Bountiful Bonsai - Create Instant Indoor Container Gardens

BOUNTIFUL
BONSAI
Create Instant Indoor Container Gardens
with Edible Fruits, Herbs and Flowers
RICHARD W. BENDER
T UT T L E Publishing
Tokyo Rutland, Vermont Singapore
BountifulBonsai_KH_edit 2i.indd 1 8/1/14 11:05 AM

Dedication
When I was young, my mother told me,
“Boy, the way you like to eat, you better learn
how to cook.” I grew up with a large vegetable
garden and operated a produce stand to earn
money until I went to college. My family also
collected wild mushrooms, fruits, and game
animals in the woods. Following Mom’s advice,
I learned to look for food everywhere, and
learned to cook what I found. I even expect my
houseplants to provide a useful crop.
I dedicate this book to my mother,
Marie K. Bender.

CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1
5 Bonsai: An Overview
CHAPTER 2
19 Creating Instant Bonsai
CHAPTER 3
33 Bountiful Bonsai
Possibilities
CHAPTER 4
87 Finding Your Future

Bonsai
CHAPTER 5
97 Long-Term Bonsai
Care
CHAPTER 6
115 The Bountiful Harvest
127 INDEX

4 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI

5
CHAPTER 1
Bonsai: An
Overview
hile the history of bonsai goes back several hundred years in its
modern form as developed by the Japanese, there is no doubt
W that mankind has shaped plants for as long as humans have
grown and tended them. The first plants grown in containers
were most likely valuable herbs or food plants that the growers wanted to
transport or protect from harm. The oldest images of potted plants come
from Egyptian paintings; Hindu doctors were known to keep medicinal
plants in pots for easy cultivation and transportation around 1000 BCE.
Bonsai became a well-developed art in China during the first millennium
CE, as evidenced by the first writings and paintings about bonsai as an art
form. By the time of the Sung dynasty, around 1000 CE, bonsai as an art form
was spreading throughout Chinese culture with paintings, poetry, and tech-
nical instructions in the literature of the time. It was probably around this
time that bonsai was introduced into Japan, most likely by Buddhist monks;
the first written records of bonsai appeared there around 1300 CE.
Bonsai developed into its modern form in Japan with very strict styles
and conventions that mirrored the structured society in which it developed.

6 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI
Specimens were mostly grown outdoors, and were often tended for
generations, passing from father to son, using native plant varieties that were
suited to the local climatic conditions. Western society was exposed to the
art of bonsai during the twentieth century, particularly during the aftermath
of World War II. Many American GIs who spent time in Japan after the war
became fascinated by aspects of Japanese culture, and bonsai was an interest
that some of them brought home. The Karate Kid movies, the first of which
came out in 1984, introduced bonsai to a new generation of children in the
US. In fact, 1989’s Karate Kid, Part III opened with the karate master Mr.
Miyagi fulfilling his lifelong dream of opening a bonsai shop. A bonsai theme
was prominent in that movie, including recapturing a “repatriated” bonsai
tree that Mr. Miyagi had planted back in the wild after bringing it to America
from Okinawa. Throughout the 1980s, as a bonsai artist managing several
garden centers I witnessed an amazing number of children, primarily boys,
who were looking for bonsai “like Mr. Miyagi’s trees.” Millions of children
were exposed to and fascinated by bonsai as a result of this type of mass-
media attention. Traditional Japanese bonsai had captured the imagination
of the West.
Unfortunately, many of the resulting attempts at cultivation were unsuc-
cessful. Millions of juniper bonsai died in people’s homes as buyers reached
out to embrace a fad without understanding the conditions required to keep
these trees alive. Traditional Japanese-style bonsai primarily uses outdoor
trees that require a cold dormant period to thrive—junipers, pines, and
maples. These outdoor varieties are not suitable for use as houseplants, and
seldom last long indoors. As the art of bonsai gained a foothold in the West,
however, more indoor varieties were used, because people wanted bonsai
that could be put in the house and treated like houseplants.
The art of bonsai has developed with several different philosophies or
schools of thought beyond the traditional Japanese style. The use of strictly
indoor varieties has become most prominent of these, embracing many new
varieties beyond the usual ficus and serissa that were among the few tropical
varieties used by traditional Chinese and Japanese bonsai artists. A sideline

CHAPTER 1 Bonsai: An Overview 7
to this is the specialization in flowering varieties. Another philosophy, sim-

ilar to traditional Japanese-style bonsai, strives to use only local varieties
native to the region and grow them outdoors.
An older style that seems to be losing favor is the collection of wild, natu-
ral bonsai. This is understandable, as the field trips to wild areas to collect
“natural” bonsai that this tradition involved resulted in the defacement of
natural areas and losses from digging up trees in the wild. Modern environ-
mental ethics preclude digging wild bonsai from our dwindling natural areas.
There is still a place, however, for collecting “wild” natural bonsai when
cleaning brush from cultivated fields, lawns, or vacant lots. Some amazing
bonsai can be collected when cleaning out old yards and fields, without dam-
aging our natural areas. A friend clearing brush from a lot collected one of
the most unique bonsai I’ve ever seen, a wild elm with a two-inch diameter
trunk that was cut off twelve inches above the ground and potted into a six-
inch plastic pot. A year later, this stump had developed a fine, strong set of
roots and a fringe of branches growing around the rim of the stump. My
friend had always wanted a hollow-trunked bonsai, so as a demonstration at
a bonsai show, he used a one-inch bit and a hand drill to hollow the trunk
straight down from the top to an inch above the ground and in from the side
to meet the bottom of that hole. He then took a two-handed electric router
and carved a jagged ”lightning strike” down several inches from one side of
the top and shaped the hole from the side. As wood chips were hitting the
roof of the greenhouse, the traditional bonsai artists in attendance gaped in
amazement at the scene unfolding in front of them. I saw that tree again a
year later, and it had survived the harsh treatment.
Using herbs as subjects for bonsai was only mentioned a handful of times
in the previous history of bonsai writing before the publication of my arti-
cle “Herbs as Bonsai” in the November 1987 edition of Horticulture maga-
zine, which was followed by my book Herbal Bonsai in 1996. Herbal bonsai
changes the whole timescale of bonsai development because of its compara-
tively fast growth. Impressive specimens can be created in as little as one
growing season with a plant such as rosemary, yet these plants can be kept

8 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI
alive in pots for fifty years or more. A moderately large herbal bonsai can
provide homegrown fresh herbs in sufficient quantity to supply a household.
Growing herbs indoors can be a little trickier than cultivating tropical plant
varieties, but the idea of consuming your bonsai trimmings leads naturally
to considering a fruiting bonsai that provides a usable harvest.
It seems a little incongruous to think of a bonsai tree providing enough
harvest to amount to much, but bonsai don’t have to be miniature. Even tra-
ditional Japanese classifications include bonsai up to six feet tall. An edible
fig or a citrus tree of that size can provide an amazing amount of fruit. I
have harvested enough of these fruits to make jam and to ferment into wine
(although I will admit to freezing an entire crop and using a couple of crops
to make two cases of wine). A friend asked whether I pour tiny glasses of
bonsai wine. I replied, “Of course, we use sake cups to help provide the prop-
er ceremonial courtesy when sharing such a rare vintage.”
Citrus trees have an added
advantage in that most citrus fruits
can sit on a tree for several months
after becoming ripe without going
bad, and can be picked fresh when
ready to use. With a small collec-
tion of several varieties of citrus,
it is possible to have fresh citrus to
pick nearly 365 days a year, even in
places like my home in the Colorado
mountains. You may not be able to
pick one every single day of the year,
but it is quite reasonable to expect
to pick a couple of fruits a week for
cooking purposes. Varieties with
smaller fruits have more appeal
strictly as bonsai specimens, and
Limequat Mariachi wine. also provide a bigger crop than

large-fruited varieties. These small

varieties include calamondin orange,
kumquat, Key lime, and the harder-
to-find limequat (a lime-kumquat
cross). The limequat is the heaviest
bearer of fruit in my experience, and
my calamondins here in Colorado
usually produce two crops a year.
Though many people grow orna-
mental ficus trees in their homes,
they seldom grow the species that
produce edible figs. There are many
cultivated varieties, of which Ficus
carica is the most prevalent. The
“standard” ficus, which resembles a
lollipop stuck in a five-gallon nurs-
Limequats, a lime-kumquat cross, are
ery pot, is one of the most common a little smaller than an egg and turn
houseplants sold in the plant indus- yellow when ripe. Though sour, they
try, and is widely used in interior have great flavor, and can be used
landscaping. An edible fig variety peel and all in many kinds of cooking.
of the same size can produce sev-
eral dozen fresh figs every summer.
There are some differences in care
and appearance between ornamen-
tal and edible figs that might seem
daunting, but the benefit of obtain-
ing fresh fruit from houseplants out-
weighs many other considerations.
Many dedicated coffee and tea
This bowl of limequats made seven
drinkers don’t realize that these
half-pints of limequat marmalade;
plants are rather easy to grow as the rest was fermented into three
houseplants. The camellia, a popular cases of wine.

10 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI
flowering tree that blooms in mid-winter, is often grown as a houseplant in

northern climates. Camellia sinensis, the tea plant, has smaller, less spec-
tacular flowers than ornamental camellia varieties, but the white flowers are
numerous and the blooming season lasts longer. Green tea plants and seeds
can be found and purchased online. A regular tea drinker may not be able
to grow their entire supply, but any amount of homegrown tea is a worthy
addition to a collection of teas.
Coffee trees can be easy to find. Large trees produce many beans; some of
the large foliage growers in Florida will throw a handful of coffee beans into
four-inch pots and include the seedlings in their shipments of mixed-foliage
plants. I’ve found these pots of coffee trees mixed into inexpensive foliage
collections at garden centers all over the country. Coffee trees take some time
This thirty-inch dwarf pomegranate, These fruits are considered

cultivated from a five-gallon nursery ornamental. While their quality
stock plant, has been in training for doesn’t compare to that of full-sized
seven months. commercial pomegranates, they are
beautiful and technically edible.

to begin producing beans, but I have not only produced beans in Colorado
from plants that started as six-inch seedlings, but have seen a six-foot cof-
fee tree in Montana so loaded with beans there was fear the branches would
break. Again, houseplants cannot be expected to offer a full supply of coffee,
but the ability to offer coffee harvested from the beautiful tree in your living
room on special occasions is priceless.
A few edible species are becoming more common in indoor tropical bon-
sai collections, particularly Australian cherry (Eugenia paniculata), dwarf
pomegranate (Punica granatum var. nana), Barbados cherry (Malpighia
emarginata), and Natal plum (Carissa macrocarpa). All of these are easy to
find and have several varieties available, some of which are known to pro-
duce more fruit than others. Natal plums are used extensively in landscaping
Miniature Australian cherries seldom flower. This specimen is sixteen inches tall.

12 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI
in the desert Southwest and should be easy to find at nurseries in that area.
Dwarf pomegranates, which can flower and fruit heavily, are becoming very
popular as bonsai specimens. Large fruiting pomegranate varieties have larg-
er leaves that may go deciduous for a period; they aren’t as attractive as the
dwarf variety, but they do bear much larger fruit. The heavier flowering and
fruiting varieties of Australian cherry are widely sold at local nurseries as
large topiary specimens, but the miniature varieties that make the most spec-
tacular bonsai only flower sporadically, and in twenty years of growing them,
I have never seen them bear fruit.
Several species of guava, including the strawberry guava (Psidium
cattleanum), lemon guava (Psidium littorale) and pineapple guava (Feijoa
sellowiana), produce delightful fruit and can be grown indoors. Papayas can
be grown from seed out of fruit from the market; I have grown them from
seed to fruiting in Colorado. Avocados, easily sprouted from their large pits,
can be shaped into interesting bonsai, although they are unlikely to fruit in the
home. Many people grow jasmine and hibiscus as flowering plants without
realizing that these flowers are quite useful in herbal teas; I have also made
wine from the flowers of my bonsai jasmine and hibiscus specimens. While
not technically edible, aromatic tropical trees like camphor, New Zealand tea
tree, and eucalyptus can be grown as bonsai and provide a useful harvest.
Furthermore, many unusual tropical fruits that are little known outside of
their native areas could be experimented with as edible bonsai. I recommend
experimenting with what you find locally, or seeking out any variety that
captures your imagination. With the vastness of the Internet to search for
unique varieties, the possibilities are endless.
Bonsai plants have a reputation for being very easy to kill and hard to
grow, and for requiring a lot of time-consuming, detailed work. People are
afraid to prune the tops of their plants, much less trim the roots of their valu-
able aged specimen. People who are afraid to prune their houseplants end up
with long, spindly stems reaching for the ceiling with a little tuft of foliage
on top. Pruning such a plant in order to produce a pleasing shape is easy,
and creates a stronger, more stable plant. This is not much different from

shaping a plant as a bonsai. When a

plant is intended to produce a crop,
some considerations may be differ-
ent from traditional bonsai prac-
tice, outweighing ideals like always
maintaining a perfect shape. Larger,
fuller crowns are needed for a good-
sized crop, making the sparser, heav-
ily pruned style of bonsai unsuitable
if production is important. Some
desirable fruiting specimens, includ-
ing the large-fruited citrus varieties
like full-sized lemons, limes, orang-
es, and grapefruit, have leaves that
are larger than would be desired in a
more traditional bonsai style.
In traditional bonsai, the ideal
specimen has a pot that is no deep-
er than the diameter of the bonsai’s
trunk. Striving toward this “perfec- This seventy-inch-tall lemon tree
tion” leads to most bonsai being sold bends under the weight of its twenty-
in very shallow trays that are diffi- seven lemons.
cult to keep watered in homes with
heaters and dehumidifiers—a problem that is compounded in dry climates.
Especially when growing a large indoor bonsai specimen that might reach
several feet in height, a larger, deeper pot than is traditional must be used
to keep the plant healthy and productive. Root pruning—a requirement for
training a tree that might grow over fifty feet tall in its natural environment
to be an eighteen-inch specimen when it is 250 years old—also seems to be a
sticking point for many potential bonsai enthusiasts. Pruning for this type of
bonsai, as described in much bonsai literature, may involve washing all the
dirt from the roots just before the tree breaks its dormancy in the spring and

14 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI
Small roots were pruned in the process The original soil level can still be seen
of exposing the base of the trunk on the trunk of this strawberry tree.
and shaping the root ball of this
strawberry tree.
pruning a third of them before returning it to the same pot with fresh soil.
This is very intimidating to the novice.
Most of the varieties discussed in this book are shrubs and small trees
that are easy to keep in shape just by pruning the tops, although you some-
times have to let the tops get a little wild and wooly in flowering and fruiting
season. Most of these tropical plants do not go dormant (edible figs are an
exception) and cannot survive such harsh treatment as washing all the dirt
from the roots. Like most typical houseplants, repotting involves gently dis-
turbing the roots to stimulate growth into the new soil in a slightly larger pot.
Sometimes roots at the base of the trunk are pruned and exposed to simulate
aging and give the bonsai character. Because larger and deeper pots are used
than with traditional bonsai, harsh root pruning is seldom required. Lightly

pruning the foliage at the same time as repotting allows the plant to stay in
balance with the disturbed roots, preventing it from going into shock before
the new hair roots begin to grow and nourish your bonsai specimen.
Light requirements are another consideration in some situations. Most
flowering and fruiting tropical varieties in this book require bright light to do
their best; they may not produce if they don’t receive enough light. Edible figs
actually do much better outside during the summer. When they go dormant
and lose all their leaves for a couple months in the winter, figs do just fine
in a lower-light situation, or even a basement or garage kept above freezing,
until they start to sprout new leaves again in the spring and once again need
brighter light. Citrus plants are also happier outside in the summer, but in
climates with cloudy and colder winter conditions, these light-loving bonsai
specimens may need supplemental lighting. Inexpensive full-spectrum plant
light bulbs that screw into normal sockets or even track lighting can be found
in any large hardware or lighting store. Even a single 150-watt bulb can make
a huge difference when providing supplemental light for a large specimen
during low-light seasons.
Most people believe bonsai need constant daily misting in addition to
other the time-consuming work required to keep bonsai. This myth was
spread by workers at garden centers, who hoped that constant misting would
keep little juniper bonsai alive longer indoors, or at least keep foliage soft
enough that it would take a while for the bonsai enthusiast to realize the tree
was really quite dead. I observed this behavior during thirty-five years of
plant industry work while managing four large garden centers and operating
my own wholesale bonsai business for twenty years. In fact, daily misting
will benefit a bonsai for a week or so after repotting, since the disturbance to
the roots hampers the plant’s ability to draw water from the soil. This is espe-
cially true in dry climates and when repotting is done during warm weather.
Outside this period, however, the varieties described in this book have no
need for daily or even regular misting (although any specimen that will live
for years will benefit and look better after being rinsed in the shower or out-
side with a hose a couple of times a year).

16 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI
Another myth about bonsai is the belief that maintaining a bonsai speci-
men requires hours of detailed work and pruning on a regular basis. This is
a complete misconception. Traditional outdoor bonsai grow so slowly that
some varieties are only pruned once a year, and in cold climates are put into
cold storage with minimal care for the entire winter. Fast-growing tropical
bonsai need to be pruned several times a year; this can be seasonal depend-
ing on fruiting patterns. An edible fig can grow a three-foot shoot in a couple
months during the spring, during which period it may be pruned a couple
of times and then left alone until it goes dormant the next winter. Even fast-
growing herbs don’t need to be pruned more than once every month or two,
although if a perfectly groomed specimen is desired, herbs need much more
detailed work than slower-growing tropical bonsai or the traditional decidu-
ous or evergreen outdoor bonsai. Because herbs grow so quickly compared to
most tropical plants, and their leaves age and yellow in a much shorter time,
they need to be pruned more often. A neglected herbal bonsai can show a
lot of yellow leaves that are just a natural part of aging. Simply combing the
foliage with your fingers will remove most of these leaves; the last few can be
removed individually when grooming the herbal specimen for display.
Growing indoor bonsai that produce an edible crop doesn’t have to be
difficult. Water a couple times a week, fertilize once a month, prune a cou-
ple times a year, repot every couple of years, add supplemental lighting if
needed, and harvest your bonsai crop when ready. The varieties discussed
in this book will grow in typical potting soils—no need for special bonsai
mixes designed for evergreens and deciduous trees. Miniaturizing giant out-
door trees over decades and centuries requires very limited use of fertilizers,
but indoor tropical varieties grow year round and need regular feeding. As a
rule, most commonly available fertilizers used at recommended strength will
work just fine with these bonsai, although some varieties will prefer more
acidic fertilizers.
Growing indoor fruiting bonsai is much easier than it sounds and can
be very rewarding. Many people have sprouted citrus seeds and grown spin-
dly trees that seldom produce fruit; by using the proper varieties and giving

them the correct conditions, a surprising quantity of citrus fruit can be pro-
duced even in northern climates. Despite bonsai’s reputation for being dif-
ficult to grow and keep alive, anyone who is even moderately successful at
growing common houseplants should be able to grow spectacular indoor
tropical bonsai that can produce a usable crop. Many plant owners cultivate
the same few varieties of common houseplant that have no use beyond their
ability to cleanse the air and provide a pleasant atmosphere in the home. The
primary difference between these common houseplants and edible varieties
trained as bonsai is that flowering and fruiting varieties as a rule need bright
light, and thus may require supplemental lighting. The number of potentially
useful and edible varieties of tropical plants that can be trained as bonsai is
large, making possible a distinctive display of green plants unlike those in
most homes. Furthermore, serving a guest produce from a beautiful house-
plant can add a unique dimension to your hospitality, and makes for a very
rewarding experience.

