AlainK

(Long time no see...)

This is an Acer p. 'Butterly' I bought in april last year at a garden center. I let it grow until the end of the season, the twigs were almost 1 m long.

So many people will tell you that you can't possibly make a decent bonsai from a variegated cultivar.

I'm trying.

Chopped it back to less than 25 cm in December, and repotted in January.

1 : January 2008
2 : 12 May 2008

Attached Images

	acerp_but01_080123a.jpg (34.5 KB, 26 views)
	acerp_but01_080512.jpg (89.2 KB, 55 views)

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Alain K.
http://www.rdb45.fr
http://ak2.apinc.org/bdB

anttal63

i wouldnt worry alain so many people cant make a decent bonsai full stop.
i think it will look great it has a good start.

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Antonio......
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Dav4

A.p. "butterfly" was one of the first trees I ever put in a bonsai pot... it was also one of the first trees I killed after putting it in a bonsai pot. I can truthfully say it's demise had more to do with my inexperience then the color of its leaves. I'm sure your tree will do much better then mine...good luck with it.

Dave

Ravenna

Hi Alain,

I have one too growing out in the field which (hopefully) I want to turn into a bonsai one day. I don't know why but some reason I have the feeling that the variagated trees might look better as larger trees than small trees: just have the feeling that the variagation might look more harmonious and less distracting but I haven't really seen any large variagated acers as bonsai yet so may be I am wrong about that.

So far mine is even smaller than yours I suspect... Wish you fun with yours.

FOX7591

i recently just ofund a 16 yr old butterfly maple at a bonsai nursery that i bought, i bought it as pre bonsai and i think the guy defoliated it one or twice because it have really small leaves and it looks really nice. and i only paid $12 for it! i odnt see y people say verigated materials arent good for bonsai, they look cool.

Pup

Most people and I will say again most. That say variegated trees do not make good Bonsai, is because in most cases they are man made and not naturally occurring, so therefor do not represent nature.
I find nothing wrong with them although I have to admit to having sold my variegated trees.
I was offered what I could not refuse. I did come across it just recently. When at a mates nursery he asked if I knew what this was? it was what was the tree I had sold. It was dead. Pup

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G, day I live in western Australia I have been trying for the last 20+ years with some success to grow Bonsai. I am a perpetual learner and an advanced beginner