Desert Rose

[Thomas J.]

People are always asking about what trees for bonsai can they use for indoors? One of the best in my opinion is the Desert Rose. Aside from it having beautiful flowers, it shows no signs of stress from late October til mid April while it's indoors and even with minimal light. Here In Texas the winters can be rough now and then throughout the winter season and I take no chances with this guy once the temps start dropping below the 60deg range. Another thing I like is it only needs watering once a week; too much water and it starts yellowing and dropping leaves. I chose to keep this guy short, and sacrifice some flowers rather than have the long branches extending up into the sky in order to have a bunch of flowers.

 

[souvik1811]

Interesting. Ive been thinking about trying adeniums. I always wondered if they cold be considered 'true' bonsai. But the specimen you posted looks pretty bonsai-like to me.

 

[Jayhawk]

That's beautiful. What a trunk!

 

[MrPafra]

I have an Obesum and Arabicum here in NJ. They do great outdoors all summer. When I bring them in for winter I just let them go dormant with minimal water. I used to keep them under grow lights indoors but found that I couldn't figure out the watering needs and I think that led to weaker growth in the summer.

When do you prune yours? I find that pruning back to the previous seasons growth right before the spring gives me the best shot at a full flowering canopy.

 

[Thomas J.]

When do you prune yours? I find that pruning back to the previous seasons growth right before the spring gives me the best shot at a full flowering canopy.

The look you see here now is from last years pruning in the spring as I came to the conclusion that I didn't want the long leggy growth. From what I can tell you have to let the tree grow upwards to get a lot of flowers so I'm more or less sacrificing the flowers and doing away with the leggy growth, this spring will tell me if I get any flowers or just a few at this height.

 

[Gabler]

Interesting. Ive been thinking about trying adeniums. I always wondered if they cold be considered 'true' bonsai. But the specimen you posted looks pretty bonsai-like to me.

Bonsai is about creating an artistic image of a tree with a living, breathing plant. If you can do that with a succulent, I see no reason it should not count as bonsai. There's room to debate whether any particular tree is good bonsai, but there's no reason for gatekeeping in an already obscure hobby.

 

[Baron von Smoogle]

I bought this one from Wally World back in 2005. it was 10" tall.
It currently is 23" tall and has been in this pot for 18 years.
It goes outside during the Summer and I keep it inside under lights in the Winter.
It has been flowering since about mid-November.

 

[souvik1811]

Bonsai is about creating an artistic image of a tree with a living, breathing plant. If you can do that with a succulent, I see no reason it should not count as bonsai. There's room to debate whether any particular tree is good bonsai, but there's no reason for gatekeeping in an already obscure hobby.

Well said!