18 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI

19
CHAPTER 2
Creating Instant
Bonsai
he easiest way to start your edible bonsai collection is to visit a

garden center and purchase an already-created bonsai from
T one of the varieties commonly used in the bonsai trade.
Australian cherries, dwarf pomegranates and Natal plums
should be easy to find this way. They will be small, like traditional bonsai,
and won’t bear heavily until they get some age and size. The garden center
may also have “bonsai starters,” which are less expensive partially shaped
trees in four- to six-inch pots. These groomed starters, which need a mini-
mum of pruning and often have large roots to expose upon repotting, can be
planted in nice pottery and will look good immediately.
Depending on the size and quality of your local garden center and the area
where you live, some of the varieties discussed here may be available as nursery
stock plants in one-, two-, or five-gallon nursery pots. Australian cherries,
pomegranates, olives, myrtles, figs, rosemary, and citrus are widely available in
larger pots even in colder climates where they aren’t planted outside as nursery
stock. Plants ordered through the Internet will likely be young and small,
allowing you to develop desired shapes as they grow. Most herbs and scented

20 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI
geraniums will be in pots no larger than six inches or one gallon, although
they grow quickly and can be shaped in any direction you choose.
Many bonsai guides offer strict instructions for shaping different bon-
sai with specific forms, keeping them as diminutive as possible. This book
changes the parameters, presenting bonsai that are larger than usual and
pruning times and patterns that are directed toward production of meaning-
ful crops. Some may be satisfied with a symbolic crop from a classic bonsai,
but this book considers production of a useful crop to be an important part
of the bonsai experience. It also focuses on creating larger bonsai than is
typical in order to maximize production.
The best way to accomplish this goal is to purchase a good-sized nurs-
ery plant and “carve” an instant bonsai. It is usually easy to find good-sized
blooming or fruiting citrus plants in five-gallon nursery pots. These can be
minimally shaped and repotted into nice pottery, giving you an impressive
specimen with a couple hours’ work. The first edible fig plant I trained as a
bonsai was a nursery “standard” in a five-gallon pot, delivered as a two-foot-
diameter ball of foliage atop a forty-eight-inch stem. I let the plant grow and
bear a first crop of figs that first summer. When it went dormant in the fall,
I took a saw to the stem two feet above the ground, leaving an unbranched
stubby trunk. When it sent out new shoots in the spring I left the ones I
wanted and pinched them several times. The tree grew a nice shape that sum-
mer and bore figs again. After another year of growing and pinching tips,
that fig bonsai has a full crown that is quite impressive in the summer and
bears a large crop of figs. Taking a large older plant and cutting it back dra-
matically can be the quickest way to create a spectacular bonsai in a relatively
short period of time. Besides figs, I’ve also done this with guavas, citrus,
Natal plums, and Australian cherries. Some of these were left with two-inch
diameter stubs and essentially no foliage, yet grew out a nice crown over the
next year with regular pruning.
Although it may not be as dramatic, a nice nursery plant can often be
pruned heavily, removing a third to more than half of the plant’s branches
and foliage, to create a beautiful bonsai immediately. This is where it is

CHAPTER 2 Creating Instant Bonsai 21
important to have a selection of plants to choose from, so you can select

the inner structure that will create the best bonsai. In addition to a good
main trunk, the ideal bonsai should have a nice main branch to one side
some distance above the ground. It should be balanced by another branch,
slightly higher up on the opposite side, for balance. A third branch should
grow from the back of the bonsai, providing depth. These branches should
come from different spots on the trunk rather than from the same original
leaf node. The lowest branch should be the thickest, with each succeeding
branch being a little smaller. Branches that project across the front, crossing
the trunk and obscuring the inner bonsai, should be removed. Of course, it is
unlikely that a large nursery plant will have this perfect shape, but hopefully
you have picked out something with good enough balance and shape to give
you something to work with. The
three plants illustrated in this chap-
ter were purchased at a local garden
center in Fort Collins, Colorado,
near my mountain home. The store
offered a selection of six strawberry
trees, a dozen myrtle-leaved orang-
es, and about thirty Key limes for me
to choose my specimens from.
Citrus can be very easy to shape as
bonsai. The large Key lime shown here
was about forty inches tall in a three-
gallon pot. It had just finished bloom-
ing and had some pea-sized fruits. It
was easy to see the future shape in this
plant even before anything had been
trimmed. Only five growing tips were
cut back, leaving the height of the The tallest growing tips were pruned
specimen thirty inches from ground when shaping the crown of this Key
level when finished. lime bonsai.

22 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI
Removing a strong branch that was Fresh soil being added when potting
too low on the trunk of this tree. the trimmed Key lime bonsai.
More than a dozen small, stubby, or spindly shoots were removed from
the bottom half of the tree. A few that could have been removed were left
because they carried small fruits. These would be removed after fruiting to
better expose the open branch form. The foliage crown was pruned from the
bottom up, exposing the bonsai structure, and the tips were pinched to fill
out the top of the crown. One thicker branch was removed from below the
main fork to open up the bonsai, allowing a good view of the flowing sym-
metry of the two main branches.
The front of the nursery tree in the photo became the rear of the finished
bonsai, showing the scar where the branch was removed. The marks where
some other branches were removed are visible; they will darken and scar over
with age. Because not much foliage needed to be removed from this speci-
men, the root ball was reduced very little. I exposed a little less than one inch
of trunk stem and just roughed up the edges of the root ball, adding some

Finishing the Key lime by covering the Completed Key lime bonsai. This
soil surface with gravel. specimen is thirty inches tall.
fresh soil in a pot big enough to give the bonsai some room to grow.
If you look closely, you can see I lost some small Key limes with that
larger branch, but it needed to be removed to look good, and there are other
fruits on the specimen. The left-flowing movement of the two main branches
is pleasing to the eye and is balanced by the foliage to the right, even though
the two main branches cross each other slightly. It may not have the “perfect”
shape, but it’s still a very attractive bonsai with strong branches, a nice full
crown, and a crop of small Key limes. Less than one month after shaping,
this bonsai had new flower buds opening. After dressing the soil surface with
fine pea gravel, I placed a snow-capped-mountain rock behind the bonsai to
draw attention through the plant, giving an illusion of depth with a moun-
tain in the distance.
The myrtle-leaved orange specimen shown here was twenty-four inches
tall in a one-gallon nursery pot, and was covered with clusters of little

24 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI
Pruning leaves and small branches Using a pointed bamboo stick to

from a myrtle-leaved orange tree. remove soil and expose the roots of
the newly carved bonsai.
oranges. The crown didn’t need to be cut back to obtain a nice shape, which
was a good thing because there were orange clusters on the branch tips. One
larger branch was removed from below the main fork, and a few oranges
went with it, although there are several dozen left on the bonsai. A number
of short branches and leaves were removed to expose the trunk and branch
structure and to define the lower limit of the crown.
During repotting, a sharpened bamboo stick was used to loosen soil
around the roots and base of the tree, exposing almost two inches of trunk
that had been below the soil.
A few small roots were removed when exposing the trunk, but the rest
of the root ball was only slightly disturbed. The tree was then planted with

Fresh soil should be tamped down The completed myrtle-leaved orange

around the root ball when potting. bonsai is twenty-four inches tall.
The original soil level can be seen on
the trunk.
some fresh soil in a pot large enough for it to grow in for a of couple years.
Exposing the trunk added to the height of the bonsai, and though the
top was not pruned, the finished specimen rises twenty-four inches above
the soil level. The added trunk length places the first branch at a nice inter-
val above the ground and adds to the aesthetic effect of the curving flow in
the trunk and branches of the bonsai. The soil surface was dressed with pea
gravel, then topped with a multi-colored agate chosen to reflect the curve of
the trunk and balance the “empty” side of the bonsai.
The strawberry tree shown here was about twenty-six inches tall in a
one-gallon nursery pot, and had flowers and buds in several of the growing
tips. Although it took off a large cluster of flowers, the tallest growing tip

26 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI

Opposite page, top left: This

strawberry tree has been removed
from its pot and is ready to be
trimmed.
Opposite page, top right: The bottom
branches have been pruned, and the
tall growing tip was removed.
Opposite page, bottom left: The
strawberry tree is now ready to place
into a bonsai pot.
Opposite page, bottom right: Fine pea
gravel is used to cover the soil surface
after the bonsai is potted.
Right: Strawberry tree bonsai. This
specimen is twenty-two inches tall.
was removed just above the point where three nice branches were sprout-
ing, bringing the crown of the bonsai into balance. More pinching will be
needed to develop the crown, but as the tips were producing clusters of buds,
they were left to grow, flower, and hopefully produce fruit before trimming.
About half an inch of trunk and a large root were exposed when shaping the
root ball before repotting, giving the finished bonsai a height of twenty-two
inches above the soil level.
The bonsai was placed in the pot just to the left of center to balance the
right-flowing movement in the tree’s structure. Leaves and small branches
were removed from the bottom up to shape the lower level of the crown.
Two large branches were removed, one of which was below the large first
limb left on the bonsai. The scars from removing those branches are visible,
but will fade over time. Even with this harsh treatment, one month later the
remaining buds were progressively blooming; the oldest flowers left on the
bonsai had dropped, leaving clusters of tiny strawberry fruits growing in
their place.

28 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI
After the surface was finished with pea gravel, a piece of black obsidian
collected in Oregon was selected to accent the bonsai. The rock was placed
to anchor, balance, and reflect the flowing movement of the trunk and main
flowering branch. The obsidian was particularly chosen for the contrast of its
black color against the white flowers and pottery; it also reflects the color of
the wingtips and neck of the sacred crane painted on the pot. The beautiful
painted pottery also contrasts well with the bright green leaves and red trunk
of the strawberry tree bonsai.
When creating these “instant” bonsai, the root ball usually cannot be flat-
tened enough to fit in a conventional shallow bonsai pot. Like their crowns,
the roots of traditional bonsai need years of training to be worked into shal-
low containers. The pots may depart from tradition in other ways, as well.
Solid-colored earth-tone pottery is the customary choice for evergreen trees,
while brightly colored or painted pottery is acceptable for flowering bonsai.
These days, however, people are more concerned with whether the pottery
style and color matches their home décor than its suitability for the bonsai.
If we are pursuing this art to please ourselves, rather than feeling forced to
follow tradition, the pottery style and color should reflect the artist’s prefer-
ences. Some may prefer to choose each individual pot to match the bonsai,
while others may want every pot in their bonsai collection to match.
Although it is not as fast as carving an instant bonsai, another way to
create a bonsai is to plant an inexpensive small plant such as a fast-growing
herb, scented geranium, or hot pepper directly in the ground. This technique
has been used in traditional bonsai with outdoor trees, which are planted in
the ground and encouraged to grow rapidly for several years. A fifteen-foot
tree would be dug up and cut back to less than two feet, providing a thick
trunk on which to develop a crown. By adapting this technique to fast-grow-
ing plants, a bonsai can be created in a single growing season.
Ideally this should be started in spring, at the beginning of the best grow-
ing season. Field-planting directly in the ground in a space with good soil
and ample available water will encourage rapid growth. I have taken a four-
inch pot of rosemary, like those available in any good garden center, and

field-grown a plant that produced a bonsai under two feet tall with a one-
inch diameter trunk in a single summer growing season. This can also be
done in a large pot while pushing growth with lots of water and fertilizer.
You won’t get as much growth as is possible in the field, but it will be easier
and less risky to move to a smaller pot when carving your large herb back
into a bonsai. Field-growing and digging a plant carries some risk of losing
the plant if conditions are too harsh, or if the root and crown pruning are
not balanced. For this reason, I recommend growing several plants to train
as bonsai. You may lose one or two, but an extra bonsai or three—especially
a desirable herb—always makes a great gift.
Most of these fast-growing varieties put out many more new sprout-
ing branches than will be needed to develop the bonsai structure. Your
young plant should be cut back to a basic skeleton of a bonsai, with just
the trunk and a couple of main branches pruned where you wish them to
branch again. All extraneous new shoots and branches should be removed.
As your bonsai-in-training grows, all new shoots on the trunk and main
branches should be removed regularly except for the new branches form-
ing at the tips of the pruned “skeleton.” These new branches should be
pinched at the point where you wish them to branch again. Don’t be too
obsessive about this process. Two to four pruning sessions through the
summer should be enough. The point is to push lots of growth in the
direction desired while keeping the plant from using too much of its ener-
gy developing unwanted branches. This process will work well even with
little or no trimming through the growing season, although one good trim
mid-season can make a big difference in the final shape. Refrain from
pruning for the last month or two of the growing season before it is time
to dig your specimen and replant it.
Digging a field-grown plant is necessarily a harsh procedure, likely caus-
ing root damage and reducing the plant’s ability to take in water for several
days as root tips redevelop. This is ideally done at the end of the growing
season in cool weather, before the first frost. Avoid digging field-grown
plants or repotting in hot weather, which will stress the plant too much. Your

30 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI
transplanted bonsai should kept out of the sun in a shady place to prevent it
from drying it out before new roots develop. You will need a rather deep pot.
You may want to consider using a training pot, like a ten-inch or two-gallon
plastic nursery pot, for six months or so before moving your bonsai into nice
display pottery.
In order to balance the unavoidable root damage when digging your field-
grown bonsai, a large amount of foliage in the crown must be removed. As
plants lose moisture through their leaves, enough foliage must be removed to
balance the damage done to the roots. All growing tips should be removed.
Some may be cut back severely depending on the seasonal growth and desired
bonsai shape. Lower foliage, especially large leaves, should be removed from
the bottom up to define the lower part of the crown. Expect to remove about
half or more of the plant’s leafy foliage to keep it in balance as it recovers
from potting. These plants grow quickly enough to recover rapidly, and can
look very good after just another month or two of growing in a pot.
If you purchase your potential bonsai through mail order or over the
Internet—which may be the only way to obtain some of the more unusual
tropical varieties like guavas or green tea, depending on your location—you
will probably get a small, young plant. My green-tea bushes arrived as single-
stem unbranched rooted cuttings six inches tall. In developing a small tropi-
cal plant as a bonsai, the best results will be obtained by pushing its growth
in a good-sized pot for a year or more with only minimal shaping before
cutting it back. Over a period of several years, this will create a thicker trunk
and a more dramatic appearance than restricting your bonsai-in-training to
a small pot with more frequent pruning within that same time span.
Of the many ways to create your edible bonsai, the easiest but least satisfying
is to purchase one already created. Perhaps the best way is to find a large nursery
plant and carve an instant bonsai. Explore the recesses of your local nurseries.
Talk to the greenhouse manager about your interests. Search online if you can’t
find your desired variety locally. In more than twenty years of business, I’ve cre-
ated tens of thousands of edible bonsai using the techniques described here, yet
I am always on the lookout for new varieties and sources to explore.

32 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI

33
CHAPTER 3
Bountiful Bonsai
Possibilities
here are many species and varieties of edible and useful plants
that can be trained as bonsai. Traditional concepts of bonsai
T can be put aside to allow for varieties that have leaves or fruit
much too large to have been considered acceptable through the
long history of this art form. While most people think bonsai are miniature
trees that couldn’t possibly bear enough fruit to be worthy of more than a
symbolic harvest, even strict traditionalists in the art will consider and create
bonsai up to six feet tall. To get a useful harvest from a bonsai, larger plants
are a must—perhaps beyond six feet in height if the available space, the
plant’s characteristics, and the artist’s desires make it suitable. The tree is still
being shaped artistically and confined to a pot that is smaller than the chosen
species would be allowed its natural habitat, growing in the ground.
While traditional bonsai are governed by artistic forms with strict guide-
lines, this book focuses on production of a useful harvest, which may prove
a more important consideration than achieving the perfect artistic form of
the tree. I personally have a difficult time removing a branch that is flower-
ing or bearing fruit in order to improve the artistic shape of the tree. If I
decide a branch must be removed for the long-term benefit of the bonsai’s
shape, the pruning is postponed until after the harvest. There are no strict
guidelines here. Everyone has different concepts and preferences as to what

34 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI
artistic perfection and bountiful harvests mean to them. Let these guide your
direction to manifest the type of bonsai you wish to grow. Just as it is possi-
ble to train a bonsai for years or even lifetimes, one can also use a harvest to
create products like jams, jellies, and canned fruits, or even teas, dry herbs,
or wines that can be stored and savored for many years. It’s possible to freeze
each year’s harvest over two or three years until you have enough volume
to ferment a small batch of wine. My collection includes edible bonsai that
have been in my training for over twenty years, and there are wines created
from bonsai harvests in my cellar that are more than twenty years old. While
displaying a bonsai that one has trained for twenty years is very satisfying,
there’s nothing quite like the satisfaction of pouring someone a twenty-year-
old glass of wine from the same bonsai that’s on display.
My focus here is mostly on tropical and Mediterranean plant varie-
ties which are active year-round, although some species may have dormant
periods even when grown indoors. These varieties may thrive outside year-
round in some climates, but they all can be grown entirely indoors under
proper conditions. I have grown and shaped all the varieties discussed
here, although not all of them have produced a harvest for me. Some, like
avocados, may never produce fruit when grown indoors, but can do so when
grown outdoors in a suitable climate. I have collected and experimented
with edible and useful varieties for several decades, and I’m always looking
for new varieties to try. While I expect most people to choose varieties that
appeal to their taste, few sources will have the wide variety discussed here.
Be open to the possibility of experimenting with species that are new or
unfamiliar to you.
Australian cherry (Eugenia myrtifolia) Also known as brush cherry, this

species has become widely used for indoor bonsai and is easily available in
most locations. My bonsai nursery has sold more Australian cherries than
any other species I grow. There are several varieties that make extremely
attractive bonsai, including the miniature version most commonly found
in shops and other sources that supply bonsai materials. One drawback

CHAPTER 3 Bountiful Bonsai Possibilities 35
to this miniature variety is that it

seldom flowers, and when it does,
it has only a few scattered blos-
soms. In twenty years of working
with miniature Australian cher-
ries, I have never seen a single
fruit develop on them. There are
also dwarf and standard varie-
ties with larger leaves that flower
reliably and often fruit very heav-
ily. These larger varieties can be
found in many locations and
are often used for big topiaries,
though their internode distance
and overall size makes them less This dwarf Australian cherry, started
commonly used as bonsai. I see from a five-gallon nursery plant, is
now full of flower buds. This specimen
them most often as large double-
is forty-six inches tall.
or triple-ball topiaries up to six
feet tall in local nurseries. Their
blooming season in my area is between June and September, with the
heaviest period of flowering occurring in August. The bright pink cher-
ries are really a type of berry rather than a true stone cherry; they’re not
exactly a sweet, juicy, delectable fruit. Though edible, they can be a lit-
tle dry and mealy, and are better used for cooking or drying and adding
to teas rather than eating fresh. While Australian cherries might not be
your first choice if harvesting succulent fruit is your objective, they can
be used to create the most spectacular “traditional” bonsai of any variety
discussed in this book, with the added bonus of edible fruit. This species
does very well indoors with bright light; their biggest requirement is lots
of water. In fact, they are difficult to overwater if they have good drainage
and bright light. It’s best to use a larger pot than suggested for traditional
bonsai so the soil doesn’t dry out quickly.

36 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI
Avocado (Persea americana) While many people have grown plants from
avocado pits, they may not have done so with creating bonsai in mind.
Avocados are quite easy to start: simply insert three toothpicks around
the circumference of the pit and half-submerge it in a glass of water.
The pit will split and send out roots and a green shoot that can grow
for several months in water before being transferred to soil and a pot.
The shoot should be pinched to make the plant branch as desired, and
can be shaped like any other bonsai. Avocados have large leaves, and are
best developed as a large-specimen bonsai so the leaves won’t look so
out of place. The literature says avocados seldom or never fruit indoors,
and my experience backs this up. I have started and grown several with
no success at fruiting, but someone in a suitable climate like California
may be able to grow one outdoors and produce fruit successfully. At
the very least, avocados are a cheap and easy way to start a potentially
edible bonsai, and can be a great way to introduce a child to growing
plants and shaping a tree.
Bahama berry (Nashia inaguensis) Bahama berry, also called pineapple

verbena, is a small tropical woody herb with tiny bright-green leaves
and a strong fragrance often described as a pineapple-vanilla blend. It
blooms freely with tiny white flowers, and can develop orange berries
that make a great addition to teas. Bahama berry has become popular
for use as bonsai and can often be found at bonsai shops. Like other
herbs, it is a fast grower, gets root-bound quickly, and requires plenty
of pruning. If grown indoors, it will need very bright light and plenty
of water.
Barbados cherry (Malpighia glabra) Barbados cherry, also called

acerola, is a subtropical tree widely grown for its attractive flowers and
ornamental fruit. Though sour, the fruit has good flavor and is used
in jams, juices, wines, and baby foods. It is grown commercially as the
best organic source of vitamin C. The leaves can be used for herbal teas.

Barbados cherries are a popular subject for bonsai and should be easy
to find. Nurseries in milder climates will likely have larger specimens
that can be carved into bonsai that will bear fruit right away. Barbados
cherry is fairly easy to grow with well-drained soil and regular watering.
Its vitamin C content alone makes it worth cultivating.
Basil (Ocimum basilicum) Most people are familiar with basil as a soft
herb used in cooking that wouldn’t seem to be a good candidate for
bonsai. While basil might not survive as a bonsai for long enough to
pass down through the generations, it is a woody shrub that can sur-
vive for years in the right conditions. My dinner last night included
fresh basil from a bonsai specimen that is currently thriving in its sec-
ond winter in my Colorado greenhouse. Basil requires bright light and
warm temperatures to do well. Without the use of a greenhouse or
solarium in cooler or northern climates, it will need a bright south
or west window through the winter, and would benefit greatly from
the addition of a spotlight-type full-spectrum plant light that supplies
both heat and light. There are many varieties of basil; the smaller-
leaved specimens like bush basil (O. basilicum minimum) make the
most attractive bonsai. Standard sweet basil, as well as the exotic and
fragrant lemon, lime, and cinnamon basils, are a good compromise
between wanting a perfect small bonsai specimen and harvesting a
large crop. Opal basil, with its beautiful purple leaves, can make a
spectacular bonsai. Fast-growing herbs like basil are perhaps the most
useful of all edible bonsai: one nice specimen can provide a fresh har-
vest for use in cooking several times a week. Basil should definitely be
pruned back when it develops flowering spikes. Because it grows very
quickly in good conditions, it can sometimes get out of hand and lose
its bonsai shape. But it can be cut back sharply, even to solid wood, and
will sprout out again to form a new shape and provide a continual har-
vest. Basil stems can get quite woody with age, making this a uniquely
different, beautiful, and useful bonsai.

