Butterfly Bush, Year End Results [Bonsai]

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Another bonsai tree in my garden is ready to be shared with my friends here.

This is a collection of photos of my Butterfly Bush over the past year.

Historical Information

ID: 0015
Nickname: Shasta
Type: Butterfly Bush
Age: 6 years
Grown: cutting
Last repotting: March 12, 2021
Wired: Never

Replanting, March 2021

Beginning in March, winter broke early with a few weeks of strong sunshine and warmth.

This tree had not been replanted since 2016, and the recycled bamboo pot was starting to crack at the bottom. This seemed like a good time to replant and look at the roots.

The roots have formed a good dense mass. There is a large twisting taproot however, and I decided this might be a good year to consider removing it.

This was a bit more root mass than I intended to remove. Yet, ending up with a nice radial set of dense rootmass on top will serve the tree well for better root spacing into the soil.

With a few wooden stakes, some hidden wire magic, and a bunch of fresh bonsai soil, somehow I managed to keep the tree firmly upright in the new pot training pot.

I think it looks strong and sturdy in its new home.

April

The two photos above are from late April when the tree was starting to kick off the final shivers of winter. The tree is still waking up from dormancy, and starting to recover from being transplanted last month.

Even though this is a deciduous plant, my butterfly bush usually continues to grow new smaller leaves slowly in winter. By summer, it tends to grow new stems to form larger leaves from, and eventually flower heads.

May

By May, the days were unusually hot and dry, and many trees were showing signs of heat exhaustion. Only a month ago night temperatures were still freezing. When the seasonal weather changes faster than the trees are able to adapt, care must be taken.

So in May I photographed my trees here in the shaded side of the yard where they would have to remain for a few more weeks to recover.

July

And then, I had to keep the trees here through July as well. Not just the potted trees were showing signs of heat damage. Many full grown healthy trees all over town were also dropping leaves and getting sun burn damage.

The fuchsias were acting as my alarm plants, as they wilt right away if the day gets too hot for most plants. When the fuchsias look bad in the sun, it means the bonsai trees are probably also suffering underneath the soil level. The hot soil can practically boil the water inside the roots on the longest hot days.

Here you can see the long shoots that would have normally formed flowers, but they are drooping over at the tops, a sign the tree is becoming weaker. Sorry, I don't like to show close-ups of trees in weakened health.

September

By September the Butterfly Bush had sprung back with full vigor. Trimming off the weakened summer stems, and keeping it shaded must have done it a world of good. A lot of energy can be wasted on the flower stems if the plant is already weak.

At this stage, I managed to break the flowering cycle, and pushed the tree back into the mode of creating large leaves better suited for early autumn sunshine. The tree was looking so healthy again, I was finally able to return it to the deck to receive a full day of sunlight, which is what is usually prefers.