Can you bonsai a camellia? - Bonsai Technique - Baikoen Bonsai Club

[@sudonyms]

Hey Tom, it's Lisa from Baikoen! I'm about to air layer some branches off my yard camellia bush so this was helpful for when that process is done - especially the info on cutting leaves rather than defoliating. I hadn't seen that before. Thanks!

[@BaikoenBonsai]

I’ll have a follow up video soon of the camellias. They all pushed and bushy already

[@timmillan6701]

Unryu lends itself to bonsai due to its contorted branching and relatively smaller blooms. Most C. japonica have blooms that, in my opinion, are too large and tend to look out of scale. ( As an aside, Nuccio nursery has produced some of the most beautiful camellias ever, including my personal favorite -Nuccio’s Pearl) I think I would prefer a C. sasanqua or even better,C. sinensis for flowers that look more complimentary in a bonsai. C. transnokoensis has almost perfect flowers also, but the branching structure is rather stiff and would require quite a bit of work, whereas ‘Unryu’ naturally looks like much work has already been done. Thanks for this video- it is inspiring me Edit: Tama no Ura is also a great character plant. Again, the flowers are approaching the larger size in my eye, but I would definitely make the exception for that one - stunning. Suffice it to say, any Camellia japonica, or other large leaf/flower species in the ground would be a good candidate for a “bonsai style treatment “ pruning. Generally speaking, their natural form is rather clumsy. I’m looking at a C. chekiangoleosa outside my window right now. Where are my pruners….

[@BaikoenBonsai]

Thank you for your insight. Yeah flowers are rather large/showy. Camilla are more of a long term project as they will not bulk or ramify easily. More of a generational tree.

[@thegardenvisitor5633]

Thanks for this! I call what you did Giant Bonsai. Because I don't have a yard, just a large patio and the climate is arid here I usually just do everything larger containers so they don't dry out so fast and save the shallow bonsai pots for succulents. Getting ready to prune a very bushy C. j. 'Magnoliaflora' for shape so it looks interesting year round instead of gorgeous flowers for only a few weeks and then non-descript green bush the rest of the year. Was looking for inspiration as I have a tendency to overprune. I like the leaf cutting technique and will use it and also later on with the Acer j. 'Vitifolium'.

[@BaikoenBonsai]

I'm pretty surprise how well they respond to leaf cutting and canopy reduction.

[@BeatlePhillips]

Here in Georgia we have a town Named Camellia. They have a garden there dedicated to nothing but camellias. It’s amazing how many different types of camellia there are. Thanks for posting

[@BaikoenBonsai]

Thank you for watching and leaving a comment

[@PhotoshopTutor101]

I have air layered 3 camellias and they need a prune to bonsai. Leaving them a year for root development then hopefulty they will survive a hard pruning to encourage ramification.

[@BaikoenBonsai]

They should!