38 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI
Bay laurel (Laurus nobilis) Sweet

bay leaf, commonly used in the
kitchen, comes from a large,
slow-growing shrub that is
quite attractive. One specimen
can easily provide all the leaves
needed, even for a cook who
uses them often. Every pruning
will provide leaves that can be
dried and stored for long periods
until needed in the kitchen. Like
many other species, sweet bay
will often send out side shoots or
suckers from low on the trunk;
these need to be pruned away This thirty-inch sweet bay laurel has
along with the growing tips of been in training for twelve years;
it was started from a five-gallon
the specimen. While bay leaves
nursery pot.
are used to flavor foods, they are
fibrous and indigestible—in fact, the strong rib in the leaf can actually
be dangerous if it pierces the wall of a digestive organ. Tender young
side shoots shorter than an inch or two can be consumed without this
danger, offering many new possibilities in the kitchen.
Black olive (Olea europeae) Olive trees are highly desired ornamental
trees in many locations, and also provide commercial olives and oils
for the table. Black olives are widely available at commercial nurseries,
although these ornamental varieties are generally non-fruiting. Many
people who want olive trees seem to have no interest in harvesting and
using the fruit, perhaps hoping to avoid the mess of unwanted fruit drop-
ping in their yard. My experience with these ornamental non-fruiting
varieties is primarily as a staple in my wholesale bonsai nursery business.
Olives tolerate dry conditions in the home very well and are easy to grow,

though somewhat slow to develop. It will take repeated pruning over

time to develop a nice crown, but at a young age the trunk begins to
develop the characteristic gnarled, knobby bark that makes the black
olive an attractive bonsai specimen. The non-fruiting varieties, which
have long, pointed silver-green leaves and occasionally produce small
yellow flowers, are gaining wider use in traditional bonsai circles, and
can often be found in bonsai collections at nurseries that carry a good
selection of indoor bonsai. Be aware there is also another species with
shiny rounded green leaves, the Florida black olive (Bucida buceras),
which is often called black olive and is sold in many bonsai collections.
The two species are not related, and the seed capsules of the Florida
black olive are inedible.
Blood orange (Citrus sinensis)

In my experience, larger citrus
varieties like oranges and grape-
fruit are more difficult and less
productive than the smaller cit-
rus varieties discussed here, but
blood oranges have worked well
for me. Blood oranges are an
unusual and delectable fruit, and
are spectacular when used in
gourmet cooking. One of my all-
time favorite recipes, described
in Chapter 6, “The Bountiful
Harvest,” uses blood oranges.
Large-fruited citrus like this
will form larger trees, and will
therefore require ample space
and bright light. They may need The fourteen fruits on this sixty-three-
supplemental artificial lighting inch blood orange tree are nearly ripe.

40 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI
through the winter, especially

in northern climates. All citrus
will benefit from outdoor condi-
tions in the summer; letting bees
help pollinate the flowers in late
spring will increase fruit produc-
tion. Most citrus plants bloom
most heavily in early spring,
but will have scattered flowers
throughout the year, providing a
delightful fragrance in the house.
Buddha’s hand citron (Citrus

medica var. sarcodactylis) The
fruit of this unique citrus resem- These blood oranges are ripe enough
bles a bright yellow hand full of to eat, but with more time will develop
fingers. It has no pulp or juice; it is a purplish mottling on the rind. The
flesh will become sweeter, turning
usually solid all the way through.
from orange to reddish-purple.
The fragrant fruit can be diced
and used like citrus zest in a wide
variety of foods. The Buddha’s
hand flowers in clusters during
early spring and, in my experi-
ence, often drops small fruit that
apparently did not get pollinated.
Because the fruits are so desir-
able, I have worked hard to pol-
linate my specimens. I’ve tried
hand pollination with a small
paintbrush, and I’ve moved them
outside on warm spring days to A Buddha’s hand citron. This fruit is
attract the first local bees to the about nine inches long and six around.

flowers. While most flowers drop without producing, I usually manage

to get a few fruits to grow. My best year produced nine fruits from three
specimens—enough to make two cases of wine and have some frozen
to use in cooking for the next year. I love the name, flavor, and unique
shape of this fruit, and my Buddha’s hand bonsai is one of the most prized
specimens in my collection.
Calamondin orange (× Citrofortunella microcarpa) Calamondin oranges

are a created hybrid, believed to be a cross between mandarin oranges and
kumquats, whose origin is lost to history. They are not found in the wild.
The entire fruit is edible: the peel is sweet and the pulp is sour. These fruits
are commonly used as a garnish for drinks or cocktails, and are some-
times frozen before use. They are delightful in cooking—simply chop them
whole, removing the seeds, and add them to any dish. They can also be
made into marmalade or wine. Calamondins have smaller leaves and fruit
than a full-sized citrus, and are more shrublike, making them ideal for
growing as citrus bonsai. In my experience, calamondins are the easiest
to grow of the dozen or so cit-
rus varieties I have experimented
with, and are by far the most pro-
lific. They bear two crops a year for
me, blooming in spring with a crop
of ripe oranges before Christmas
and flowering again around New
Year’s Day to produce another
crop in the spring. These oranges
are often given as gifts during the
Chinese New Year, as Chinese tra- Variegated calamondin oranges lose
dition holds that oranges in the their variegation when they turn
ripe. The golf-ball-sized fruits have
house bring health, abundance, an intense orange flavor, and can be
and good fortune during the com- used, peel and all, in many types of
ing year. Calamondins will hang cooking.

42 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI
on the tree for several months after

ripening without going bad, and are
best “stored” on the tree until used,
although they can also be frozen for
use in cooking. Under proper con-
ditions, a calamondin will bear ripe
fruit to pick almost year-round, even
in a cold climate like my Colorado
mountain home. There is also a gor-
geous yellow variegated variety that
makes a spectacular bonsai. Even
the fruit is variegated until it turns
ripe. Because of its easy growth and
prolific production, I would strongly
recommend the calamondin as a first
choice for anyone wishing to grow a
citrus bonsai.
Camphor laurel (Cinnamomum

camphora) Camphor is a large
evergreen tree with attractive,
deeply fissured bark and large leaves
that produce essential oils used
in culinary spices and medicines.
Camphor is widely used in over-the-
counter medicines, and the leaves can
Top: Ripe calamondin oranges show
be crushed to release the camphor
up nicely against this forty-two-inch-
tall variegated bonsai. fragrance. While I wasn’t impressed
with the first young tree I received,
Bottom: These ripe calamondins still
which looked like a whip with giant
show faint signs of their variegation.
They will not turn the bright orange of leaves, I have found that after several
calamondins from a green variety. years of pruning the camphor can

make a spectacular bonsai, with

plenty of leaves to use for potpourri
or medicinal steams. My oldest
specimen flowered regularly, though
it never produced berries. This is a
fast-growing large tree that requires
regular hard pruning to shape, but
it will develop nicely, and the leaves
will be smaller if a well-branched
crown is produced.
Carob (Ceratonia siliqua) Carob,

an evergreen shrub native to the
Mediterranean region, is widely
used in foods, and is often consid-
ered a substitute for chocolate. The
leaf stems and new growth are a
deep burgundy color that contrasts
nicely with the shiny green leaves
and brown bark. Carob also devel-
ops a gnarled root system at the base
of the trunk that adds a distinctive
aged character to the bonsai. Like
Top: Crushing the leaves of the most Mediterranean varieties, carob
camphor tree releases a strong prefers well-drained soils, tolerates
camphor scent, recognizable in many dry conditions, and is well suited to
over-the-counter medications. This
growing indoors in bright areas. My
sixty-five-inch tree with a four-foot-
diameter crown has been in training carob bonsai has been in training
for sixteen years. for over a dozen years and has yet
Bottom: The impressive root structure to flower or bear seed pods, but is
on the camphor tree gives it great nonetheless a beautiful and unique
character and an aged appearance. specimen.

44 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI
Castilian guava (Psidium guineese)

Also known as Brazilian guava,
this small herbaceous shrub native
to Central and South America is
considered an invasive weed in
other parts of the world where
it has become naturalized. The
pale-yellow fruit is less than an
inch long, with many small, hard
seeds. My specimen has flowered
heavily but only produced a few
small fruits. Castilian guava has a
light tan bark that peels and curls
away from the trunk and large
branches in thin sheets, adding a
distinctive aged character to the
Above: This forty-eight-inch carob tree
has been in training for about eight
years. It was started from a one-gallon
nursery stock plant.
Above: Ripening Castilian guavas

show a scale infestation that was
treated after picking the guavas.
Left: This Castilian guava has been
in training for a couple years from a
small five-gallon nursery plant; it now
has a few small fruits. This specimen
is forty-three inches tall.

bonsai specimen. Bright light, well-drained soil, and frequent watering

will keep a Castilian guava happy indoors.
Chilean guava (Ugni molinae) Chilean guava is a small shrub with deep
green leaves on red twigs. It bears delicate pink bell-shaped flowers in
spring, and forms delightful small fruits, less than half an inch in diam-
eter, which are more like a sweet berry than other guavas. These are
wonderful fresh as they ripen from pink to purple. The Chilean guava is
the smallest of the guavas, and is easy to grow as a tabletop bonsai that
can bear abundant, though small, fruit. The leaves are only one to two
centimeters long, giving them a scale perfect for creating a more tradi-
tional bonsai that will flower and bear edible fruit. Like other members
of the myrtle family, its leaves have a spicy scent when crushed. Chilean
guava will grow well indoors as long as it doesn’t get too hot; they prefer
moist, well-drained soil and medium to bright light.
Chilean myrtle (Luma apiculata) Chilean myrtle is a very attractive

shrub with small dark-green leaves that give off a spicy scent when
crushed. Fragrant white flowers in early summer lead to edible blu-
ish-black berries in the fall. The papery bright orange bark peels away
from the creamy white underbark, creating a beautiful contrast on the
trunk and main branches. This has always been one of my favorite
bonsai for demonstrations, display, and sales. It produces enough
foliage to offer a regular aromatherapeutic lift by picking and crush-
ing a leaf. I would do this for anyone visiting my greenhouse, just to
see the sparkle in their eyes when smelling the delightful fragrance.
This alone would convince a skeptic of the value of aromatherapy!
Easy enough to grow indoors in bright light, Chilean myrtles need
plenty of water to support their numerous leaves. This is a great spe-
cies for anyone wishing to grow a traditional-looking indoor bonsai
that will produce abundant foliage and edible berries that are easy
and fun to use.

46 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI
Coffee (Coffea arabica) Coffee

trees are easy to find, and grow
well as houseplants. Like nearly
everything else these days, online
sources are a click away, but I have
also found coffee trees as groups
of about half a dozen seedlings
in inexpensive four-inch foliage
plant collections in flower shops
and greenhouses throughout the
United States. The plants can be
separated easily at this stage or
grown as a grove. They will grow
quickly enough to develop a nice
shape in a couple of years, and
will be impressive even sooner
Though this forty-six-inch Chilean

myrtle bonsai needs pruning,
weeding, and a gravel finish, it bears
fragrant mid-summer flowers.
as a grove. It may take a seedling

three to five years to flower. My
older specimens flowered regularly
and produced a few beans. A large
coffee bonsai can produce enough
beans to bring great satisfaction
to the grower, even though the
harvest will never be significant.
At about four years old, this coffee
Even a single ceremonial tasting is
tree grove is not yet ready to produce
beans. This specimen is thirty-four a very rewarding way to expand the
inches tall. artistic experience of bonsai.

Costa Rican mint bush (Satureja viminea) This mint grows quickly
into a very woody shrub with attractive fissured bark and small, round,
bright lime-green leaves. Tiny white flowers bloom profusely along the
stems on a regular basis. The plant contains high levels of menthol oil,
the source of mint flavoring that is also used in many over-the-counter
medicines. Barely brushing against the leaves will release a strong mint
fragrance into the air. While this plant is widely grown and used in
Costa Rica, it was only discovered and named in the latter part of the
twentieth century; it is not listed in my 1976 edition of Hortus Third,
the definitive dictionary of cultivated plants in the United States. When
writing my book Herbal Bonsai (published in 1996), I tracked down a
member of the expedition that discovered and named this plant, and
learned that the local population cuts branches of it to place on coals
under grilling meats. It is also used as a medicinal herb, primarily in
teas, because of the menthol content. The Costa Rican mint bush grows
very quickly and often sends out strong new shoots from the ground,
roots, trunk, and large branches of the bonsai. These will grow much
more vigorously than the growing tips of the tree and should be removed
regularly, unless the artist wishes to dramatically change the shape of
the bonsai. All of the lower shoots must be removed or the bonsai will
quickly start to look like a multi-trunked bush instead of a miniature
tree. A mint bush bonsai requires very bright light and lots of water.
Being more of a woody herb than an actual tree, it will benefit from
a larger pot with more soil than most other bonsai discussed here. It
will also become pot-bound more quickly, necessitating more frequent
repotting. Because of its fast growth and high menthol content, one
medium-sized Costa Rican mint bush will likely produce as much mint
flavoring as any family could use. The leaves can be used fresh or dried,
and the stems—like those of many types of herbs—can be saved to soak
in water and place on coals under foods being grilled. With its attractive
appearance, bright lime-green leaves, and intense fragrance, this plant

48 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI
often made the biggest impression

on any of the visitors to my
greenhouse. Unfortunately, it is not
really produced on a commercial
basis and may not be easy to find,
perhaps because it attracts insect
pests like white fly and aphids.
Despite this, I consider Costa Rican
mint bush a very desirable plant to
grow, and it has a place of value in
my collection.
Dwarf Lemon (Citrus limon) The

earliest uses and cultivation of lem-
This four-year-old Costa Rican mint ons are lost to history, but there
bush, grown from a cutting, is now are many varieties available today.
thirty-six inches tall. The leaves have
Eureka lemons are the common
a very strong mint fragrance.
grocery-store lemon; Lisbon lem-
ons are very similar. Meyer lemons
(Citrus × meyeri), a less acidic, round fruit derived from a cross between
a lemon and an orange, have become very popular. All three of these
varieties are widely grown as ornamentals and can be found in large
garden centers everywhere. Ponderosa lemons, believed to be a natural
cross between a lemon and a citron, bear large fruit with a bumpy rind
that can weigh as much as a pound; they are used like regular lemons. A
variegated pink lemon is also available, with attractive green-and-white
foliage and a pink tinge to new growth. The fruit is similar to the com-
mon Eureka lemon except for the variegated rind that disappears as the
fruit ripens; the pink flesh and juice inside, similar to regular lemons in
taste, is a delightful surprise, and can be used to make natural pink lem-
onade. These beautiful citruses are becoming more common, as some of
the large commercial ornamental plant growers have been distributing

Top: This variegated pink lemon has

been in training for a couple years.
The forty-eight-inch specimen began
as a five gallon nursery stock plant.
Top: This seventy-inch lemon tree is Bottom: This pink lemon was
struggling to bear the weight of its variegated before turning ripe. New
twenty-seven lemons. flower buds can be seen developing
Bottom: Ripe lemons ready to pick. on a lower branch.

50 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI
them to nurseries all over the country as part of their citrus collec-
tions. Most lemons sold in nurseries are grafted onto vigorous citrus
rootstocks that actually make for a stronger plant that is easy to grow,
while also keeping the lemon tree growing as a dwarf rather than a large
standard tree. Traditional bonsai artists may be horrified at using graft-
ed trees, but we are breaking new ground here; most citrus rootstocks
have thick trunks and nice large exposed roots that can add greatly to
the character of the bonsai. New shoots or “suckers” will sometimes
sprout from below the graft. These will look different from the upper
growth and should be removed whenever they are seen. Besides detract-
ing from the appearance of the bonsai, they will grow quickly, sapping
strength from the desirable lemon-producing part of the tree. Lemons
need bright light, and benefit from extra artificial lighting if winter
conditions don’t provide enough natural sunlight; they thrive outside
during the summer. All of my citrus here in Colorado grows better and
looks healthier when grown outside in the summer. A good dose of acid
fertilizer can help the lemon tree stay healthy and produce a lot of fruit.
A natural source of acidity, which citrus seem to love—though not a
replacement for acid fertilizer—is some coffee grounds thrown on the
surface of the their soil. When ripe, lemons can be left on the tree for a
long time to be picked when needed. Along with the flowers, which are
wonderfully fragrant, the myriad uses of fresh lemons make this one of
the most desirable of all the edible bonsai. Given the right conditions,
lemons are comparatively easy to grow and can be quite productive.
Dwarf lime (Citrus aurantifolia) Persian limes, similar in size to lem-

ons, are found everywhere in markets. The most common variety,
especially as an ornamental widely available in nurseries, is called
Bearss seedless lime. The Key lime, also called a Mexican lime, is a
small round lime with intense flavor that is well known and highly
desirable for use in cooking and making beverages. Commercial Key
lime trees are often grafted, but strong trees can be grown from a seed

out of a store-bought Key lime. Kaffir lime (Citrus hystrix) is a small

rough-skinned lime that is primarily grown for its leaves; it doesn’t
seem to fruit well when cultivated indoors. Lime leaves are used as
medicine and as a culinary spice in many Southeast Asian cuisines.
Most people are unaware that green limes are not completely ripe. If
left on the tree long enough, limes will turn yellow, retaining the green
color in the juice and pulp and growing sweeter as they ripen. All of
the above-mentioned varieties are easy to find, and details of their care
and growth are essentially the same as for lemon trees. Smaller Key
limes, which have small leaves, can make a bonsai similar in scale to
traditional bonsai. Limes are easy to grow, can be very productive, and
make a great addition to any citrus bonsai collection.
Dwarf Pomegranate (Punica granatum var. nana) Dwarf pomegranate

is a pretty shrub with small leaves. It flowers profusely in the spring and
at other times of year with striking orange to red flowers. The plants
develop fruit that average two to three inches in diameter; while small
and not as juicy as standard full-sized pomegranates, they are edible.
Standard pomegranates, which are not as easy to grow indoors, have
large leaves and go dormant through the winter, even indoors. They
can have spectacular flowers and produce full-sized fruit, but are not as
suitable for bonsai cultivation as the dwarf variety. Dwarf pomegranates
are fairly easy to find in well-stocked garden centers, and are generally a
prominent component of indoor bonsai collections at these retail loca-
tions. Dwarf pomegranates will stay evergreen and flower often when
kept in a warm environment. Exposure to temperatures near freezing
will cause them to go dormant at least briefly, showing bright yellow
“fall color” in the foliage and dropping all the leaves. With renewed
warmth, however, they will sprout new green growth very quickly. The
dwarf pomegranite is a good choice for anyone wishing to start growing
edible bonsai, as they are easy to find and grow. They will reward the
grower by producing flowers as well as fruit almost immediately.

