flower of Mauritius since 1992 and it is often illustrated on stamps of Mauritius. It was named after French botanist Louis Bouton.


The plant itself is extremely intriguing for me.
Its almost like an artificial plant, the steps are hard to describe. Its not like green or semi-green branches nor is it like a succulent. Its almost leathery and the inside gelly.
The leaves are soft yet hard, leathery too.
The flowers and seed pods are one notch stranger and unique. The flowers and seed pods are protected or covered by a protective felt like organ.

Six species belong to the Trochetia genus :

• Trochetia parviflora - an extremely rare tree (with about 63 individuals). Discovered in 1794. Thought to be extinct in 1863 and rediscovered on the slopes of Corps de Garde, Mauritius in 2001 by a team from the Mauritius herbarium.
• Trochetia boutoniana (native name: Boucle d'Oreille (in English: Earring tree) because of its bell-shaped look) is the national flower of Mauritius since 1992. It was named after French botanist Louis Bouton. The only occurrence are the slopes of Le Morne Brabant, Mauritius. The flowering time is from June to October.
• Trochetia uniflora - Occurrence: Trois Mamelles, Le Pouce, and Letard Mountains in the west of Mauritius. Flowering time: May to June
• Trochetia triflora - Occurrence: Trou aux Cerfs in the central, Grand Bassin, Piton Savanne, and Little Black River peak in the south-west of Mauritius. Flowering time: April to July
• Trochetia blackburniana - Occurrence: several places on Mauritius, most common species of that genus. Flowering time: April to May
• Trochetia granulata - Occurrence: Réunion

An enormous amount of work has been done to propagate and re-introduce the Trochetia boutoniana back into our local fauna. The National Forestry Department and Medine Nursery are the only two places that I know of who provide saplings of Trochetia Boutoniana for sale.