Entry: Bauhinia Natalensis – Natal Bauhinia – South Africa – WITHDRAWN
ofBonsai Magazine
Before
This plant is a small shrub which bears white flowers in summer and autumn, and is indigenous to the East Coast of Southern Africa. In the garden it attracts butterflies, moths and birds.
I selected this plant for its natural shape favouring the African flat-crown / informal upright growth. This is a very young plant (34cm from soil to apex) with a relatively thin unattractive trunk and no nebari, although with intensive feeding, watering and full sun I believe I will be able to develop these features. I plan to style it as an informal upright / African flat-crown style which will expose the maximum amount of foliage to sunlight thereby encouraging maximum flowering at the branch tips.
A pot will be selected after styling from Misty Moon Bonsai, Assagay, KZN, South Africa
One Quarter Progression
At this stage I have just re-potted my Bauhinia and removed some of the excess growth. I still need to do a lot of refining and then wait for the foliage to fill in as it recovers. Can’t wait to see the finished tree with flowers in autumn!
Half Way Progression
This is my beautiful little Bauhinia Natalensis after quite a serious haircut and some wiring! It is now starting to take the shape of an African flat-crown tree, but will need to fill some foliage to create the right effect. The Ryuga Satsuki shears worked like a dream to trim all the fine branches you can see in my initial entry pictures!
Three Quarter Progression
I have not been able to do very much more on this tree as it is still recovering from re-potting. I have done a little refining by removing some larger leaves to force side shoots on the larger branches and removed a couple of insignificant side branches. I was very lucky with this cute little tree because its growth already had the makings of a flat-crown style. I am hoping that by January 2013 the foliage will have filled in and the leaves reduced, and maybe as a bonus it will have some flowers for me!