52 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI
This dwarf pomegranate, started from This close-up shows a nearly ripe
a five-gallon nursery stock plant, has dwarf pomegranate and a flower bud.
been in training for a year and seven
months. It is forty-two inches tall.
Edible Figs (Ficus carica) Edible figs are native to the Middle East, the
cradle of civilization; they have been grown as a diet staple since before
recorded history, and were likely the first plant to be intentionally
cultivated. Fossilized figs have been found in Neolithic villages dated
from before 9000 BCE, and figs are mentioned in the oldest literature.
They hold a special place in the history of food culture and have
long been considered a romantic, even erotic food to serve to a lover.
There are many ornamental fig species, including the common Ficus
benjamina, which is widely used for indoor landscaping and easily

available everywhere. These shiny-leaved evergreen ornamental figs can

also make nice bonsai, but they don’t produce edible fruit. Edible figs
have very large, dull leaves that are hairy underneath; they go dormant
in the winter, even when kept in the greenhouse. Some cultivars
can survive quite cold temperatures when dormant. The desirability
of edible figs has given rise to elaborate strategies for helping them
survive cold winters and bear fruit afterward: surrounding the entire
tree with a mulch-filled cage; or digging a trench out from one side
of the tree, severing half the roots on the opposite side, and laying
the entire tree down into the trench to be covered with mulch. It
seems much easier to just grow the fig in a large pot and move it to a
protected space during the winter. Edible fig trees can grow very large,
however, and will need yearly pruning to keep the size manageable for
your available space. One of the best ways to train a fig bonsai is as a
large patio tree, grown outside through the summer season and moved
to a protected space such as a porch, garage, basement, or spare room
while dormant in winter. Figs tolerate temperatures down to freezing
at this time, and take up less space after the large leaves have dropped
off. Edible figs thrive in hot weather. As long as your fig bonsai gets
enough water, it will be happier outside in the summer than in the
brightest window. Figs need a lot of water, especially when producing
fruit, and will benefit from as large a pot as you can give them. It
is nearly impossible to overwater an edible fig in a pot with good
drainage; the fruit will not be as juicy if the tree is allowed to dry out
between watering times. They can start bearing figs by mid-summer
and will still be producing when the leaves drop for the winter. There
are probably thousands of different fig cultivars, and they are grown
everywhere in the world that the local climate permits. The varieties
I’ve grown seem to be pretty similar in growth habits and general
appearance. The difference is primarily in the fruit. The Brown Turkey
variety is large, with a dark purplish-brown color when ripe. These figs
mature much later than many other varieties and can often be found

54 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI
fresh in produce departments of

good grocery stores when in
season. Kadota is a white- or
green-skinned fig with amber
to salmon-colored flesh; it can
produce from early summer into
the fall. I found a similar variety
called White Texan in Austin,
Texas, but with a whitish blush
to the fruit and a pale amber
flesh. The Peter’s Honey Fig is
a yellowish-green fig with light
golden-yellow flesh. When I was
selling edible bonsai at the local
farmer’s market, the fig trees
attracted more attention than
citrus with ripe fruit. People
would spot them from across
the market and make a beeline
for my display. When they saw
that dramatic fig bonsai full of
fruit, they inevitably wanted
one of their own. Figs grow
vigorously and can send out
more than three feet of new
growth in a single growing
season if not pinched back. It
Top: This Celeste edible fig is still in a
should be noted, however, that plastic training pot after two years of
pinching can delay or reduce training. This specimen is fifty inches
fig production. Woody sections tall from the surface of the soil.
with at least two leaf nodes Bottom: Close-up of a fig on the
pruned from a mature tree can Celeste tree.

be readily rooted by dipping one end into rooting hormones and

planting in a light potting soil. Young plants make a great gift and
will often bear figs their first summer. Of course, if you get several,
you may decide to keep them all and create your own orchard in
moveable pots.
Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus sp.) There are well over five hundred species
of eucalyptus, mostly native to Australia; various sources report from
one to five hundred species currently growing in California. Apparently
eucalyptus hybridizes easily and has a widely varying general appearance
in both leaves and bark, yet many species closely resemble each other
and are hard to differentiate. Flowers can be showy, but my specimens
have never bloomed indoors. The main variety I’ve grown as bonsai,
called peppermint willow (Eucalyptus nicholii), has narrow gray-green
leaves that emit a strong peppermint fragrance when crushed. The
large, hairy, teardrop-shaped leaves of the lemon eucalyptus (Corymbia
citriodora), the source of citronella, have a strong lemon component
in their essential oils; my specimens have developed elaborate twisted
exposed roots. Eucalyptus oils, widely used in medicines, perfumes,
and flavorings, are collected by boiling the leaves in water to distill the
essential oils. Used in cough drops, decongestants, and other medicines,
eucalyptus has a soothing effect on the respiratory system, and the
leaves can be boiled uncovered on the stove to create a soothing steam
as a room humidifier. Eucalyptus is perhaps the most useful tree on the
planet. The wood is very hard when dry and has been used extensively
in many kinds of construction, as well as for fuel. It grows so quickly
that there is much interest in using various eucalyptus species for
biomass production of fuels. Because they use a lot of water, eucalyptus
trees have even been used in mass plantings to drain swampy areas
harboring malarial mosquitoes. They need well-drained soil and should
be watered heavily and frequently. While eucalyptus is more useful than
edible, it makes an interesting addition to any bonsai collection.

56 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI
Green tea (Camellia sinensis)

Camellias, widely grown
ornamental trees native to
Southeast Asia that have long been
prized for their showy flowers,
were often featured in ancient
Chinese paintings. After being
introduced to England in the mid-
eighteenth century, they became
the most prized luxury flower in
Europe until commercial orchids
arrived on the scene. Several
species of camellias are grown for
their flowers, their seed oils, and
the tea made from the leaves. The
most significant, of course, is the
green tea bush (Camellia sinensis)
responsible for the drink that
rivals coffee as the preeminent
hot beverage around the world.
White, green, and black teas are all
produced from the same leaves by
Top: Green tea flowers are smaller using different curing techniques.
than other camellias, but they are The finest teas are made from the
beautiful and prolific. tender new growth picked every
Bottom: This sixteen-inch green tea couple of weeks, although I save
bonsai was shipped to me as a six- every leaf when I prune my tea
inch tall rooted cutting. I allowed
bushes. Ornamental camellias are
several new shoots to develop to
balance the strong flowing movement known for having large, showy
of the main stem, as well as to flowers that bloom in the dead
produce more foliage for harvesting. of winter in Europe and North

America, which may explain their popularity. The green tea plant
has small but pretty flowers less than two inches across, with white
petals surrounding the camellia’s trademark showy cluster of big
yellow stamens. Ornamental camellias usually just bloom once, in
midwinter, but the green tea plants in my house and greenhouse
bloom all winter long. Preferring an acidic, well-drained soil,
with frequent watering and bright light, the green tea plant can be
shaped into attractive tabletop-sized bonsai that flowers frequently.
Its useful harvest makes for a unique homegrown treat.
Hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis) Tropical hibiscus is widely grown

as an ornamental shrub, and is easy to find in garden centers and
nurseries everywhere. It has large, shiny leaves and is known for its
large, spectacular flowers in many colors. The edible flowers can be
added to salads and are used for teas and other drinks, contributing
color, flavor, and vitamins whenever they are used. Hibiscus flowers
are also used in shampoos and other hair treatments. Drying and
saving flowers from a good-sized hibiscus bonsai can produce plenty
of useful material. Roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa) is the species most
widely used for consumption around the world and in commercial
preparations. It is the fleshy calyx that surrounds and holds the pet-
als, rather than the petals themselves, that is used in many kinds
of hot and cold beverages. Roselle is not easy to find in plant form,
but the seeds are available from some specialty companies. Tropical
hibiscus plants are easy to grow and shape as attractive bonsai, and
can be found in nearly every plant shop. There are some miniature
varieties better suited to bonsai, and at least one miniature with var-
iegated foliage and small flowers that can make a very striking bon-
sai specimen. Hibiscus bonsai thrive with rich soil, bright light, and
ample water. They can get large, but will reward the grower with
beautiful and useful flowers.

58 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI
Hot peppers (Capsicum sp.) The bewildering variety of peppers found

in gardens and markets everywhere are cultivated from five basic
species—C. annuum, C. frutescens, C. chinense, C. pubescens, and
C. baccatum. Peppers are native to the Americas, but have spread
worldwide and now constitute an important part of the local cuisine
in many countries. Almost every gardener has grown peppers, but few
consider that they can be more than summer annuals. Peppers can
grow as a woody shrub that will live for several years and produce
peppers continually, even in winter. The small ornamental peppers
available in flower shops everywhere are an obvious choice for bonsai;
their dwarf stature and small leaves and fruit almost create a natural
bonsai without much pruning. Many hot culinary peppers are not
dwarf varieties, but still make nice bonsai if pruned and kept in
check. Which variety is best depends more on the grower’s culinary
preference than the plant’s dwarf characteristics. I’ve grown a number
of them, including jalapeno, habanero, kung pao, cayenne, and a small
red spicy pepper called Apache that’s a new favorite. I’ve even wintered
a pepper in a pot, planted it in the ground the following summer, and
dug it back up for a second winter in a pot—although this is harder
on the plant than just keeping it in a container full time. If the crown
of a pepper bush gets leggy and droops, and doesn’t have great shape,
the bush can be pruned dramatically to thick wood and it will sprout
and flower again very quickly. The main requirement for hot peppers
to thrive is warm temperatures. I place them on an overhead shelf
in my winter greenhouse, closer to the peak than the floor, to take
advantage of the warmth up there when the sun is shining. Peppers
will survive the winter in a bright sunny window, and benefit from the
heat and additional light of a well-placed spotlight-type full-spectrum
plant light. Rich potting soil and frequent fertilization will keep your
pepper plants happy and productive. One problem with peppers is their
tendency to attract insects, especially aphids, which tend to flourish
under indoor conditions. The best way to deal with an infestation is to

wash the plant with a high-pressure water spray and then spray it with
soapy water to suffocate any insects that have survived the washing.
Jaboticaba (Myrciaria cauliflora) Jaboticaba is a small, slow-growing

tree native to Brazil. Its attractive two-toned peeling bark and pale
salmon-colored new growth, which turns into light-green leaves,
have contributed to its recent popularity and availability for use as an
indoor bonsai subject. A distinctive feature of jaboticaba is the one- to
two-inch purple-black fruits resembling large grapes that form on very
short stems directly off the trunk and main branches. These fruits are
eaten fresh right off the tree, and do not keep long after picking. It is far
more common to see them processed into jams, wines, liqueurs, and
other foods than available fresh, except in local markets. Jaboticaba
grows slowly and will take some time to produce fruit—anywhere from
six to twenty years, according
to various authorities. The
specimen I’ve been training
for five years has yet to flower.
Jaboticaba is a graceful tree with
delicate foliage that can make a
beautiful classic bonsai, whether
it fruits or not. A heavier soil full
of mulch that can hold moisture
is best for these water-loving
trees. They are often flooded for
weeks in their native habitat, and
prefer a moist soil with frequent
watering. The only problem I’ve
observed with my jaboticaba
This forty-one-inch jaboticaba started
bonsai is damage to the foliage
as a small tree shipped to me in a
if it dries out too much between six-inch pot. It has been in training for
watering periods. five years.

60 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI
Jasmine (Jasminum sp.) A number of jasmine species are grown orna-

mentally and commercially for their fragrant flowers. Angel-wing jas-
mine (Jasminum nitidum) is a medium-sized shrubby evergreen vine that
produces an abundance of fragrant two-inch white pinwheel blossoms
that pop out of purple buds. Though jasmine is supposed to be a summer
bloomer, my twenty-year-old specimen blooms at Christmas and New
Year every winter, and has more days with flowers than without in any
given year. The fragrance of this species is less intense than other varieties,
but my large-crowned six-foot specimen can be smelled throughout my
living room when it is blooming freely. Star jasmine (Trachelospermum
jasminoides) is a dwarf evergreen vine that blooms heavily once a year,
with clusters of tubular five-petaled flowers that give off a strong jasmine
scent. The fast-growing vine requires regular pruning, but will develop a
nice trunk to make a beautiful small- to medium-sized bonsai. Common
jasmine (Jasminum officinale) is the classic jasmine used for perfumes
and aromatherapy since the beginnings of recorded history; the original
native source is unknown. Summer-blooming and often deciduous, it has
spread in cultivation everywhere it will survive. Tea jasmine (Jasminum
sambac) is the source of jasmine flavor in jasmine teas. The fresh flowers
are mixed with dried tea leaves, which absorb moisture and oils from the
flowers. The flowers are often removed, but can be left in the dry tea and
steeped all together. Tea jasmine grows as a medium-sized shrub, and is
not a vigorous plant with fast-growing vines like other jasmines. Night-
blooming jasmine (Cestrum nocturnum) is a member of the unrelated
potato family. It has an intensely sweet odor which may cause some peo-
ple to have a strong allergic reaction and diffi culty breathing. It is report-
edly toxic, and internal consumption is definitely not recommended. A
large shrub with long leaves, night-blooming jasmine is difficult to shape
as a classic bonsai, but the intense fragrance when the flowers open at
dusk makes it an interesting plant to grow. All of the above-mentioned
varieties should be readily available in local nurseries. Angel-wing, star,
and tea jasmines are best suited for cultivation as indoor bonsai. I’ve had

angel-wing and star jasmine bonsai in training for more than twenty
years with good results. The star jasmine developed an interesting bark
and trunk structure and filled the entire house with fragrance when it
bloomed. My twenty-plus-year-old angel-wing jasmine bonsai is a large
plant that fills a four-by-six-foot west window in my living room, mak-
ing a bold statement when people enter my home, especially when it is
blooming. It blooms heavily several times a year and produces enough
flowers to use in tea and even to make a small vintage of two cases of
jasmine-flower wine. Jasmines need bright light, but are easy plants to
grow, and the flowers are very rewarding. The vining varieties require
regular pruning. Any new shoots that emerge from the trunk, roots, or
ground should be removed to keep the plant looking like a bonsai rather
than a multi-stemmed bush.
Kumquat (Fortunella sp.) While some authorities classify the kumquat

as Citrus japonica, most consider it to be a separate genus from other
citrus. Kumquats, the smallest citrus fruit, are only one or two inches
long. They have smaller leaves than large-fruited citrus varieties, mak-
ing them ideal candidates for bonsai. Fresh kumquats can be found in
produce markets in late fall and early winter. There are round and oval
varieties; the oval nagami variety is most widely grown as an ornamen-
tal and for the fruit market. Kumquats have a sweet peel and sour flesh,
and are mostly eaten fresh in their entirety. They are served as a gar-
nish with food or drinks. Fresh kumquats may be chopped and used
like citrus zest in many dishes. They also can be made into a unique
marmalade or preserved by canning in sugar syrup. Although the fruit
is small, kumquats can flower and fruit heavily, and a medium to large
specimen can produce dozens or even hundreds of fruits. Kumquats
are well suited to growing in containers. They do best in a rich soil full
of humus that holds moisture well, as their natural habitat in China is
along streams where the soil stays damp. Kumquats require more regu-
lar watering than other citrus, especially if restrained in a small bonsai

62 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI
This kumquat, which began as a These kumquats will turn orange

two-gallon nursery plant, has been in when ripe.
training for less than a year.
pot. They are more cold-tolerant than other citrus, including periods
below freezing, and are suited for growing as a larger patio bonsai out-
side in milder climates. Most kumquats sold in nurseries are grafted,
which can produce a thick trunk and impressive exposed roots that
lend an aged character to the specimen. Spectacular variegated kum-
quats are also available that are easy to train as indoor bonsai. A varie-
gated kumquat bonsai, full of fruit, would be the center of attention at
any bonsai show.
Lavender (Lavendula sp.) English lavender (L. angustifolia), the widely

grown lavender used commercially, is a cold-hardy species that needs to
go dormant, and is not really suitable to grow as bonsai. Spanish lavender
(L. stoechas) is a dwarf perennial shrub with attractive gray-green foliage
and large pink to purple flower spikes. While this is the most attractive
species of the group for bonsai, it is fussy and not as long-lived as other

lavenders. French lavender (L. dentate) is a woody upright shrub with a

more open growth habit, distinguished by the sharply toothed edges of
its silvery green foliage. The leaves have a strong fragrance that is slightly
different from that of traditional English lavender. While not often used
commercially, French lavender can be used like other lavenders. I use it
for potpourri, fresh aromatherapy, and as an added fragrance in teas. The
oldest homemade wine in my cellar is actually French lavender wine from
1986. This is the best species to grow as bonsai because it is long-lived,
grows into a nice upright shape, and can flower all year long. The crown
of a mature lavender plant can become quite thick and droopy, with way
too many growing shoots and older foliage in the interior of the crown
that has turned brown or black. This can be prevented with regular prun-
ing, or the bonsai can be cut back dramatically to solid wood, which will
sprout quickly into a new crown. The small French lavender plants that
can be found in the herb section of most well-stocked garden centers will
grow rapidly into a small- to medium-sized bonsai. Small herbs like this
can be planted in the garden in the spring and field-grown through a
growing season before being dug up in the fall and pruned strongly. This
technique can produce a dramatic bonsai with a thick trunk in a short
period of time. French lavender is very tender and will not tolerate freez-
ing temperatures. It likes well-drained soil and should be allowed to dry
out between waterings, although not to the point of wilting. Like most
herbs, it does best under full sun outside and a bright window indoors.
French lavender also benefits from additional artificial lighting if kept
indoors under low light conditions during the winter.
Lemon guava (Psidium littorale) Lemon guava is a small, fast-growing

evergreen tree with attractive peeling bark. Its golf-ball-sized fruits,
which have white flesh, small seeds, and yellow skin when ripe, are eaten
fresh, used in cooking, and made into juice, jams, and jelly. The leaves are
dried and used for tea in some areas. Guavas flower in spring and early
summer and bear ripe fruit by August. That fall crop is the heaviest, but

64 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI
sparser flowers and fruit emerge

at other times of the year. A lem-
on guava can get big for a house-
plant, and is best trained as a
six- to eight-foot specimen. Even
at this size, it may occasionally
need a severe pruning to keep it
at a manageable size. I’ve pruned
out-of-control specimens down
to two-inch-diameter branch and
trunk stumps, which immediate-
ly sprouted many shoots that with
frequent pinching created a full
crown. Guavas like well-drained
soil, but will use plenty of water.
The growing tips will quickly start
to droop when the plant gets dry,
and this is a reliable indicator of
when to water. Of course, like any
fruit-bearing tree, its fruits will
taste best if ample water is given
as they are growing. The lemon
guava is relatively easy to grow
and can produce unique and tasty
fruit every year under good con-
ditions. These fast-growing bon- Top: This lemon guava is still in a
sai do best in a larger pot. training pot six months after being
dug up and cut back from an old
plant that had rooted though its pot
Lemon verbena (Aloysia and into the ground. This specimen is
triphylla, also A. citriodora) Some eighty-four inches tall.
authorities put this plant, which Bottom: A close-up view of ripe golf-
is native to South America, in ball-sized lemon guavas.

the genus Lippia. Lemon verbena is a fast-growing woody shrub that

develops attractive gray furrowed bark with age. Its narrow, pointed,
light-green leaves can go deciduous, and the plant will remain dormant
for a period if subjected to cold temperatures near freezing or other
shocks. Spikes of small white flowers erupt from lilac-colored buds in
early summer. Lemon verbena is generally acknowledged as having the
strongest, cleanest lemon fragrance of any of the lemon-scented herbs.
Just brushing the leaves will release an intense lemon odor that can
fill a room. Lemon verbena has extensive culinary uses, from flavoring
meat (fish and poultry) dishes and sauces to sorbets and drinks; it is
also very good blended with herbal or black teas. Fresh or dried leaves
can be used anywhere lemon flavor is desired, though fresh leaves
have stronger flavor than dried ones. The essential oils in this plant
are strong antioxidants, and have been used medicinally as well as in
fragrances and other cosmetics. Its scent has aromatherapeutic qualities,
and lemon verbena tea has long been renowned for its soothing and
relaxing effects on the body. Lemon verbena likes warm temperatures
and can grow very quickly in suitable conditions, producing plenty
of leaves for household use. This herb may have more potential uses
around the house and kitchen than any other species discussed here,
and is well worth growing as an edible bonsai. My oldest specimen has
gone dormant several times and has sometimes died back to a stump
that sprouts a new strong trunk. Lemon verbena can be kept to a nice
tabletop size or allowed to grow into a medium-sized tree up to six feet
tall. The top may die back dramatically if the tree goes dormant, but
vigorous new growth can quickly create a new crown. Lemon verbenas
need bright light, warm temperatures, and well-drained soil to thrive,
and will take plenty of water when actively growing. Aphids, white
flies, spider mites, and similar pests are attracted to this plant, and
indoor infestations may become serious. In addition to regular soap
sprays, moving the specimen outdoors, trimming away heavily infected
growing tips, and washing with high-pressure water sprays can take

66 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI
care of the problem. Strong insecticides should not be used on any plant
whose leaves will be consumed.
Limequats (Citrus × japonica) Limequats are a cross between Key limes

and kumquats; the several varieties result from crosses with round and
oval kumquats. One called Lakeland is crossed with a round kumquat,
creating a small, slightly oval fruit, smaller leaves, and a more dwarf habit
than other crosses. In my experience, the oval cross, sometimes called
a Margarita limequat, is a more vigorous grower, with oval fruit nearly
the size of a small egg that turn bright yellow when ripe. Limequats have
The perfect shape of this limequat Six weeks after the picture at left
has been sacrificed to maximize fruit was taken, most of the fruit on this
production. The seventy-six-inch limequat bonsai have turned ripe and
specimen now has nearly a hundred are ready to use. Ripe citrus always
green fruits just beginning to ripen. makes a striking specimen.
Purchased as a six-foot-tall tree, it has
been in training for five years.

edible skin and lime-flavored

green pulp and juice. Except for
the seeds, limequats can be eaten
whole, made into marmalade or
wine, and added to many dishes
or drinks in the kitchen. I love to
slice or chop them and add them
to eggs or any meat or vegetable
dish. Limequat bushes and fruits
can exceed those of the parent
species in size, and consistently
produce more fruit by weight
than any other citrus I’ve grown. A limequat cluster seen close up.
The flowers have a nice citrus
fragrance. Limequats are an easy citrus to grow as bonsai, making a
larger specimen from five to eight feet tall. They tolerate temperatures
a little below freezing if grown outside as a patio tree in mild climates.
Soil should be well drained and allowed to dry out slightly between
waterings. Regular watering and fertilizing will contribute to the health
and productivity of your limequat bonsai, providing a generous crop
to use in the kitchen. Limequats are generally trouble-free and self-
pollinating, but they can be susceptible to infestations by scale or mealy
bugs, which are best removed with high-pressure sprays or alcohol swabs.
Loquat (Eriobotrya japonica) Loquats are a member of the rose family

native to China, with a small fruit similar to an apple. The fruits are eaten
fresh, canned, and cooked into jams, wines, and desserts. Loquats are very
popular and widely grown for their fruits in Asia. They have been intro-
duced all over the world, and there are hundreds, if not thousands, of
cultivars with wide variations in fruit shape and color. The fruits are one
to two inches in diameter, growing in clusters; they turn yellow when ripe
and have a central core of large seeds. The loquat has thick, dark-green

