It is has been unusally cold in Florida this year, however the trees are going dormant quicker and giving me a great opportunity to work on the,  I have been looking forward to repotting this crepe myrtle correctly for a long time now.  As you may remember I showed this tree at the BSF convention in May, and I bought a new Sara Rayner pot for it back then.  The time to repot the tree couldn’t come soon enough.

I let the tree grow out a lot, just to thicken some branches and to improve the tree’s health.  The ramification continues to increase and the tree’s scars are just about completely covered.

The tree’s roots looked strong and healthy.  I didn’t really have to reduce the roots at all once I combed out the old soil mix.  The dark color and rounded top add a nice balance with the tree.  I only had to wire a few back branches but for the most part it is clip and grow to keep this tree in shape.

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I have been working on this tree for years now, and it is so close to being a finished bonsai.  This winter when the leaves drop I will wire this tree one more time, and it should be pretty amazing come Spring, if I say so myself.  It filled in this year in all thright places.  The canopy is sio full that the tree rarely even puts out shoots of the full sized leaves of its previous life.  As you know, all these branches were thread grafted from a dwarf variety of crepe myrtle.

I am still hopefull to get  some blooms this year, but it is late in the year and no buds are present.  I have had this tree pretty shaded this year so I think that effected the flowers

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Many of the trees that I have been working on over the winter are now putting out new growth and I wanted to give you an update on the way they look now.

Of all my trees the one I am enjoying most is this crepe mrytle.  The crown of the tree from the new top I developed is looking great.  I just need a mid branch on the left side and this tree is ready to go.  However the pads looking a bit flat so this year I plan to work on the taper and overall thickness of the branches themselves.  This tree won’t be this bare  when it is completed,  Right now I am just building the skeleton structure, but it will be this year that this tree becomes a finished bonsai.

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Wow! This tree has been so wonderful to work with, and so rewarding. The past two weeks this tree has put out another batch of flowers while the rest of my collection begins to prepare for dormancy in a few months. I think it is just showing off. In any case I knew I had to get some pictures now to submit for consideration for next year’s Epcot Flower and Garden Festival. In my opionion this tree is ready and will look great on display.

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