Bonsai Copper Beech

Do you train them yourself Sheila? This is lovely!

A beauty

astoundingly remarkable!
another spectacular shape

I don't wire them - just prune them very carefully, turning the tree round several times to get a balanced appearance.

its so natural, but i love the detail and the delicacy of bonsai

so what do we do sheila?
i have lots of acorns and conkers trying to grow into trees in the garden ~ i dont have room for them so should i just up root them and put them into a shallow dish with their roots clipped??

Yes, Sticki, exactly. If they're very small, I just pot up tree seedlings in an ordinary plastic pot; but once they reach, say, 9" - 12", a shallow dish will confine the roots, so that over the years the emerging leaves get smaller. It's just a bit of fun . . . nothing scientific!

sounds like fun, i shall have a go ~ always admired them. thank you

Yes, me too! Thanks Sheila!

You're both welcome - let me know how you get on! This won't apply to you, but it's a gentle outdoor hobby for anyone with a health problem (e.g. low energy/ limited mobility) when they can't do much of the real thing.

nice to have something in the garden that doesnt require quite so much energy!!

this bonsai is looking beautiful even iam having 20 to 30 bonsai but doesn`t look that good.please advise.i have banyan tree, ficus benjamina, peepal, schifflera, adenium,ficus other varieties.but not good looking.i will send the photos.

Hi Raj, thank you for your comments. If you read the comments above, you will see what I do . . . not much! Just a gentle prune of any branches that don't look right, and prune the roots in Spring. I'm not an expert, just an enthusiast!

copper beech is a lovely bonsai subject, not often seen I dont think. This one is delightful.

Thanks Bampy. You're right - I don't think I've seen another, and this one is definitely my favourite.

mine are in the polytunnel, hope they have survived the winter.

Certainly hope so - I don't protect mine at all, thinking that trees prefer the great outdoors (comme moi). But you've got me worried now, so hope I'm not going to be proved wrong! It would be great to see photos of yours, to put our minds at rest . . .

Beech are fairly shallow rooted making them very suseptable to drought.

Having said that my Common Beech was collected from the wild 25ish years ago and I estimated it to be at least 10 years old at that time. Now lives in a shallow (1" deep) oval Bonsai pot.

Beech can be difficult to prune as you can only prune them once at a certain time of the year. If done more ofter or at the incorrect time you can end up losing the inner growth on branches and end up with only a couple of leaves on the tips of the branches.

Back budding (new buds sprouting further back from the tips of the branches) does not occur very often if you prune at the wrong time.

Interesting Stjohn - thanks. Come to think of it, I've almost never pruned this Copper Beech, because it's hardly grown so hasn't needed it.