68 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI
leaves up to twelve inches long, with

serrated edges and a rusty red hairi-
ness on the underside that provides
a striking contrast. The leaves form
a whorled pinwheel at the branch
tips, creating a unique appearance.
The white flowers are quite fragrant,
with a sweet smell. I trained a fetch-
ing specimen for six years and finally
sold it to a client before it ever fruit-
ed for me. A loquat is best cultivated
as a larger bonsai specimen because
of the large leaves, and may need
several years of pruning to fill out a
crown. There is a variegated loquat
Though this fifty-five-inch loquat has grown indoors as an ornamental
not yet produced fruit in its five years variety in some areas. Loquats grow
of training, it is a graceful specimen. slowly, but are drought tolerant and
adapt to many different climates and
soil types without problems.
Myrtle-leaved orange (Citrus myrtifolia) Though it is sometimes

described as just a cultivar of C. auranteum, which includes other sour
oranges like the Seville, the myrtle-leaved orange is different enough to
be considered a separate species. With its compact, branching, thornless
habit and tiny myrtle-shaped leaves with very short internodes, this
is the most dwarf type of citrus I’ve grown; it has great potential to
create a classic bonsai just a couple feet tall. Its small, round fruit
have a loose rind and are quite sour, with some bitterness in the peel.
When ripe, the fruits will hang for a long time on the tree without
going bad, so they can be left to add to the beauty of the bonsai and
picked when needed. Introduced to Europe hundreds of years before

sweet oranges were discovered,

myrtle-leaved oranges have a
long history of medicinal and
culinary use. The fruits have a
strong orange flavor, and are
best using in cooking rather
than eating fresh. Their high
pectin content makes them ideal
for use in candy, marmalade,
chutneys, and sauces. Myrtle-
leaved oranges can be used in
all kinds of drinks, and are the Clusters of young myrtle-leaved
source of the orange flavoring oranges.
agent in classic orange liqueurs.
Myrtle-leaved oranges need a rich, acidic soil, regular watering, and
bright light. This is a slow-growing tree that won’t need a huge pot and
likely won’t need repotting every year. If you wish to create a classic
small indoor bonsai with citrus flowers and fruit, the myrtle-leaved
orange tree is the best possible candidate.
Natal plum (Carissa macrocarpa) Natal (pronounced nuh-tol) plum is a

dwarf evergreen shrub native to South Africa. It has thick waxy leaves,
strong thorns, fragrant white flowers reminiscent of gardenia, and edible
red plum-like fruits. A number of varieties are grown as ornamentals
in coastal and desert environments, as Natal plum is salt and drought
tolerant and very tough. I’ve seen them come back from being shriveled
and wilted. All parts of this plant are poisonous except the tasty fruit,
yet it is planted widely as an ornamental in warm climates in the United
States. Its dangerous-looking double thorns no doubt contribute to it
being advertised as a child- and pet-proof hedge for warm climates. Few
people eat the fruit, which is very high in vitamin C and can be used
fresh, baked into pastries or other dishes, and made into jams, jellies, or

70 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI
sauces. Well known among indoor

bonsai enthusiasts, Natal plum can
be found at nurseries that carry
a good selection of bonsai stock.
These plants are well known for
creating cascade bonsai where the
crown hangs well below the bottom
of the pot, as if growing off the
edge of a cliff. Natal plums bloom
freely with a delightfully scented
five-lobed white flower. They
bloom most heavily in the spring
and summer, but also produce
scattered flowers throughout the
year, often flowering and fruiting
simultaneously. A small plant less
than a year old is likely to flower
a couple of times a year with
bright light; an older medium-to-
large specimen with a thick crown
can be expected to have flowers
open more days than not over a
year. There are many cultivated
varieties, but the standard, full-
Top: The thornless variegated dwarf sized original plant flowers and
Natal plum bears the same fragrant fruits much more heavily than
flowers and tasty fruits as the full sized
any of the dwarf cultivars in my
green variety, but has spectacular
foliage. This seventeen-inch specimen experience. Some dwarfs just have
has been in training for seven months smaller leaves, thorns, flowers,
from a one gallon nursery stock plant. and fruit, and a shorter internode
Bottom: This ripe Natal plum is about length on the stem; I’ve trained an
an inch and a half long. attractive golden variegated Natal

plum of this type. There are

also some extremely compact
thornless varieties with an
almost otherworldly appearance,
including a gorgeous cream and
light-green variegated cultivar.
That thornless variegated dwarf
variety is one of the bestselling
bonsai in my nursery, and
reliably blooms in two- to three-
inch pots in less than a year.
These very compact varieties are
especially suited for cascades, as
they develop dense, heavy crowns
on thin trunks and branches.
Natal plum will survive a light This fifty-seven-inch-tall Natal plum
frost with some damage, but has been in training for about eight
can’t really tolerate temperatures years, starting as a five-gallon nursery
plant. The flowers are very fragrant
below freezing. I have seen them
and the plums are tasty.
four feet tall with four-inch
trunks in landscaping around
hotel pools in Phoenix, Arizona; such plants, if salvaged when slated
for removal, would make spectacular bonsai in that climate. There is
also a ground-cover variety of Natal plum that resembles a vine with
small leaves, flowers, and fruit, and a long distance between leaf nodes.
With heavy pruning this can make a very interesting cascade bonsai.
The various Natal plums are among my favorite plants for bonsai. The
delightfully fragrant flowers and tasty fruit make for an interesting
contrast with the wicked thorns and poisonous-looking milky-white
latex sap, which seeps out when the fruit is plucked. I often recommend
Natal plums to beginners because they are easy to grow and drought-
tolerant, and can easily recover if watering is a little late. They do want

72 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI
their water, but should be allowed to dry out between waterings in well-
drained potting soil. They can sometimes be infested with scale or mealy
bug pests that should be controlled by hand, with alcohol swabs and/or
high pressure water sprays. A mature Natal plum bonsai specimen will
bloom more consistently than any other species discussed in this book,
making it a very desirable species to grow.
New Zealand tea tree (Leptospermum scoparium) New Zealand tea

tree is often seen in bonsai displays. The tiny sharp leaves and scattered
white to pink button-sized flowers on the small bush make it a very
attractive plant to train as bonsai. While it has been used to brew tea,
this is not the same plant as the tea tree (Melaleuca sp.) that produces
the widely used tea-tree oil. The wood of the New Zealand tea tree is
used for flavoring when smoking meats and fish. Though this plant
may not be as useful as others discussed here, its tiny scale and deli-
cate appearance can create a classic small traditional bonsai that flowers
freely. While adapted to dry climates, this species can be temperamen-
tal if it gets too dry between waterings. I have carved and replanted
large five-gallon potted cone-shaped topiaries of New Zealand tea tree
to make impressive bonsai in a single afternoon. As part of a collection,
the New Zealand tea tree makes a nice contrast to the larger-leaved
varieties grown for their fruit.
Papaya (Carica papaya) Papaya normally grows as a single-stem trunk,

but can be pruned to force branching. Although it will have large leaves,
a papaya makes an interesting and attractive bonsai. The best way to
start a papaya bonsai is to purchase a fresh papaya at a local market
and sprout the seeds by washing and drying them and then planting
them right away. Keep them warm and wet, and they will sprout and
grow quickly. Whether cultivated as a single trunk or pruned to cause
branching, papayas have a striking appearance. I have grown fruit-bear-
ing papayas from seed to a height of five feet in my Colorado home.

Pineapple guava (Feijoa sellowiana) Pineapple guava is a larger tree

with gray-green textured leaves and flaky tan to rust-colored bark. Older
specimens produce spectacular flowers in the form of a large cluster of
bright red stamens surrounded
by thick, fleshy white petals.
These are edible and quite tasty.
In the plant’s natural habitat in
South America, birds often eat
the petals, which is believed to
facilitate pollination. My older
specimens bloom every year but
have yet to produce any fruit for
me, even with efforts at hand
pollination. Some varieties are
self-fruiting, while others need
cross-pollination to set fruit.
Pineapple guava flower petals are
While pineapple guavas are easy white on the outside and red on the
to grow, they are a bit fussy, inside, but they curl shortly after
needing a cold chilling period opening, hiding the red inside.
to set flower buds. Hot weather
and/or lack of pollinators can
prevent fruit set. This is an
attractive tree that will make a
larger-sized bonsai; it’s worth
growing just for the flowers
even if it doesn’t fruit. Pineapple
guavas need a rich, well-drained
soil with plenty of humus, which
should be allowed to dry briefly
The red stamens and curled white
between watering. Due to their
petals of these pineapple guava
relatively open growth habit, they blooms create a strikingly beautiful
require regular pruning over a flower that is also good to eat.

74 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI
couple years to develop a nice crown. Like some of the other large plant
varieties discussed here, pineapple guavas can get overgrown. In this
case is possible to dramatically prune the specimen, removing as much
as seventy-five percent of the tree, while leaving good-sized woody
stumps on major branches. Regular pinching of the resulting shoots
will create tight crowns, making for a very dramatic bonsai.
Pineapple sage (Salvia elegans) Pineapple sage is a fast-growing

woody herb that can become a medium-sized shrub. Growing strongly
upright, with square stems that get quite woody, it has large, hairy,
pale-green leaves that release a delightful pineapple fragrance when
brushed. When I see this plant growing anywhere, even in a garden
shop herb display, I can’t resist bruising a leaf to smell the fragrance.
Its tubular bright-red flowers, which are very attractive to humming-
birds and butterflies, arise out of long spikes in the fall, and can bloom
throughout the winter indoors. Native to Mexico and Central America,
pineapple sage has a long history of medicinal use to relieve anxiety,
which is not surprising, as even the scent has a soothing effect. The
flowers can be used in teas and salads, and the leaves are made into
both hot and cold beverages. They can also be chopped and added to
salads or cooked with fruits, vegetables and meats. Try garnishing a
cocktail with a sprig of pineapple sage that tickles the nostrils as you
sip. While very fast growing, this sage is a woody herb rather than a
small tree, and will benefit from a severe pruning every year, perhaps
with a root pruning to keep the pot size manageable when providing
fresh soil. A good-sized specimen reaching three to four feet in height,
with a couple more feet of flowering spikes in season, will produce a
fair quantity of leaves and some flowers for culinary use. Use a rich,
well-drained soil and a pot a little on the large side, as pineapple sage
grows fast. It will need a lot of water when growing actively. A small
plant from the herb section of your local garden store can be field-
grown or kept in a large pot for a summer. If given plenty of water and

fertilizer, it will form a bush that can be cut back and shaped into a
very respectable bonsai by the time it is a year old. Pineapple sage will
take full sun in the garden and needs good bright light indoors, but is
well worth growing.
Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) Rosemary is the classic herb most

often used for bonsai. The rosemary specimen on the back cover of my
1996 book Herbal Bonsai is currently blooming in my greenhouse, mid-
fall sixteen years later. I’ve seen fifty-year-old rosemary trees with four-
inch-diameter trunks. With a rich fragrance sometimes described as
“piney” and sharp, needle-like leaves, rosemary bonsai resemble classic
pines in appearance, but don’t require the lifetime of slow, painstak-
ing training. Rosemary has many culinary and medicinal uses. I use
This thirty-six-inch-tall rosemary specimen has These are flowers from the
been in training for eighteen years. This same same rosemary.
tree was displayed in my book 1995 Herbal
Bonsai, although it was a double-trunked
specimen back then.

76 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI
homemade rosemary wine in cooking, and a favorite home remedy if I

feel like I’m coming down with a bug is to sit in the hot tub with a cup
of strong, hot rosemary tea with honey and lemon. Rosemary twigs can
soaked in water and thrown on hot coals when grilling. While rosemary
should be allowed to dry out between watering, it can get too dry and
die suddenly. It grows more rapidly than woody trees and can quickly
become root-bound, even in a larger pot, which predisposes it to dry
out rapidly. People who suddenly lose the rosemary they are trying to
overwinter often have a root-bound specimen in a dry environment,
and have allowed it to get a little too dry. Rosemary should be repotted
and root-pruned every year, with a corresponding strong crown trim for
balance. A small rosemary plant purchased in the spring can be field-
grown over a summer growing season and carved into a very nice bon-
sai specimen in the fall. As rosemary is difficult and slow to grow from
seed, it is better to start with a small plant; rosemary cuttings root eas-
ily. There are a number of named cultivars, including some with pink or
white flowers rather than the typical blue. There is a prostrate version
that naturally grows with branches that twist and curve in all directions.
While this variety can be used to create cascade bonsai, when pruned
in a manner forcing it to grow more upright, older prostrate rosemary
shows spectacular character and is far more interesting and beautiful
than the standard upright varieties. Rosemary definitely needs lots of
bright light to winter indoors, and since that hot direct light will dry out
a root-bound plant, watering should be monitored closely.
Sage (Salvia officinalis) Common culinary sage, a woody herb with gray-
green foliage and blue or purple flowers, can also be grown as a bonsai.
Cooks often use this strongly flavored herb, fresh or dried, to season
poultry and other meats. It also makes a refreshing tea. One medium-
sized sage bonsai will provide all the sage a family might need over a year.
Like other herbs, sage will grow fast enough to create a specimen from
a small plant in just one year, which is a very short timeframe compared

to traditional outdoor bonsai. A mature specimen will require severe

pruning (including roots) and repotting every year. There are a number
of cultivars with variations in flowers or foliage, including a miniature-
leaved variety. There are also striking golden- and purple-leafed varieties
and a number of variegated cultivars with shades of white, yellow, green,
and purple mixed together in different combinations. These variegated
types usually have more tender leaves than the common green sage and
are better suited for growing indoors; they also make more attractive
bonsai. Sage grown indoors needs very bright light and well-drained
potting soil, which should be allowed to dry between waterings, but not
for too long.
Savory (Satureja sp.) Summer savory (S. hortensis) and winter savory
(S. montana) have fallen out of use these days, despite their long culi-
nary history as a seasoning for beans and meats. The savories have
a strong flavor and are used much like sage, whether fresh or dried.
Summer savory, considered to have a sweeter flavor, is generally pre-
ferred for culinary use. It is also a component of herbes de Provence, an
herb blend that is a staple of French cooking. The fast-growing sum-
mer savory is generally considered an annual, but will get quite woody
if cut back repeatedly; it can live for a year or two in warm tempera-
tures and good conditions. To my mind, thisi is just a bonsai on a dif-
ferent timescale. Winter savory is a woody dwarf evergreen shrub with
tiny leaves and a compact habit that is well suited to growing as bon-
sai. Hardy to temperatures well below freezing, it is longer lived than
summer savory, and, like traditional outdoor bonsai, will respond well
to a colder dormant period. Both species will create small bonsai best
suited to limited space or as part of a collection. Both are fairly easy to
grow with well-drained potting soil and bright light. Summer savory
grows much faster and can provide more harvest than the winter vari-
ety, but requires warmer temperatures and frequent pruning to keep it
healthy and looking good.

78 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI
Scented geranium (Pelargonium sp.) Scented geraniums comprise

a large group with hundreds of widely available named cultivars.
Throughout the history of naming plants in this genus, there have been
several reclassifications, resulting in much confusion, at least a dozen
different species, and numerous cross-hybrids. In my experiences
growing more than thirty different cultivars, I’ve often seen a scented
geranium throw off a “sport” that looks totally different from the rest of
the plant. Variegated cultivars in particular often sprout a branch with
dramatically different variegation, or none at all. Often grown as annuals
in temperate climates, scented geraniums are tender perennials that can
grow into woody shrubs. There is a wide variety in growth habits, from
dwarf trailing bushes to strongly upright dwarf shrubs. The leaves, which
often resemble oak leaves, can be tiny or very large, and take shapes
ranging from round to finely divided. Leaves range from gray to a clear
bright green, and can be all one color, show dark zonal areas, or display
bright white, cream, or yellow variegation. Some cultivars have smooth
shiny leaves; others can vary from rough to hairy or velvety, looking as
if they were cut from crinkled paper. The flowers vary in size, and flower
clusters can range from just a few isolated flowers to compact heads with
dozens of florets in multiple colors such as white, pink, lavender, red,
and yellow, with all shades in between. The distinguishing feature in this
group, of course, is the wide variety of fragrances to be found, and this
is the reason they are cultivated so widely and with such passion. From
fruity scents like apple, apricot, gooseberry, lemon, lime, orange, and
strawberry, to spicy ones like ginger, nutmeg, camphor, and cinnamon,
to oddities like coconut and chocolate, as well as perhaps the largest
group, the various rose fragrances, there is no other closely related group
of plants with such a wide range of fragrant foliage. Scented geraniums
have a long history of medicinal use in their native Africa, and are
widely used in potpourris and tea. The leaves have been used to flavor
jellies, butters, sauces, ice cream, and all manner of drinks. The flowers
are good in salads and make a fine edible garnish, but most geranium

leaves are too tough and fibrous to use raw for consumption. Scented
geraniums became very popular in Victorian times, when they were
used as “strewing herbs” to cover up bad odors and added to fingerbowls
presented to guests between meal courses for rinsing their fingers.
Scented geraniums are as easy to cultivate as common geraniums; they
grow quickly and will produce an abundance of foliage. Older plants
can get quite leggy, needing a severe pruning at least once and possibly
several times a year. They will also need repotting and root pruning every
year, always accompanied by a sharp top pruning. A geranium confined
to a small pot will require this treatment more often. Sometimes a large
number of leaves on the interior of a large-crowned specimen will turn
yellow and then dry brown. This is an indication that the plant is not
getting enough water, and may be a sign that your bonsai is in need of
a severe pruning and possibly repotting. These dying leaves can easily
be removed by combing the fingers through the branches if you are not
ready for such drastic steps right away. Bright light, good potting soil,
and regular watering will keep your scented geranium bonsai happy
without much specialized care. Try to place it somewhere you can
brush it to release the fragrant oils as you walk by, so you can enjoy
the aromatherapy every day. My favorite variety is a variegated lemon
crispum with bright yellow foliage, small leaves, and pretty patterned
flowers, but most small-leafed cultivars work well for bonsai. Even the
popular chocolate cultivar with large, velvety maple-like leaves, which
grows like a vine rather than upright, gets quite woody and can make a
beautiful cascade bonsai growing out of a hanging basket.
Strawberry guava (Psidium cattleianum) Some authorities consider this

to be a variety of the same species as lemon guava (P. littorale). The dark-
red fruit of the strawberry guava is smaller and more oblong in shape
than the lemon guava, and is sweeter and milder. In my experience, the
strawberry guava also bears more heavily: the crop I get every year in
late summer is large enough to eat some fresh and ferment the rest into

80 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI
wine. Strawberry guavas ripen

over a one- to two-month period,
needing to be picked every couple
of days, so I freeze any I don’t eat
fresh. One can enjoy a regular
fresh harvest over a relatively
long season for a soft fruit, or
save them to make jelly or wine
that can be savored all year
long. It is easy to understand the
naming confusion, as strawberry
Ripe strawberry guava.
guava and lemon guava plants
look so much alike that it’s very
difficult to tell them apart unless
they are fruiting. A fast-growing
bush with attractive cinnamon-
colored bark that peels away
from its light-colored underbark,
the strawberry guava makes a
larger bonsai, and may need
severe pruning at times to keep
it at a manageable size. I haven’t
had any pest problems with this
plant, but in tropical areas where
they have been widely introduced
and are sometimes considered
an invasive species, the fruits
are subject to heavy fruit-fly
infestation before ripening, which This strawberry guava was pruned
down to sixty-seven inches after
makes them inedible. If you have
being dug out of the ground in the
the space to grow this as a larger greenhouse. Four months later, it was
specimen, it is a beautiful tree that seventy-six inches tall, as shown here.

can bear a heavy crop of tasty fruit.

Every summer, I give visitors to my
Colorado greenhouse the chance to
taste fresh-picked guavas from my
six large lemon- and strawberry-
guava bonsais.
Strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo)

The strawberry tree is an orna-
mental evergreen native to the
Mediterranean region, with dark
glossy oval leaves that have finely
toothed edges. It is often planted
ornamentally as a hedge in suitable
climates. In fall, it bears clusters of
small white bell-shaped flowers that
Flower clusters on a strawberry tree. develop into round strawberry-
like fruits no larger than an inch
in diameter; a strawberry-tree bonsai may have flowers and fruit
simultaneously. While not exactly juicy and delectable, the fruits can be
used to make jams and flavor drinks. The tree’s peeling, rust-colored bark
makes a striking contrast to its shiny green leaves. The strawberry tree
can send out shoots or suckers from low on the trunk; these should be
removed to keep a single-trunk bonsai shape. While considered a slow
grower, a strawberry tree can reach twenty feet or more planted in the
ground. It will tolerate periods of below-freezing temperatures, although
this may prevent fruiting. Its size and cold tolerance make the strawberry
tree a good candidate for a patio bonsai in places that don’t get too cold.
The strawberry tree has a long history, and has appeared in writing and
works of art as far back as the Roman era. This history, as well as its unique
fruit, make it a very interesting plant to grow. It requires well-drained soil,
which should be kept on the dry side, and needs very bright light indoors.

