Cotoneaster

Here is a material that is very easy to work with especially for anyone who wants to start out by creating there own bonsai.

Almost any nursery in the country will have a few varieties of cotoneaster. It grows rather rapid so if you do make a mistake and cut some off that later you wished you hadn’t well not to worry because it will produce many more fresh shoots for you to work with.

If I were going to start out brand new with this material then I would go to a local nursery and obtain a good starter plant in a one gallon pot size and then once home I would begin to study the plant to determine first where my front is going to be.

Once I have established the front of my plant then I can begin to study it to see if it has any typical bonsai shape already kind of started for me. The plant that I have pictured here was already growing a really long branch out from the main stalk.

So I simply wired the branch to obtain the full cascade look and then worked on the main growth at the center of the plant. In a cascade style you will always want your plant as close to the center of the pot as you can get it.

This is not true with nearly any other style of bonsai. Almost always with other plants in other styles you would want your plant to be off center and to one side of the pot nearly all of the time.

But with a cascade I want the plant centered and then I want the growth in the center of the plant to reach out to surround the pot almost to the edges of the rim all the way around the pot if possible.

This simply makes the bonsai look nice and full. The main cascade branch if at all possible should twist or arc if you will from side to side so as to resemble a winding brook or a nice full S curve.

The cotoneaster has blooms of very tiny flowers and some bloom with red flowers and yet others have tiny white flowers and in the fall they will spawn red berries. This is not a fruit that you would want to eat but the birds will sometimes find the berries a welcome feast in mid winter.

I will not try to elaborate too much on the care here for this plant as it is very hardy and you would have to completely and totally neglect it to kill it. Just water and feed through the season and you will have no trouble growing one of these plants.

I have several cotoneasters in my collection and most all of them have been trained in the clip and grow method and very rarely wired unless there was no other way to achieve the look that I desired.

If the plant just presents something to you right out of nature then by all means go with it other wise you’ll simply have to work at it until you get where you want with it.

You can propagate cotoneaster from seed or from soft wood or hard wood cuttings depending on the time of the year for the cuttings and seed would be best started in real early spring after any worry of frost.

You can bring your plant indoors for enjoyment a few days during the year but the rest of the time you’ll want to keep it outdoors as it is and outdoors plant material.

You will find many different kinds to choose from if you look around and some even with thorny spines on them so if you choose one of these then be careful of the fingers when working the material as these spines are sharp and will get you good if you’re careless.

I prefer these plants to teach beginners with because of there fast growing habit nearly anyone can get a bonsai going with one of these in no time at all and they are not expensive material to obtain.

You’ll find them in most nurseries from around six to ten dollars for a gallon size and this size will give you a really nice plant to begin with and you’ll already have some nice trunk size and a lot of branches to work with.

Because of the material being inexpensive it can be used to practice on and not worry to much if you mess it up because you can simply get another and start all over in no time. It usually only takes one or two years to get a nice looking cotoneaster tree created,

From there on it is just clip and let nature take its course and you have a wonderful looking bonsai in your collection in no time at all.

Thanks, for looking and reading.

Harold Yearout
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