Seattle Indoor Bonsai Dilemma

Aditya

Hello

I am hoping to get some advice from the experts on this forum

I want to make an addition to my Bonsai collection.

My wife has hinted that she would like something that flowers.

Do you have any recomendations for a Bonsai that could grow indoors in Seattle?

I am looking at the dwarf pomegranate, Barbados Cherry or the Snow Rose Serrissa.

Do you have any suggestions or could you point me in the right direction ? Any help or advice would be very welcome.

Thanks
Aditya Dube

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zeb

Hi, Aditya!

I'm no expert and therefore I can recommend serissa. They are quite tolerant to almost everything, for example drought, different lighting conditions and different humidity. They also tolerate overwatering to some extent.

Some sources tell they're like spoilt children and any kind of a change in it's conditions causes it to lose it's leaves. I've never noticed anything like that on my serissas. The only reason for a leaf drop was almost one and a half weeks without water...


Zeb

groan

I have owned the serissa, and Barbados Cherry, and if i had to go back and buy another one of those, I would get ht cherry.

It had the most wonderful scent when it flowered! nice little flower too.

the branches get brittle quickly, so it is clip and grow mostly.

the serissa flowers tend to be a bit insignificant, unless you are lucky enough to get one with a happy disposition that likes to flowere alot. (mine never liket flowering much so it was sparce and sporatic)

have fun!

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The Great Canadian Bonsai

Aditya

Thanks for your quick responses...
I will do some more research but this is definitely helpful. Its interesting that no one has tried the pomegranate. I wonder why

Thanks
Aditya

Carl_Bergstrom

Persephone and plenty of other people tried the pomegranite. They just never came back up here, and they don't get bonsaiTALK down there.



Seriously, though, I have a very young one growing outdoors, but I've yet to try one inside.

-Old Mister

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ripsgreentree

Your dilemma will be "indoor bonsai," although I have seen people grow serissa and others successfully indoors, they generally have to alter their indoor invironment to do so. This means grow lights and misting systems and humidy trays and what ever else you need to alter your indoor invironment to be acceptable to your trees.

It seems to me that you could keep azalea out doors and bring them in when they flower. Check me if I am wrong but I think that azalea would do well in Seattle. Keep us posted as it will be interesting on how things work out. I keep my wife's favorite color rose in a five gallon pot in the backyard, and every time it buds I cut the flower and put it in the bud vase on her work table. This has proven to be invaluable for me.

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Aditya

Hi Everybody
Thanks. I will follow up with all your suggestions.

Take care
aditya

Russ

probably to late to help you but I'll through my two cents in anyways. I 've successfully killed a few serrissa but they can all be atributed to user error. ie not enough light, lack of water. But I really enjoyed them while I had them as they do require year round attention (nice during those quite winter months). As posted by other, azeala do well indoors here in vancouver. Some will bloom year round. although the blooms don't last very long inside.

OMC, that was funny.

KZitzewitz

There is a book by Paul Lesnewicz (sp?) called indoor Boonsai or something of that like, I would suggest getting one, it talks about some great tres that can flower, dwarf oranges etc, how to grow and such. As for the plants you recomend, my pomegranet has yet to grow flowers, yet is is a easy to grow tree, my serrisas have always died, I seem not to be able to care for them right, however I do think a good serrisa bonsai is topped by very little, and cannot say anything for the cherry as have never owned one.

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