82 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI
Sweet marjoram (Origanum majorana) Sweeter than its cousin oreg-

ano, yet with a stronger scent, sweet marjoram is another herb native
to the Mediterranean that has become a staple in kitchens everywhere.
This small, tender perennial shrub seldom grows more than a foot tall,
and has soft gray-green foliage and tiny white flowers. Left on its own,
sweet marjoram will grow as a multi-stemmed bush, but can be trained
into a beautiful miniature bonsai. The strong shoots that may sprout out
of the ground or from the trunk and roots should be removed unless
a multi-trunk bonsai is desired; in this case, it could even be replanted
deeper to create a “forest grove” from several shoots. These shoots can
be used fresh or dried and saved for many uses in the kitchen. Marjoram
can be substituted for oregano, blends well with nearly any other herb,
and makes a delightful relaxing tea. Though it is usually grown as an
annual, sweet marjoram can live for years; it is another herb that can be
made into a “mature” bonsai in one summer growing season, starting
with a small garden-shop plant purchased in the spring. Sweet marjo-
ram can survive a light frost, but is sensitive to freezing temperatures.
It does well in a bright window indoors, though it may get a little leggy
if light is not optimal. This is easily managed by continuously trimming
the plant and using the harvest. Your sweet marjoram bonsai will thrive
in rich but well-drained soil with regular watering and occasional doses
of fertilizer.
Sweet myrtle (Myrtus communis var. Compacta) This miniature-leaved

myrtle is a cultivar of the common myrtle, which has been revered
through history and mentioned in the Bible and many early Greek
and Roman texts. Numerous cultures have incorporated myrtle in
their rituals and traditions. The plant was considered to be sacred to
the goddesses Aphrodite and Venus, symbolic of love and immortality.
Because of this, myrtle branches are still commonly used as greenery
in floral shops, especially in bouquets and arrangements for weddings.
The leaves, flowers, and fruit of the sweet myrtle are edible, having a

strong flavor. The white flowers are star-shaped, with five petals and
an intense yet pleasant fragrance. The dark-green leaves are small,
sharp, and tough. When used as a seasoning with meats or stews, the
leaves should be left on their branches and removed after cooking
rather than being consumed directly. The sweet berries are used to
flavor traditional Greek liqueurs, sometimes with the leaves added. Try
infusing a clear spirit like vodka with the dark-purple berries to create
your own sweet myrtle liqueur; it can be served over ice or as part of a
cocktail, perhaps with a sprig of myrtle as a garnish. Dwarf sweet myrtle
can be found in the bonsai, topiary, and herb sections of most garden
centers, and is sometimes available as larger plants in one-, two-, or
five-gallon nursery pots that can be carved into an impressive bonsai
in a few hours. The standard common myrtle can also be trained into a
larger bonsai specimen. There is an attractive yellow variegated cultivar
used in topiaries that makes a beautiful bonsai with bright foliage. One
of my favorite cultivars is twisted myrtle (M. communis var. boetica), a
larger specimen with similar flavors and fragrance to sweet myrtle, but
with long leaves that whorl around the stem and point sharply upright.
As it is more resistant to drought and cold than other cultivars, twisted
myrtle is becoming widely available in places like the southwestern
US, where it is used for landscaping. From a distance, a twisted myrtle
bonsai specimen can resemble a candelabrum, with individual branches
looking like inch-thick green candles. Its unique appearance always
attracted attention in my bonsai displays. Sweet myrtle is fairly easy
to grow with bright light, well-drained soil, and plenty of water when
needed. Scale and mealy bug can be attracted to myrtles, and should
be controlled by hand, water sprays, and soap rather than poisonous
insecticides. Be careful to look for pests when purchasing myrtles,
especially in nurseries where large groups are grown outside. In the
back lots and remote greenhouses of plant stores in places like Phoenix,
where many myrtles are grown and used for landscaping, it is possible
to find an old neglected specimen with incredible character that can

84 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI
be carved back into a very impressive bonsai. The long history and
culture associated with sweet myrtle is enough to make the plant a very
interesting and desirable addition to your edible indoor bonsai garden.
Thyme (Thymus sp.) Common or English thyme (T. vulgaris) is the

widely used culinary variety of thyme, but the genus contains more
than 300 species, both scented and unscented. Thyme is widely used
for landscaping, can tolerate subfreezing temperatures, but may also be
grown indoors. So many species and cultivars are used in the commer-
cial markets that there is much confusing overlap in common names;
there are dozens of different varieties called “creeping thyme.” There
are also numerous lemon-scented thymes (T. citriodorus), including
both upright bushes and creeping groundcovers, the most popular of
which is Aureus, a gorgeous golden variegated cultivar with an upright
growth habit. There is also a white variegated cultivar, as well as oth-
ers that smell of orange or lime. Caraway thyme (T. herba-barona) is
a tiny-leaved plant with dark-green leaves and a strong caraway fra-
grance that is usually considered a groundcover. I once purchased a
one-gallon nursery plant of this species, exposed several inches of bur-
ied trunk, and removed two-thirds of the crown to create a spectacular
six-inch-tall bonsai with a compact crown and a half-inch diameter
trunk. My favorite thyme for bonsai is conehead thyme (T. capitatus),
a cultivar I came across at a nursery in Tucson, Arizona. It has very
fine gray-green foliage and develops a very thick trunk for its size, with
splintery gray bark. It gets its name from the compact flower heads that
develop on the branch tips, which actually resemble little pinecones
with little white flowers that erupt around the cone. Many cultivars
of creeping thyme (T. serpyllum) are used in landscaping; the color of
their flowers and foliage varies, as does their fragrance. Though these
may not be suitable for shaping as bonsai themselves, they can make
very attractive groundcover accent plants around the base of larger
bonsai. I’ll sometimes visit a garden center before a bonsai show to

pick up a small, inexpensive creeping thyme to tuck into the pot of

a particular bonsai specimen. One of my favorite varieties for this is
woolly thyme (T. pseudolanuginosus), which is less than an inch tall
with tiny, fuzzy, gray foliage. Most varieties of thyme will tolerate some
freezing temperatures in landscaping, but when trained as bonsai they
should be kept indoors, where they will do well. Thyme can tolerate
some dryness; it needs well-drained soil and very bright light. New
shoots may sprout from anywhere on the plant, making it quite bushy
and thick if not pruned regularly. Save all your trimmings when shap-
ing a thyme bonsai. Besides its culinary uses, thyme contains thymol,
an antiseptic and antifungal essential oil that is an active ingredient
in many over-the-counter preparations, from mouthwashes to hand
sanitizers. I’ve made thyme wines and jellies to use in cooking. Thyme
keeps its flavor well when dried, and a little goes a long way in cooking.
With its tiny leaves and compact shape, thyme can make a spectacular
classic bonsai in a small size. Keeping it perfectly trimmed may require
more detailed work than most other edible bonsai, but it is well worth
the effort.

86 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI

87
CHAPTER 4
Finding Your
Future Bonsai
he best place to find any of the plants discussed in this book

is at your local garden center or plant shop. In my twenty
T years of operating a wholesale tropical bonsai business, I’ve
visited hundreds of garden centers in more than two dozen
states, selling them bonsai and staying on the lookout for potential new
species to train as bonsai. Many of the plants in my collection were
acquired this way. While nurseries generally sell many of the same varie-
ties, their plant buyers all have personal preferences and interests that
influence their plant selections. Explore as many garden centers as you
can, and visit them when you travel, because different regions have their
own selections and local suppliers who may grow something unique that
is not distributed widely.
It should be noted that efforts to control the spread of plant diseases
have resulted in an increasing number of restrictions and laws governing
the movement of plants between states. These have had a severe effect
on horticultural enterprises in some regions. In Texas, for example, only
citrus plants propagated within the state may be sold; citrus cannot be
imported into the state for resale. Many southern and western states are

88 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI
beginning to enact similar laws. Because most of the plants discussed here
are grown and used in landscaping in these milder climates, however, they
are readily available locally in those states. There is no need to bring a
citrus tree from Iowa to Texas, but there would be no restrictions on pur-
chasing a tree in Texas to take back to Iowa. Be sure to check your state
agricultural laws if you plan to bring plants across state lines.
Keeping those restrictions in mind, searching garden centers when
traveling to milder climates is the best way to find a wide selection of the
largely tropical plants best suited for indoor edible bonsai. An edible fig tree
can usually be obtained anywhere in the continental US by visiting a large
garden center or two, especially one near a large metropolitan area. Even a
store in a colder climate might have half a dozen specimens of one or pos-
sibly two varieties. When visiting a bonsai client of mine, a medium-sized
garden center in Austin, Texas, where figs can survive when planted in the
landscape, I found fifteen different varieties of edible fig with over a hun-
dred plants to choose from in the fruit section of their nursery. A couple of
them came home with me to Colorado. Natal plums are widely available; the
best specimen in my collection came from a group of old five-gallon nursery
plants in the corner of a neglected greenhouse outside Phoenix, Arizona,
that had rooted through the pots well into the ground. I yanked out eight
of them to take home. One died from the shock, and I kept one for myself,
but the rest made a spectacular group of specimens that my bonsai busi-
ness sold very quickly. I found Chilean guavas as good-sized nursery stock
in Portland, Oregon, which has a mild enough climate for them to survive.
Visiting local nurseries in places like this is clearly the best way to find a
large variety of suitable plants for edible bonsai, with enough selection to
choose the best potential specimen from a group of plants. Not everyone is
in a position to drive somewhere to find and bring plants back, however. If
you have traveled to a warmer location by air, you can package your selected
specimen to ship via one of the large retail shipping companies. If the plant
is well watered and is kept at temperatures above freezing, it will survive an
inexpensive five-day ground shipment quite well.

CHAPTER 4 Finding Your Future Bonsai 89
Visiting a nursery in person lets you look at the plants and see exactly
what you are getting. Individual specimens in any group of plants of the
same pot size and species will vary greatly. Besides checking for pests and
overall health of the plant, a discerning eye can pick out one or two plants
in the group with the potential to create spectacular bonsai. Having a good
selection of plants to sort through is especially important when creating
an “instant” bonsai from a larger plant. Because you cannot control the
shape from the very beginning, as you can with a small plant, you must
be able to work with what the plant gives you from its previous growth. It
is always a good idea to develop a relationship with a large, well-stocked
garden shop where you will have a good selection of plants and can get
expert advice if you have any problems. Get to know the tropical plant
person or greenhouse manager at that shop. They want to carry what you
wish to buy, so if you want something unusual and can’t find it, ask for it.
They are likely to have a source for it, and may even decide to begin selling
an interesting plant you request.
Some of the varieties discussed in this book are becoming prevalent as
indoor bonsai specimens, and can be found at any plant shop that carries
a good selection of bonsai plants and supplies. Dwarf pomegranates, Natal
plums, and Australian cherries are often sold as already trained bonsai
specimens; many nurseries also offer them as “bonsai starters” in four- or
six-inch pots. The commonly sold one-, two-, or five-gallon nursery stock
plants of these three species can be used to create an attractive bonsai
specimen in a few hours. Many herbs and scented geraniums can be found
at garden centers with an herb department. These plants grow very quickly
from an inexpensive three- to four-inch plant. By pushing their growth
over a summer growing season, it is possible to create a “mature” bonsai
specimen in less than a year, while also learning more about shaping a
bonsai than you would in years of working with slow-growing traditional
bonsai plants like junipers and pines. Some of these herbs and scented
geraniums can be found in one-gallon nursery pots, which will give you a
head start on growing your bonsai. Rosemary is so popular as a landscape

90 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI
The branches of this twenty-eight-inch-tall green calamondin orange are bent

almost into a circle by the weight of its fruit.
feature that it can be found at many nurseries in even larger pots up to

five gallons in size. A large nursery plant like this can create a spectacular
herbal bonsai in a couple hours. Many of these herbs and geraniums, as
well as some of the myrtles, can also be found at plant shops as topiaries.
Those may or may not have the perfect shape to train as bonsai, but will
give you something to start with.
Most large well-stocked nurseries, even in cold northern climates,
carry a selection of citrus. Oranges, grapefruit, lemons, and limes are
widely available, but not all nurseries have the more unusual smaller citrus
that in my experience are easier to grow and bear far more fruit indoors in
cold climates. Calamondin oranges, my favorite citrus to use in cooking,
are the easiest small citrus to find in local nurseries. I usually recommend

calamondins to first-time citrus growers because they are the easiest citrus
to grow indoors and can bear ripe fruit for long periods during the year,
usually producing two crops annually. Kumquats and Key limes can be
found in many places, although limequats, Buddha’s hand citron, myrtle-
leaved orange, and other unusual citrus are not as common.
Hibiscus can be found everywhere, although you might need to search
harder for miniature varieties. Hot peppers can be started from seed or pur-
chased at garden shops everywhere in the spring. Ornamental peppers are
widely available and can often be found in garden shops as plants that are
large and woody enough to create a nice bonsai in a very short time. Coffee
Strawberry tree as purchased from a Myrtle-leaved orange tree as

local nursery. purchased from a local nursery.

92 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI
trees can be found at nearly any plant store that brings in four-inch foliage
plant selections out of Florida. Figs, jasmines, and olives can be found in
nurseries in most areas, although you may have to visit a few different shops.
The more unusual tropical fruits can be difficult to find, but they are out
there. My wholesale bonsai business has sold most of the varieties in this
book as bonsai specimens across much of the United States. There are good,
innovative greenhouse managers out there, even in far northern climates,
who bring in a large variety of tropical specimens—not only citrus, but also
guavas, mangos, bananas, dragon fruit, and other exotics, providing new
horizons to explore in creating edible bonsai. The plants used to illustrate
Chapter 2, “Creating Instant Bonsai,” were purchased from a retail nursery
in Fort Collins, Colorado, less than
twenty miles from my home.
In this day and age, of course,
nearly anything can be found on
the Internet. Type a plant name into
a search engine, and several places
to purchase it will probably pop
up. Prices may be high, even before
shipping, and they will most likely
be small plants for you to train
rather than mature specimens, but
even small plants just shipped can
bear fruit. Online ordering can be a
good option for someone who can’t
travel to numerous garden stores or
who is looking for a hard-to-find
specimen. I found my green tea
bushes in an online advertisement
from a company that was actually
Key lime tree as purchased from a marketing the plants as novelty
local nursery. items to coffee and tea shops, rather

than to nurseries and plant shops.

They were small, spindly plants in
four-inch pots, and I now propagate
new plants by taking cuttings from
that original shipment I received.
Learning to root cuttings using
rooting hormones is a great way
both to acquire new plants and
to multiply your own specimens
from the trimmings of an existing
bonsai. I have acquired new species
by rooting a gift cutting from
someone with a unique specimen.
Rescuing plants from an out-
door garden that is about to
be torn up or frozen in the fall
is another good way to obtain
plants, and doesn’t cost anything.
Sometimes spectacular specimens This six-inch Barbados cherry had ripe
can be created from mature plants fruit just weeks after being shipped to
out of old gardens. At one time I me by a wholesale bonsai grower as a
starter bonsai in a 4 inch plastic pot.
lived near the national headquar-
ters of a large insurance compa-
ny that maintained a free public garden on their grounds. One feature
was a circular raised bed that was planted as a scent garden with annu-
al and perennial fragrant plants. After years of taking friends to visit,
I realized they left the annuals to die at the first freeze in the fall and
replanted every spring. One summer they had a unique group of scent-
ed geraniums, including one that I lusted after—a tiny-leaved cream-
and-green variegated cultivar called Gooseberry, which had a delightful
fruity scent. One fall night, during a snowstorm that was leading into
the first hard freeze that year, I went to that garden and dug several

94 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI
scented geraniums out of the ground. I was uneasy about doing this, but
the plants would have died that night anyway. I felt like a plant superhero,
flouting society’s conventions to rescue victims from certain death. I then
propagated the plants and spread them around for others to enjoy. I admit
to being obsessive about collecting specimens for use as bonsai, especially
if I can use or eat part of the plant. If you keep your eyes open and stay
observant, there are potential candidates for edible bonsai everywhere.
Let’s say that when it comes time for you to pick out your plant for
bonsai, you’re at a garden shop with a broad selection of plants to choose
from. You must examine these candidates closely. The first step is to evalu-
ate their overall health and appearance and check for insect pests. Bugs
can be hard to see, so look closely under the leaves and at the tender grow-
ing shoots where they are likely to gather. Once this is done, the most
important characteristic to check is the size and shape of the trunk and
main branches of your potential bonsai. Though some of those branches
can be pruned, you must choose a plant with a basic shape and arrange-
ment of branches you can work with. Some plants may only need minor
pruning to look good, but many will need half or more of the branches
and foliage removed to begin shaping as bonsai. Try to find the inner
bonsai within the plant. Look for a nice, thick trunk with major branches
that are arranged in such a way as to give a good shape to what will be the
base or skeleton of your bonsai. Pop the plant out of its pot to examine the
roots. Showing off the base of the trunk and large, exposed roots will add
greatly to the character and apparent age of the bonsai. Root systems can
vary a lot, depending on the species and how long the plant has been in
the pot. Nurseries often plant a plug or small plant deeply into a nursery
pot, and because roots grow down, not up, as a rule, the top inch or two
of soil can be removed with little root damage, exposing more trunk and
interestingly shaped roots. Australian cherries, in particular, can reveal
large, elaborately twisted roots. One last consideration is the presence of
flowers or fruit on the plant. While this can be very desirable, and helps
create a spectacular specimen overnight, keep in mind that the branches

that the fruit or flowers are on may need to be removed to shape the bon-
sai. Furthermore, repotting your plant to fit into a bonsai pot, especially
if severe root pruning is involved, can cause plants to drop any remaining
fruit. If the fruit harvest is important, sometimes a small branch with fruit
can be left on the bonsai until after the fruit is picked. It is quite possible
to create a spectacular “instant” bonsai from a flowering or fruiting plant.
I’ve done this type of carving thousands of times to make bonsai for my
wholesale business. It can be very rewarding to create a beautiful minia-
ture orange bonsai with flowers and ripe fruit in an afternoon’s work.

