Afghan Pine, a desert star

Los angeles is at the edge of a desert. At first glance it does not seem like it is. Many neighborhoods have lush green lawns. The streets are lined up with pines, ficus, and oaks. If you have lived back east or in a place that gets consistent rain you start to notice that the places that are not manicured is the true Los Angeles. That is a dry desertlike chaparral. Enter the afghan pine. Pinus eldarica is the latin name. This pine loves heat, it loves dry places. This plant is a survivor. It prefers to not be watered to often.

I have been working with three afghan pines this year. Two of them have shape and are in pots. The Third looks like a lollipop and I am unsure what to do with it. Suggestions are welcome. The truth is that i have not read or seen too much about this pine as a bonsai. However, from what I have seen it grows needles year round. I have not seen any candles growing from any of the trees in my collection. I have to remove wire about every four months as it begins to bite the tree. I have fertilized with blood meal and a little bone meal. I have also fertilized with liquid fertilizer as an experiment. I did not see any adverse reactions from using a liquid fertilizer. I have read that young trees do grow fairly fast 12-24 inches per year.

This Afghan pine has had minimal shaping. It is my control subject. I will compare it to the other tree I have. I will be checking for growth, ramification, and trunk thickness.

This tree was wired and as you can see given more shape. I have noticed that the branch thickness are very uniform. I will not trim the lowest branch in the hope that the branch will thicken faster. 

Something else that I have noticed is that it will back bud on the trunk. I have no ramification yet. I pruned it last year to encourage new branch growth.

Another note of interest is that up to now i have mostly seen juvenile needles. There are a few adult needles but it is the exception. As you can see these trees don't look half bad. I rather like them quite a bit. I actually got them for $5 U.S. at a home improvement center (http://bonsai-misadventures.blogspot.com/2016/04/bonsai-from-chain-store-home.html). Like always I will keep posting updates. Cheers.

 

Bonsai from chain store home improvement centers

Many people put down big box stores or even regular plant nurseries as potential bonsai sources. I say, nay. Are these places the best place to pick up bonsai material? Of course they are not? Then why visit these places? The reason to visit them is because they are more convenient than a bonsai nursery. On a google maps I searched bonsai and got seven listings in the greater Los angeles area. I searched Home Depot and got 12 listings, then I searched Lowes and got 5 more listings. Just by my house there are two Home Depots and 1 Lowes with in a 4 mile radius. There are no bonsai nurseries within that radius, but there are three plant nurseries. Another reason to visit these places is the price. I have bought some trees with amazing trunks for six dollars and change. These trees at a bonsai nursery would easily sell for three to four times as much.

$6.95 for a fosemary with a great trunk

I think it very funny that people who badmouth trees bought at these stores highly prize wild collected trees. These wild collected trees are very difficult trees to work on because they grew however they wanted. It's much easier to work on nursery raised plants than wild plants.

This juniper i found at a regular nursery

There are some drawbacks. First, when we look for plants at a big box store we are looking for the jewell. We want the cream of the crop. It may take time to find a suitable plant. Heck we might not even find anything that week. The second negative is the plant selection. Most of these plants are for landscaping. What that means is that the same plants will be sold in your general area. On the flip side those plants are happy in the climate in which you live.

I have been to bonsai nurseries where they sell lantana for landscaping. These are beautiful 3 gallon plants. I walk to the bonsai section and the same lantana are in a bonsai pot. The new price is eighty five dollars. I am for cutting the middleman out if I can. I need to pinch those pennies.

If you have more time than money than you should look at the big box stores. So, what should you look at when buying plants? That will probably depend on your taste. I will tell you what I look for. First, the plant has to be healthy. There is no point in buying something that will die no matter how great the ramification is. The rest is arbitrary. I love to find plants with great trunks. It takes time to get a thick trunk. If the plant starts with a nice trunk you can invest time on other parts of the tree. Price is important to me. Plants that are around seven dollars are gold. Also, the plant species is important. To me some species are more desirable than others.

A dwarf olive with incredible potential bought at a home improvement center

When choosing a tree always remember that you will be reducing the size that you start with. If you want to end up with a twelve inch bonsai do not buy a thirteen inch tree. For a twelve inch bonsai you might have to start with twenty four inches. Sometimes none of the branches look like they will be helpful, but the trunk looks amazing. For that I lop all the branches off and start fresh. There is no point in keeping something bad just to try to fix it later. That's not to say that you should do that with all trees. If you are unsure of what to do leave it. As new branches and leaves grow you might get a clearer idea of what to do.

I cut all the branches from this pommegranet

Yes you can find material for bonsai at home improvement centers. You will have to look through some plants. I find that specific HIC have the best of one kind of tree. For example one might have great rosemary and another great boxwood. This probably has to do with suppliers in the area. Have a great time hunting for those trees. Cheers.