Six of the nine species of baobab found worldwide are native to Madagascar. This is one of them, also called a “monkey bread tree” even though there are lemurs but no monkeys in Madagascar. Go figure.
I bought the tree online from Bonsai Collectibles located in Lancaster, California in 2013. It arrived on May 23 of that year.
November 9, 2019:
The tree today.
The tree being repotted upon arrival.
A rough first day.
Better after a summer of growth.
I keep baobabs inside as regular nighttime temperatures fall below 50 degrees F, from about early December to early March. I don’t water them during this period. The leaves on this tree were left over from the previous summer.
New summer leaves sprouting.
Leaf growth in 10 days.
The tree in mid-summer.
Inverse taper at base.
Bare-rooted.
Repotted a bit deeper in a larger pot. I moved the tree back and forth from inside the house depending on nighttime temperatures during this period.
The tree on an outside day in the bonsai garden. I hold off on watering until new leaf growth appears.
The tree in autumn.
Summer.
A poor attempt at wiring a gangly tree.
Occasional branch-pruning.
Still gangly.
Trunk chop.
Removed from pot.
Bare-rooted.
Root-pruned.
Repotted.
The redesigned tree.
July 18, 2018:
New growth on the way. I will attempt to keep new growth in the future as close to the trunk as possible. I’m unsure of whether or not I will keep the first branch. Right now I like it as a back branch instead of off to one side as shown here.
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Reblogged this on Wolf's Birding and Bonsai Blog.
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