96 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI

97
CHAPTER 5
Long-Term
Bonsai Care
any people, on seeing pictures of beautiful traditional bonsai

displayed in Japanese homes, have tried to do the same
M thing, only to have their juniper die quickly. They don’t real-
ize that the bonsai they saw was grown and maintained in a
suitable outdoor environment. Traditional bonsai are only brought in
from the garden to display in the house for a couple of days; they are then
moved back to the proper environment, with a different specimen then
rotated in for display. All plants need suitable conditions to thrive, and
unfortunately, when someone picks a place to display a bonsai in the
home, it isn’t necessarily the best place for that plant to grow. There are a
number of ways to deal with this problem. Obviously, the traditional prac-
tice of maintaining a collection in a suitable place and rotating specimens
into the home for short periods is ideal. Because most of the varieties in
this book are from tropical or Mediterranean climates and won’t tolerate
much in the way of freezing temperatures, this would require a green-
house or a good-sized solar room, at least during the coldest months,
unless you live in a very mild climate. Many readers, however, will be
looking to create specimens that will fit in a permanent location in the

98 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI
home. This book also focuses on creating larger bonsai, partly because
crop production is a priority, and partly because some of these desirable
species are large-leaved plants which need that size to look good. A six-
foot bonsai in a twenty-four-inch pot is not easy to rotate in and out of the
house every couple of days. Instead, it is preferable to create the proper
environment for your bonsai within your home.
When it comes to an indoor setting, the most critical condition is light-
ing. All of the plants discussed here need bright light to thrive and bear a
harvest. Again, a greenhouse or solar room is obviously the best environ-
ment, but most people don’t have those kinds of spaces available. Light
from east, south, and west windows should suffice to keep bonsai alive,
but they need to be right in the window. The heat of direct sun can dry
out plants quickly, so paying close attention to the watering schedule is a
must. West windows are usually brighter and hotter than east ones, and
south windows are best in winter, especially in northern areas where days
are shorter and the sun is lower in the sky. Even in the brightest window,
your bonsai will turn its leaves toward the window to absorb the sunlight,
and new growth will be in that direction as well. Because of this, bonsai
should be rotated regularly, every week or so, to keep them balanced.
Most indoor bonsai benefit from spending time outdoors when the
weather is suitable. Because of the greater amount of light and wind, bon-
sai tend to dry out faster outside, and will need more frequent watering.
Sunburn is also an important consideration. Indoor windows will block the
UV rays that cause sunburn, but a bonsai moved from an indoor location
to full bright sun outside is likely to get sunburned. This effect is amplified
at higher altitudes where the sun is more intense. At my 6,000-foot altitude
in Colorado I have had even sun-loving citrus burn after a couple of days in
full sun. Bonsai can usually recover from sunburn, but the sunburned foli-
age will be ruined. Be sure to place your bonsai where it will be shaded dur-
ing the middle of the day when the sun is overhead and at its most intense.
Not everyone has an ideal window for fruiting bonsai, and the most
sun-loving plants discussed here, like citrus and most herbs, will stretch

CHAPTER 5 Long-Term Bonsai Care 99
and grow toward the light in even the best window. Depending on your
situation, you may want to add some artificial lighting. For most situa-
tions, adding a little extra light to a less-than-ideal window is good option
for keeping your bonsai happy. Long-tube fluorescent plant lights are easy
to find, but they are are unattractive and don’t really work well anyway,
as they are only intense enough to provide adequate light a few inches
from the bulb. This makes them ideal for growing seedlings, but not so
effective for an odd-shaped bonsai that is several feet tall. There are large
thousand-watt commercial plant lights that can be hung high and will illu-
minate a room-sized area, but they are expensive, burn lots of energy, and
are not suitable for a living area (a light like this could, however, be used to
illuminate a growing space for a collection, even where there is no natural
sunlight). A better choice is a small incandescent spotlight-type full-spec-
trum plant bulb. These range from 75 to 150 watts, do put out some heat,
and are designed to operate at a distance of four to ten feet from the plant.
They screw into regular light-bulb sockets, so they can fit into lamps that
are suitable for a living space, and are inexpensive and easily available at
any store that has a large light-bulb selection. This is an ideal solution to
add extra light and balance the unidirectional light from a window. A 150-
watt bulb can illuminate an area a yard square, giving enough light to grow
a small specimen even in the absence of natural light. I would recommend
using a timer to keep the lighting consistent. A bonsai in an east-facing
window will benefit from extra light later in the day; one in a west window
needs the extra light earlier in the day. You can also turn the lights on in
the evening during short winter days to help you enjoy viewing your bon-
sai. Many plants are quite sensitive to day length and can be stimulated
to flower out of their normal season with increased—or, in some cases,
decreased—day length.
Potting soils are not as critical as light conditions, and a good indoor
houseplant potting soil will generally work well. Extra peat moss can be added
for plants like citrus or green tea, which prefer a more acid soil. The soil can
also be amended with acid fertilizers. Extra organic matter or vermiculite can

100 BOUNTIFUL BONSAI
be added for plants like Australian cherries or figs, which use lots of water and
benefit from soil that holds more moisture. Garden centers also carry “water
crystals” under various trade names, which are polymer crystals that absorb
forty times their weight in water. Small quantities mixed into potting soil will
absorb extra water and release it as the soil dries out. These can be very ben-
eficial for bonsai that need constant moisture or are restricted to smaller pots
that dry out quickly. For plants that need well-drained soil, such as herbs and
many tree species, perlite, coarse building sand, or very small rock chips can
be added to the same basic houseplant potting soil to improve drainage. Most
of these plants are not extremely fussy, and with careful watering will survive
in nearly any good potting soil, even without additional amendments.
This book departs significantly from bonsai tradition by using bigger
and deeper pots than are conventionally used. By traditional standards,
the ideal bonsai pot is no deeper than the diameter of the trunk of the tree
it holds. This is possible with slow-growing traditional outdoor bonsai
that have been in training for many years, though very careful watering is
required to keep the specimen alive. Most of the varieties we are using for
edible bonsai are active year-round, and grow faster than most traditional
bonsai. They need more room for their roots, and using bigger pots makes
it much easier to keep them alive. Precise watering is less critical and you
won’t have to repot as often. These species require more frequent repot-
ting than slow-growing bonsai that go through a dormant season. Herbs
and geraniums in particular will become root-bound in less than a year
no matter what size pot you use, and will benefit from an annual severe
pruning, including the roots. Depending on the plant’s growth and how
much it is pruned back, your bonsai may fit back into the same pot, but
will usually do better if moved up to a slightly bigger pot. It is critical to
give it fresh soil and room to grow. Slower-growing shrubs and trees can
go a couple of years between repottings, and need them less frequently
as they age. Always prune the crown when repotting a bonsai to balance
the water loss through leaf transpiration with the reduced water uptake
through the disturbed and pruned roots.

Edible fig trees in particular need big pots. Figs have large, aggressive
root systems that can reach quite a distance when searching for water.
Although they are known for thriving in dry climates and can tolerate
drought when dormant, they need lots of water when leafed out and pro-
ducing fruit. Use as big a pot as you can and water heavily when the plant
is fruiting. In my opinion, with bright light, good soil drainage, and a
crown full of leaves and fruit, it is impossible to overwater a fig tree.
Using bigger pots than is traditional will benefit all of these edible
bonsai and make it easier for you to keep them thriving; however, it means
the pot will have a more prominent place in your artistic presentation.
The appearance of the larger soil surface can make a big difference in how
your edible bonsai looks. Because traditional mosses won’t survive in a
dry indoor environment, my basic solution is to cover the soil with a fine
gravel or coarse sand. Coarser gravel can be used on larger specimens. A
local sand, gravel, and rock company can offer a wide selection and will
likely let you get a bucket or two of gravel at minimal cost. An attractive,
well-placed rock can provide the perfect accent to a bonsai specimen while
decorating the expansive surface. With a big surface, an arrangement of
rocks—always using an odd number and random-seeming placement—
can bring to mind a natural scene, as if one were walking through the
hills and spotted this beautiful aged tree. With larger pots it is also pos-
sible to use an accent plant like baby tears (Soleirolia or Helxine soleirolii),
although this common greenhouse plant must be kept wet, and may not
work with plants that need to dry out between watering. A better choice
for most plants would be a dwarf, low-growing compact sedum (Sedum
sp.) or one of the creeping thymes (T. serpyllum or T. pseudolanuginosus).
Irish moss (Sagina subulata) or the golden “Aurea” Scottish moss, with its
tiny attractive white flowers, also make a stunning appearance with very
tiny scale. These plants can fill the ground over a year, and may need to be
pulled out and divided before the bonsai needs repotting.
In addition, bonsai shops usually carry selection of “mud men”—small fig-
urines of people, animals, or buildings that are often used to decorate bonsai.

These dwarf Australian cherries planted in a forest grove setting are full of
flower buds. This specimen is twenty-six inches tall.
While I prefer a more natural look, everyone has different preferences, and if
you like the idea you should decorate your edible bonsai with whatever suits
your fancy. I once placed a small round mirror with hidden edges on a bonsai
and it looked just like a small pond, needing only a small “mud men” boat to
complete the illusion. Your bonsai is an artistic creation, and you should carry
out your theme and vision through the groundcover.
Another way to display bonsai is to combine several trees into a forest
or grove planting. All trees in a grove should be of the same variety, and
they should be odd in number. Australian cherries work well like this. I
have always wanted an orange grove, and bonsai allow me to have one,
even in Colorado.

Traditional bonsai authorities advise using fertilizers only sparingly, as

slow-growing outdoor trees that should be only a foot or two tall when they
are a hundred years old or more will not look good if growth is pushed.
Traditional bonsai are fertilized very lightly just once a year in early spring;
fertilizing later in the summer can push late soft growth that may not survive
through a cold dormant season. Most bonsai guides advise using fertilizers
at half strength, and some recommend using a mild organic fish emulsion
as a gentle fertilizer. Edible bonsai, on the other hand, should be fertilized
regularly, just like any other houseplant. As most of the species best suited
for edible bonsai are from tropical or Mediterranean climates, they don’t
go dormant and can grow all year. They are also faster-growing species
that need to be fed more often; the time and size scale is very different
from that of traditional bonsai. Edible bonsai enthusiasts want a tree of
some size that will produce a crop
within a few years at most, rather
than waiting decades or centuries
for the tree to mature. Plants also
need more food when producing
a harvestable crop. Faster-growing
herbs and scented geraniums in
particular can be heavy feeders.
I like to mix a slow time-release
fertilizer with about a nine-month
time span into the potting soil;
fertilizer can also be used as a top
dressing on an established bonsai.
When a bonsai is actively growing
or producing fruit I often fertilize
again at least once a month while
These variegated calamondin oranges
watering. A mild fertilizer like were planted together to create an
fish emulsion can even be used orange grove reaching a height of
on a weekly or bimonthly basis to twenty-six inches.

provide constant nutrients to actively growing or fruiting bonsai. One

drawback of fish emulsion is its odor: some species are grown particularly
for their fragrance, which is not improved by the smell of rotting fish. A
general-purpose balanced fertilizer should be used when mixing a slow
time-release plant food into the soil. Monthly or bimonthly extra fertilizer
treatments can be used to provide special needs like acidity for plants that
like acid soil, or to deliver a high nitrogen dose to a bonsai in an active
vegetative growing phase; a fertilizer higher in phosphorus and potassium
can be used to stimulate flower and fruit production. A fertilizer high in
nitrogen, which pushes vegetative rather than flowering growth, is always
good for herbs and scented geraniums where the harvest primarily comes
This nice harvest of strawberry guavas was combined with a similar quantity of
lemon guavas and fermented into two cases of wine.

Above: A ripe kumquat seen close up.

Left: This kumquat has been in
training for about five years from a
five-gallon nursery stock plant. The
fifty-eight-inch specimen is carrying
more than fifty ripe kumquats.
from the foliage. This is especially

true if one is trying to cultivate
bonsai from a species that grows
and flowers very rapidly, like basil.
In more than twenty years of
growing commercial bonsai from
faster-growing species that can
grow year-round and live indoors,
I have always found that my plants

respond well to heavier fertilization programs. Of course, we were in pro-

duction and trying to produce attractive bonsai as quickly as possible.
Using fast-growing varieties allows for the creation and maintenance of
bonsai over months and years instead of decades and centuries. This fits
well with commercial production as well as modern society’s desire for
instant gratification. Creating a good-sized, attractive bonsai in a short
period of time greatly expands the potential of this art form, and makes it
easier for newcomers to consider training bonsai.
Another consideration is the desire to harvest a usable crop from a
bonsai. This changes some of the basic concepts of bonsai cultivation from
severe miniaturization of large trees to shaping small- to mid-sized trees
into medium- to large-sized bonsai up to eight feet tall. To encourage pro-
duction that is more than just symbolic, a good-sized bonsai is needed,
and feeding provides the nutrients that will support your crop. Whether
the harvest is fruit or foliage, excess growth fed by regular fertilization will
be regularly removed from the bonsai.
Many of the species discussed in this book—notably guavas, citrus,
and especially edible figs—have larger leaves and greater internode dis-
tance between leaves than traditional bonsai. Such plants may need regu-
lar pinching over several years to develop a classic full crown. Growing
tips need to be pinched regularly, leaving no more than two or three nodes
between each pinch. If the plant is grown for its foliage, this will pro-
vide a regular fresh harvest. If your bonsai is a species that flowers and
fruits, you need to be aware of the flowering season and be careful not to
remove flower buds or fruit when pinching the growing tips. If the harvest
is important, it is sometimes best to let the bonsai grow a little unchecked,
allowing it to flower and fruit before trimming it back to the desired shape.
Many of these species will sprout new shoots regularly from the
trunk, main branches, exposed roots, or soil. As a rule, these should be
removed as soon as they show. Sometimes a strong new shoot sprouting
from a main branch can be allowed to develop into a new section of the
crown. Most citrus plants sold commercially are grafted onto a rootstock

that may be from another species entirely. The rootstock will send out
strong shoots that look very different from the desirable top of the tree,
and these should be removed immediately. A six-foot tall citrus bonsai
can often sprout new shoots above the graft from the trunk and bare main
branches that will flower and bear fruit when only a few inches long.
Watch your citrus shoots closely and perhaps let them develop a bit to
see if they start to flower. Clusters
of fruit will hide the classic lines
of your bonsai’s trunk, but the
ripe fruit will look stunning. The
short twigs can be removed after
flowering or fruiting.
We are changing the philosophy
here from trying to create the “ideal”
ornamental bonsai to a compro-
mise between perfect form and
bountiful harvests. In my opinion,
the attractiveness of the flowers or
fruit overshadows any short-term
imperfections in form. Not every-
one agrees: try displaying a large
blooming rosemary or a variegated
calamondin orange with flowers
and ripe fruit at a Bonsai Society
show. A few other exhibitors will
start muttering to each other about
the imperfections in your bonsai.
You might even hear, “This is not
This twenty-five-year-old hibiscus real bonsai!” Meanwhile, the larg-
bonsai needs some pruning, but
est crowd in the show, including
flowers frequently through the winter
in front of an east facing sliding glass many of the other exhibitors, will
door. be gathered around your specimen

Drastic pruning was needed for this This fifty-five-inch pineapple guava
large, neglected pineapple guava to has been trained for twelve years. It
be reshaped as a bonsai. A couple started as a one-gallon nursery plant.
months after a severe pruning, it was
potted into a deep bonsai pot.
oohing and ahhing, saying, “This is the neatest bonsai I’ve ever seen!”
Take full advantage of every feature when you display your edible bonsai.
Serve a tea made from its foliage, perhaps with limequat marmalade (from
another bonsai) on crackers. Plan a dinner party with a bonsai theme
using foliage and/or fruit from your various bonsai in every course, from
wine to dessert, with your prized bonsai as the centerpiece. Consuming
part of your art while it continues to flourish, grow, and change carries it
to a unique new level.
With the hectic schedule of the modern lifestyle, it can be easy to let
a large, fast-growing specimen get out of hand. You will need to keep it
sized to fit in the available space. If your edible bonsai grows too fast, it

This variegated Calamondin orange has been in training for two years after
being cut back severely from an overgrown five-gallon nursery plant. This
specimen is forty-two inches tall.

may require a severe pruning to keep the size in check. Rest assured, how-
ever, that it will regrow quickly. I have trimmed citrus, figs, guavas, and a
number of my other bonsai back to bare one- or two-inch diameter stubs
and watched them grow a tight new crown within months.
The variegated calamondin orange pictured in Chapter 3, “Bountiful
Bonsai Possibilities,” was created from a five-gallon nursery plant. It sat in
a neglected corner of my busy bonsai greenhouse for several years, eventu-
ally developing a weak, loose, open crown that was too large for the trunk
and hung near the ground. Finally it became infected with mealy bugs.
After pruning the entire crown down to the trunk and a couple branch
stubs with no foliage, I cleaned the specimen thoroughly and repotted
it into clean soil in a nursery pot.
After two years of regrowth with
constant pinching, it was repotted
into into a bonsai pot; six months
after that it was photographed for
this book.
The lemon guava shown on this
page was a prized plant that had been
allowed to grow with little pruning
for several years to maximize crop
production. It grew to twelve feet
tall and had rooted out the bottom
of its ceramic pot, with one-inch-
diameter roots disappearing into
the floor of the greenhouse. After
cutting the entire crown back to six
feet tall, I smashed the ceramic pot
with a hammer to protect the roots,
which I then dug out of the ground.
This lemon guava has been moved Less than a year after this stub of
from a training pot to nice pottery. a tree was set in its bonsai pot, it

bore the fruit in the picture. Those

lemon guavas, mixed with some
strawberry guavas, are currently
aging in my wine cellar.
In the spring of 2012, during
the massive wildfires that ravaged
Colorado, I was evacuated for twelve
days while a forest fire burned
within a hundred yards of my home
and greenhouse. A neighbor who
didn’t evacuate was kind enough to
water my greenhouse, but missed
a thirty-six hour period where the
outside temperatures reached a
hundred degrees and there was no
power to run the cooling system.
Some of the bonsai illustrated in
this book died completely; some This strawberry guava was pruned
died to the ground and sprouted out down to sixty-seven inches after
again; and all were damaged. After being dug out of the ground in the
greenhouse. Four months later, it was
being pruned back, the plants that
seventy-six inches tall, as shown here.
lived are starting to look good again.
A group of strawberry guavas that were also rooted into the ground and
brushing the fourteen-foot ceiling of the greenhouse turned totally brown
and died back halfway to the ground. When new shoots began sprouting
from the bottom six feet, I dug these trees out and pruned them to a basic
trunk and branch stubs. Some of these stubs are two inches in diameter
and have dozens of new shoots sprouting below the cut. I removed the
undesirable shoots and regularly pinch those that are left to fill out a new
crown. Although they are between six and eight feet tall, these guavas will
be spectacular bonsai with nice crowns and should bear a good crop of fruit
a little more than a year after undergoing the damage and severe pruning.

When visiting people’s homes, you often see the same variety of house-
plants. Ficus, palms, Dracaenas, Sheffleras, jades, spider plants, and a few
others are ubiquitous, with a few other species in the mix. Edible bonsai
can be grown in the same spaces as these common plants. Whether you
just have a little space for a tabletop bonsai or a sunroom with space for
several six-foot edible bonsai, it can be very satisfying to produce an edi-
ble crop from your indoor plants. Perhaps this is the ultimate statement
in going green and eating locally. Now you can have your bonsai and eat
it, too.


115
CHAPTER 6
The Bountiful
Harvest
he main purpose of this book is to help you create bonsai that

will bear a harvestable crop for home use. A small collection
T of bonsai can provide a surprising variety of flavors to add to
your cooking. While I will include some specific recipes
here, most of my personal bonsai harvest is used in two ways. I use small
amounts to accent and add flavor to dishes I already make regularly. Herbs
can be dried, and fruits can be frozen, lasting for a year or more to be used
as needed. The various herbs and the small citrus that can be eaten peel
and all, such as the calamondin orange, kumquat, and limequat, are espe-
cially useful in this way. A single fruit from these small citrus can be
enough to flavor an entire dish. During the cold, snowy winters at my
mountain home, my citrus bonsai carry enough ripe fruit to use in cook-
ing every week; they are the most productive and useful specimens in my
entire collection.
It is also possible to create long-lasting foods from your bonsai’s pro-
duction. With a larger harvest, or by combining several small harvests
saved by drying or freezing, there are several ways to preserve your bon-
sai crop for years. Small fruits can be canned in sugar syrup, or made into

jams, jellies, or chutneys. These can then be used like the fresh fruit to fla-
vor dishes. One batch of rosemary jelly canned in small jars can provide a
continuous supply of unique, sweet rosemary flavor to use in the kitchen.
My favorite way to preserve a bonsai harvest is to make wine that can be
savored for years, or even decades. Herbs, flowers, and fruits from bonsai
specimens have contributed to my wine cellar for more than twenty years.
Perhaps the simplest bonsai are the various herbs, which are highly
productive. A single rosemary, thyme, sage, or savory bonsai can provide
enough fresh and dried herbs to supply a household for an entire year. Pick
the leaves fresh to chop and use as needed. When shaping your bonsai, dry
the leaves for later use. If you enjoy grilling, save your herb stems, soak
them in water, and throw them on the coals to flavor meats, vegetables or
fruits. Basil doesn’t keep its flavor well when dried, but fortunately grows
quickly enough to provide a nearly continuous fresh harvest. The best way
to preserve an oversupply of basil is by freezing it. Put it in a blender with
just enough water to whip it up into a thick green slurry, then freeze it in
ice cube trays. These frozen basil cubes will keep their flavor for a year and
are very useful in the kitchen: one cube will perk up any dish. Another way
to preserve these culinary flavors is to make herbal jellies. Mint jellies are
generally served with lamb, but rosemary jelly makes a wonderful glaze on
roast turkey. Making herb jellies is as simple as brewing a strong tea and
adding sugar and commercial pectin. Use a mint jelly recipe and substi-
tute your favorite herb for the mint. Herbal jellies are delightful spread on
toast or crackers, and can be added to glazes and sauces of all kinds. Tuck
a fresh rosemary sprig into a jar of bonsai rosemary jelly before sealing to
create a unique holiday gift.
Other fragrant plants such as lemon verbena, lavender, pineapple sage,
Costa Rican mint, and scented geraniums are considered more useful as
potpourri or herbal teas, but they all can be used in the kitchen to pro-
vide unique accents to dishes. Don’t be afraid to experiment with your
herbs in new ways that aren’t covered in traditional cookbooks. Try sub-
stituting lemon thyme for regular thyme, or adding lemon verbena when

