5yr Native Tree Challenge - SeanS's Celtis Africana

[SeanS]

Here's my entry, a Celtis Africana

My girlfriend gave me a Bonsai Starter Kit for Christmas last year which consisted of 2 pots, pruning shears, some wire, soil and 2 types of indigenous seeds, one being Celtis Africana. I planted 3 of the seeds in January and all 3 sprouted.



In April I transitioned them to a pot with some course aggregate, mainly crushed stone. One of them had some die back on the upper part of the young trunk so I snipped the tip when I potted them into the pot. I think because I sowed them so late in the season (January is late summer for us in South Africa) they didn't really go dormant and hung onto their first adult leaves all winter.



In September I planted 2 of them in a raised planter in our garden and the one I had snipped I repotted into the same pot with the same soil. This is it today. It's about double the size of the other 2 so far and there are roots coming out the bottom of the pot after only 2 months since the repot, so it's my entry into the 5 year native contest.

Not sure what I'll do with it yet, for now it's growing.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Nice choice of species, Celtis, of all species make good bonsai, and Celtis africana is certainly one of the "good ones".

 

[SeanS]

Nice choice of species, Celtis, of all species make good bonsai, and Celtis africana is certainly one of the "good ones".

They grow like weeds here in SA, they’re everywhere. We have both Africana and Sinensis growing wild and in most gardens.
This little one is growing really well, every time I look at it the trunk seems to get a little thicker and it has a few more leaves emerging on the extending shoots. Should be able to create a nice little shohin in 5 years.