This post records the development of pair of African baobabs I grew from seed over a period of nine years.
The trees today.
The seed packet the day it arrived. I think there were 8 seeds. I poured boiling water over then, let them soak overnight, and planted them.
Two of the seeds germinated.
Dormant at the end of their first year.
Big aspirations! I had a nice pot I wasn’t using, so I repotted the trees into it in spring. This would be their home for the next seven years.
Spring leaves, along with a forest of tomato seedlings that resulted from fertilizing with soil from a worm farm transforming kitchen scraps.
Their second winter. The trees grew slowly their first year.
The trees put on better growth the second year.
A lot better.
Waking up after a winter sleep.
Getting ready for another winter nap. I used to bring these trees inside for the winter and store them without watering until they started budding again in spring. Lately I have been leaving them outside all winter except for the coldest nights (low 40s F) and during rainstorms (still no winter watering).
Beginning to bud. These trees don’t really get going until July.
July growth.
Two years later, time for a winter nap.
The tree waking up about two years ago.
I wired the larger tree to accentuate its curves.
Good root growth earlier this spring.
Smaller tree bare-rooted.
Larger tree bare-rooted with some roots pruned.
The trees in their new pot, ready for another summer.
beginBonsai 