CHAPTER 6 The Bountiful Harvest 117
preparing eggs with fresh herbs. Both rosemary and thyme make a stimu-
lating hot tea on a cold winter morning. Soothing lavender tea can be
made with foliage trimmings as well as the flowers of French lavender.
Flowers such as hibiscus and jasmine, as well as the petals of any citrus
flower, make great additions to herbal tea blends, or can be used to flavor
green tea. Small citrus that are edible whole, like kumquat, limequat, and
calamondin orange, can be sliced thin, dried, and chopped or crumbled
to add to your tea blends. Herbs like pineapple sage, lemon verbena, and
Costa Rican mint have intense yet very pleasant fragrances that are almost
intoxicating when used as aromatherapy. One of my favorite uses for these
herbs is to garnish a mixed drink or even lemonade with a fresh sprig that
brushes the nose with every sip. Aromatherapy can be very beneficial even
if it just brightens your mood and brings a smile to your face. If you have
fragrant herbal bonsai, touch them and breathe in the fragrance every
day. Don’t forget to stop and smell the flowers when your jasmine, myrtle,
Natal plum, or citrus is in bloom.
Tea is nice, but sometimes a drink with a little more kick is desired.
Dandelion wine is not the only flower wine—I have hibiscus-flower wine
and jasmine-flower wine in my cellar. I’ve used a quart of jasmine per gal-
lon and a couple quarts of dried hibiscus per gallon of wine to turn out
these delicate vintages. Making flower wines essentially involves brewing
a strong tea, adding sugar and wine yeast, and then waiting as your tea
turns into wine. Adding raisins as part of the sugar gives the wine more
body and character, and is especially helpful with flower and herb wines
that don’t contain any other fruit. You’ll find winemaking supplies and
detailed instructions at your local home-brewing store. Basic equipment
includes a covered bucket for primary fermentation and a large glass bot-
tle with a fermentation lock for secondary fermentation and aging.
I used four one-quart jars packed full of dried jasmine flowers, fifteen
pounds of sugar, two pounds of golden raisins, and a packet of wine yeast
to make two cases of jasmine-flower wine with the following recipe: Pour
two gallons of boiling water over the flowers and chopped raisins, then

add another gallon of water in which five pounds of sugar have been dis-
solved. When cool, add wine yeast. Stir twice a day. After several days, add
another five pounds of sugar dissolved in water; after several more days,
repeat once more. After ten to fourteen days of this primary fermentation,
strain out the flowers and raisin pulp and pour the fermenting wine into a
glass container, sealing it with a fermentation lock. You can use gallon jugs
or five-gallon glass carboys from a home-brew store for this. Your wine
will finish fermenting and start to age, and will be ready to drink or bottle
in three to six months. This same recipe can be followed to make herbal
wines, which are great for sipping and incredible when used in cooking.
I have been accused of being obsessed with winemaking. Admittedly, I
am past the middle of a third decade of building a cellar containing several
hundred cases of homemade wine. My cellar contains wines made from
most of the edible bonsai discussed in this book. There are rosemary and
thyme wines made from bonsai trimmings that have been aging in my
cellar for more than twenty years; my oldest is a lavender wine from 1986.
The artistic symmetry of drinking a decades-old wine made from a bonsai
while viewing bonsai that have been in training that long is very appeal-
ing. I treasure my bonsai harvests, and the best way to preserve that har-
vest to enjoy for years is to make wines that can age along with the plants
themselves.
Herbal and citrus wines can be intense, and are great served as an ape-
ritif in small servings. For cooking, however, nothing else can compare.
They can be used in sauces or marinades and splashed over any sauté. Use
them to baste foods cooking on the grill, or as an ingredient in homemade
salad dressing. My favorite way to prepare a turkey is to use one of those
oven-baking bags and one to three cups of wine, depending on size, to
steam it and infuse it with flavor. A chicken or any type of roast may be
cooked the same way. The meat will be tender and juicy and the leftover
liquid will make great gravy or soup stock.
Flower and fruit wines are more conventional and easier to drink a
bottle of over dinner. As mentioned above, jasmine and hibiscus flowers

A few of my vintages: Lemon Lemon Drop, Citrus Symphony blend, and

Strawberry Lemon Guava wine.
can be dried and saved for making wine. Figs, guavas, and some citrus
make heartier fruit wines. Mellow citrus like orange, blood orange, and
even kumquat can make delightful wines by using a couple gallons of fruit
with water, sugar, and wine yeast to make five gallons of wine. Sharper-
tasting citrus like lemons, limes, and limequats make more intense wines,
especially if a greater quantity of fruit is used per gallon of wine. My
favorite cooking wine is made from lemon basil, lime basil, lemons, and
limes fermented together. It’s a citrus explosion on the palate when sipped,
and adds great flavor to any dish. One of my favorite tricks when cooking
rice is to add half a cup of herbal wine to the rice for the last five minutes
of steaming. This adds delightful flavor to steamed rice; different wines
can be paired with specific main dishes to be served alongside.

I never use sulfites, which are supposed to kill yeast and “preserve”
wines, yet my vintages have lasted for decades and improved with age.
In fact, an opened partial bottle kept corked in the fridge can be used for
months without it going bad, making it possible to have several differ-
ent cooking wines open for regular use in the kitchen to provide variety.
Making wine is definitely my favorite way to preserve an edible bonsai
harvest. It is not too difficult, and one five-gallon fermentation bottle on
your counter can make two or three batches of wine a year. Learn to do
this and you will have a unique supply of wines for cooking, drinking and
special gifts.
The most prized and useful part of my bonsai harvest is the citrus.
This is in part because I take pleasure in being able to produce a usable
citrus crop in a colder northern climate. It is more difficult to produce
large citrus like oranges or grapefruits indoors, but lemons and limes are
easier, and the smaller limequats, kumquats and calamondin oranges can
be extremely productive and are exceptional, peel and all—with seeds
removed—for use in cooking. Key limes can also be used like this if sliced
very thinly. Kumquats are smaller and you may need to use several for the
same amount of flavor as one of the larger citrus. These intensely flavored
fruits are sour, and may need to have sugar or honey added when used in
Ingredients for sautéed asparagus

with peppers, basil, garlic, cashews,
Limequat marmalade and toast. and calamondin orange.

desserts. They can be used to flavor yogurt or homemade sorbet and ice
cream. Whole kumquats and quartered, seeded limequats or oranges can
used as an edible garnish for mixed drinks.
The small citrus really shine in cooking, however. They can be used
fresh, frozen, or canned; you can even use the pulp left over after ferment-
ing into wine. Limequats and calamondins, which have sharply different
flavors, make an intensely flavored marmalade to be spread on toast or
added to any sauce that would benefit from that sweet-tart flavor. You can
substitute the finely chopped, seeded fruits, plus a little added water, in
any orange marmalade recipe that uses commercial pectin. Gently warm
some marmalade with a splash of citrus or herbal wine, add spices if you
like, and use as a final glaze on grilled meat or a roast bird. Rosemary or
thyme would be good with this—or, for a unique twist, flavor the glaze
with Chinese five-spice blend.
Small citrus are at their best used fresh. Any of them can be chopped
and added to your favorite sauté or stir-fry. A simple favorite is to sauté
asparagus with almonds and garlic in olive oil, then chop a seeded cala-
mondin orange and add with the garlic. You’ll get a nice citrus note with
the asparagus and a sharp citrus burst when you bite into a piece of peel.
Chopped, seeded citrus can also be added to eggs in an omelet, scramble,
or soufflé. Try onion, garlic, celery, red pepper, cashews, mushrooms, and
a limequat for a lively combination. The bright flavor that comes with the
citrus enhances everything.
A dish I like to take to parties is a Salmon Citrus Cheese Ball. In olive
oil, sauté onion, garlic, ginger, celery, bell peppers (red, yellow, and green),
one hot pepper, cashews, parsley, and two chopped, seeded limequats or
calamondins. Add about four ounces of flaked salmon (you can also use
crab or chopped shrimp). Splash in some herb or citrus wine with the sea-
food and finish the sauté. Stir the resulting three to four cups of sautéed
veggies and salmon into a package of cream cheese while still hot, then
chill and roll into a ball. Roll the cheese ball in crushed nuts if you like. If
you don’t overcook the vegetables, then your cheese ball will be crunchy

and full of veggies and nuts, with

just enough flavored cheese to hold
it together—it’s actually a healthy
dish. You can easily substitute or
add any other fruit, vegetables,
nuts, spices, even mushrooms, to
customize this recipe to your taste.
Citrus Fire Chicken is a simple
main dish that is quick and easy to
prepare. Cut one boneless chicken
breast per serving into long thin
strips. Sauté the strips in coconut
oil with one or more hot peppers
of your choice and one chopped,
seeded limequat or calamondin for
every two breasts. Add a couple
of spoonfuls of citrus marmalade
near the end for some sweetness to
balance the fire. Serve this as your
meat course, alongside rice, or on
top of a salad. Peeled, chopped
blood oranges or chopped kum-
quats could also be used for the
citrus. Hopefully your hot pepper
bonsai will provide the fire.
Top: These Bacon-Shrimp Citrus My favorite appetizer, Bacon-
Wraps, made with blood orange Shrimp Citrus Wraps, is made
segments, are ready to roll. with segmented blood oranges,
Center: Rolled and pinned appetizers although I’ve also used tangerine
ready for the grill. segments when I can’t wait for my
Bottom: Bacon-Shrimp Citrus Wraps blood oranges to get ripe. Use very
fresh from the grill. ripe oranges with deep color for the

best effect. Take one medium to

large shelled and deveined shrimp
along with one blood orange seg-
ment, wrap with a half strip of
turkey bacon, and pin with one or
two toothpicks. (Note: I use turkey
bacon, not only because it is health-
ier than pork, but also because it is
made from pre-cooked turkey and
only needs to be browned. With Grilled Bacon-Shrimp Citrus Wraps
pork bacon, the shrimp and cit- served alongside a sautéed orange
asparagus dinner.
rus would be overcooked, if not
burned, by the time the bacon was
ready.) Spray or brush with olive oil and season to taste. I recommend a
combination of powdered garlic, ginger, paprika, and lemon pepper. Cook
on the grill, turning frequently. Depending on the heat, the appetizer will
take ten to fifteen minutes to cook. You might spritz them with a little
herbal or citrus wine while cooking, especially if the fire is hot. Finish
with a glaze of your choice for the last two minutes, exposing the glaze to
the heat briefly. I’ve used all kinds of prepared oriental sauces, even cock-
tail sauce, for the glaze. My favorite is a blend of Thai sweet chili sauce
and either citrus marmalade or a fruit jam like apricot. I advise you to
make twice as many of these appetizers as you think you’ll need. If you
serve them at a dinner party and turn your back for two minutes, they’ll
be gone.
Dried figs are easy to find, but fresh figs are rare unless you live in a
warm climate where they survive outdoors. I’ve never really cooked with
figs, although when I started growing fig bonsai I saved and froze every
fig until I had enough to create a vintage of fig wine. I serve them fresh,
halved or quartered, on salads or as an edible garnish on a serving plate.
My Kadota and Peter’s Honey figs are a beautiful golden yellow when
cut, and my Celeste figs are a deep ruby red. Brown Turkey figs are a

purple-brown color and larger than

most other figs. Using figs of dif-
ferent colors as a garnish makes
a beautiful presentation. When I
serve them as an appetizer, I trim
off the stem end and stuff a nug-
get of feta cheese inside. Small figs
can be served whole after stuffing;
larger ones can be halved or quar-
This Kadota fig got so ripe it opened tered, with a nugget of feta placed
like a flower. in each piece.
Strawberry and lemon gua-
vas have tart skins and soft, sweet,
white flesh when ripe. They also
contain hard seeds a little larger
than grape pips that are tough to
remove without losing some of the
tasty flesh. If the guavas are fresh,
it’s probably best to just eat them
and spit out the seeds. Guavas make
a nice jelly when cooked down if
Pineapple guava flower petals are the seeds are sieved or strained
white on the outside and red on the out before the pectin and sugar are
inside but curl shortly after opening, added. I either eat my guavas fresh
hiding the red inside.
or ferment them into wine. My
pineapple-guava bonsai flower every year but have never produced fruit;
apparently they are not self-fertilizing. Pineapple guavas need some age to
flower, but are worth growing for the flowers even without fruit. The large
white petals are thick, fleshy and sweet, and are best picked from the tree
and eaten fresh. They can be a unique edible garnish or topping on a salad.
While I have grown every plant variety mentioned in this book, some
of them have never borne an edible crop for me. That doesn’t prevent

them from being interesting bonsai to grow, and I still hope that perhaps
with more age or experimentation they will bear fruit. Some are just small
shrubs like Chilean guava, which provides a few tasty berries but not
enough to make anything without saving several years’ worth of fruit in
the freezer. Natal plums are tasty and produce fruit sporadically through
the year, but I’ve never had enough of them to make anything substantial.
Most edible-bonsai growers will have similar results, unless they have the
space for a large bonsai or a group of several smaller bonsai of the same
species. Most of these fruits are best enjoyed fresh right from the tree.
Some fruits, like citrus, can flavor an entire dish, but perhaps the best use
of a special, unique fruit is to pluck one off the bonsai to offer fresh to a
guest who has never tasted a fresh fig, guava, or kumquat.
We create bonsai in order to share their beauty with others. With edi-
ble bonsai, that includes letting others experience the consumable part of
the bonsai. When someone visits my greenhouse, if there is no fresh fruit
to offer, I share fragrances of flowers like citrus or Natal plum, or I pluck
a leaf from a rosemary or Costa Rican mint bush to hand them for aroma-
therapy, or I have them simply touch my fragrant herbal bonsai with their
hands and breathe in the fragrance. I have attended Bonsai Society shows
where some exhibitors watch their prized specimens like hawks, and there
are more signs saying ”Please Don’t Touch the Bonsai” than there are bon-
sai. I’ve brought large herbal bonsai, which grow so quickly that I could
trim pieces of the bonsai to give away with damaging my specimen, to
these shows, and encouraged people to come touch them and experience
the fragrance. I’m afraid I created a fuss and attracted a crowd that inter-
fered with foot traffic through the exhibit. You’ll find that people respond
to the concept of approachable bonsai gardening with great interest. I wish
you well as you amaze your friends with your bountiful bonsai!


127
INDEX
A field-grown plants 7, 28–30, 63, long-term care 97–112

acidic soil 16, 50, 57, 69, 99, 100, 104 74, 76 loquat 67–68
aromatherapy 45, 60, 63, 79, 117, 125 flavoring food 9, 38, 41, 47, 51,
65, 69, 72, 76–78, 85, 115–116,
M
artificial light 15–17, 40, 50, 63, 99 medicinal herbs 5, 42–43, 47, 51, 55,
Australian cherry 11–12, 34–35 118–121, 125
65, 69, 74–75, 78
avocado 12, 34, 36 flowers 7, 10–15, 17, 23, 27–28,
myrtle-leaved orange 24–25, 68–69,
33, 35–36, 39–41, 43–47, 49–52,
B 91
55–61, 63–64, 67–76, 78–82, 84,
Bacon-Shrimp Citrus Wraps 94–95, 99, 101–102, 105–107, N
122–123 116–118, 124–125 Natal plum 11–12, 19–20, 69–72,
Bahama berry 36 fragrant bonsai 36–37, 40, 42, 88–89, 117, 125
Barbados cherry 11, 36–37, 93 45–48, 50, 55, 60–61, 63, 65, New Zealand tea tree 12, 72
basil 36–37, 116, 119, 120 67–72, 74–75, 78–79, 82–84, 93,
bay laurel 38 104, 116–117, 125 P
black olive 38–39 freezing fruit 8, 34, 80, 115, 125 papaya 12, 72–73
blood orange 39–40, 119, 122–123 fruit 8–10, 12–17, 20–23, 27–28, pineapple guava 12, 73–74, 108, 124
Bonsai Society 107, 125 33–42, 44–45, 48, 50–54, 58–59, pineapple sage 74–75, 116–117
Buddha’s hand citron 40–41, 91 61–74, 78–82, 88, 90–95, 98, 101, plant sources 10–12, 19, 30, 87–95
104, 106–108, 111, 113, 115–125 potting bonsai 14–15, 19, 22, 24–30,
C 95, 100–101
calamondin orange 9, 115, 117, G potting soil 16, 99–100, 103
120–122, 41–42, 90–91, 103, 107, gooseberry 78, 93 preserving fruit 115
109–110 grafting 50–51, 62, 107 pruning bonsai 12–17, 20–30,
camphor laurel 12, 42–43, 78 gravel 23, 25, 27–28, 46, 101 94–95, 100–101, 107–112
carob 43–44 green tea 10, 30, 56–57, 92, 99, 117
carving bonsai 7, 20, 24, 28–29, 30, grilling with leaves and stems R
37, 72, 76, 83, 95 root trimming 12–15, 22, 25, 27
47–48, 76, 116
Castilian guava 44–45 rosemary 8, 19, 29, 75–76, 90, 107,
Chilean guava 45, 88, 125 H 116–118, 121, 125
Chilean myrtle 45–46 hardy bonsai 6, 16, 53, 62, 67, 77,
S
citrus 8, 13, 15–17, 19–21, 39–42, 81, 83–85
sage 76–77, 116
48, 50–51, 54–55, 61–62, 65–69, Herbal Bonsai 7, 47, 75
Salmon Citrus Cheese Ball 121–122
87–88, 90–92, 98–99, 106–107, herbs 5, 7, 8, 16, 20, 28–29, 34,
savory 77, 116
110, 115, 117–123, 125 36–37, 44, 47–48, 63, 65, 74–77,
scented geranium 20, 28, 77–79, 89,
Citrus Fire Chicken 122 79, 81–85, 89–90, 99–100, 103,
93, 103, 105, 116
coffee 9–11, 46–47, 92 105, 115–119, 120, 123, 125
shaping bonsai 13, 20–21, 23, 26–27,
cooking with bonsai 8–9, 35, 37–39, hibiscus 12, 57–58, 91, 107, 117, 118 30, 89, 94, 106, 116
41–42, 51, 64, 69, 74–77, 83, 85, hot pepper 28, 58–59, 91, 121–122 Shrimp Citrus Wraps 122–123
90, 115–124 strawberry guava 12, 79–80, 104, 111
I
Costa Rican mint bush 47–48, strawberry tree 14, 21, 26–28, 81, 91
instant bonsai 19–30, 89, 95, 106
116–117, 125 sunlight 15, 98
J sweet marjoram 81–82
D jaboticaba 59–60
drainage 100–101 sweet myrtle 82–83
jams and jellies 8, 34, 36, 59, 64, 67,
drought tolerant bonsai 39, 43, T
70, 78, 80–81, 85, 116, 123–124
68–69, 72, 83, 85, 101 tea, brewed 10, 12, 34–36, 47, 56–57,
jasmine 12, 60–61, 92, 117–118
drying herbs and flowers 34–35, 57, 60–61, 63–65, 72, 74–76, 78, 82,
juniper 6, 15, 89, 97
60, 115–116 92, 108, 116–117
dwarf lemon 13, 48–50, 90, 119–120 K temperature sensitivity 88, 93, 97, 111
dwarf lime 50–51, 90, 119–120 kumquat 9, 41, 61–62, 66, 91, 105, thyme 84–85, 101, 116–118, 121
dwarf pomegranate 10–12, 19, 115, 117, 119–122, 125 training bonsai 13, 28–30, 34,
51–52, 89 89–90, 100, 106
L
E lavender 62–63, 116–118 W
edible fig 8–9, 14–16, 19, 20, 52–55,
lemon guava 12, 63–65, 79, 104, watering 98, 100–101
88, 92, 101, 106, 110, 119, 123–125
110–111, 119, 124 wine 8–9, 12, 34, 36, 41, 59, 61, 63,
eucalyptus 12, 55–56
lemon verbena 65–66, 116–117 67, 75, 79–80, 85, 104, 108, 111,
F limequat 8–9, 66–67, 91, 108, 115, 116–121, 123–124
fertilizer 16, 29, 103–106 117, 119–122 winemaking 117–120

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Bender, Richard W.
Bountiful bonsai : create instant indoor
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BOUNTIFUL

BountifulBonsai_KH_edit 2i.indd 1 8/1/14 11:05 AM

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19 Creating Instant Bonsai

87 Finding Your Future

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BountifulBonsai_KH_edit 2i.indd 5 8/1/14 11:05 AM

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to this is the specialization in flowering varieties. Another philosophy, sim-

BountifulBonsai_KH_edit 2i.indd 7 8/1/14 11:05 AM

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large-fruited varieties. These small

BountifulBonsai_KH_edit 2i.indd 9 8/1/14 11:05 AM

flowering tree that blooms in mid-winter, is often grown as a houseplant in

This thirty-inch dwarf pomegranate, These fruits are considered

BountifulBonsai_KH_edit 2i.indd 10 8/1/14 11:05 AM

BountifulBonsai_KH_edit 2i.indd 11 8/1/14 11:05 AM

BountifulBonsai_KH_edit 2i.indd 12 8/1/14 11:05 AM

shaping a plant as a bonsai. When a

BountifulBonsai_KH_edit 2i.indd 13 8/1/14 11:05 AM

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BountifulBonsai_KH_edit 2i.indd 17 8/1/14 11:05 AM

BountifulBonsai_KH_edit 2i.indd 18 8/1/14 11:05 AM

he easiest way to start your edible bonsai collection is to visit a

BountifulBonsai_KH_edit 2i.indd 19 8/1/14 11:05 AM

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important to have a selection of plants to choose from, so you can select

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Pruning leaves and small branches Using a pointed bamboo stick to

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Fresh soil should be tamped down The completed myrtle-leaved orange

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Opposite page, top left: This

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Australian cherry (Eugenia myrtifolia) Also known as brush cherry, this

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to this miniature variety is that it

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Bahama berry (Nashia inaguensis) Bahama berry, also called pineapple

Barbados cherry (Malpighia glabra) Barbados cherry, also called

BountifulBonsai_KH_edit 2i.indd 36 8/1/14 11:06 AM

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Bay laurel (Laurus nobilis) Sweet

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though somewhat slow to develop. It will take repeated pruning over

Blood orange (Citrus sinensis)

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through the winter, especially

Buddha’s hand citron (Citrus

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flowers. While most flowers drop without producing, I usually manage

Calamondin orange (× Citrofortunella microcarpa) Calamondin oranges

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