Hydrangea Bonsai

Historically Hydrangea are not commonly used for Bonsai because it is thought that the leaves are to difficult to reduce in size. I do think it would be possible to do if you had a really large trunk Hydrangea where the leaf size would be more in scale with the tree.

Climbing Hydrangea anomala petiolaris is an exception to the rule in my opinion. I first saw a Climbing Hydrangea at one of the local Bonsai nurseries in our are and it was rather small and had small roundish leaves on it. It also had peeling shaggy bark which looked kind of cool to me. That small tree set me off looking for a larger nursery stock tree that had a good trunk and shape to it. Most of the nurseries in my area do not carry this tree and I finally found some at Nicks Garden Center in Aurora, Colo. They had two sizes and the nicest of course were the big ones with a large price on them. I decided to wait until the fall sales started before buying a large 10 gallon potted tree. I selected a tree with a tall wooden stake supporting the tree. None of the trees had branches all the way around the tree. The tree/vine climbs by producing fingers that actually grab what ever surface it is growing on and anchors itself firmly against it. I like this feature on my tree as it gives something rather unique to a Bonsai tree. The bark is rough and peeling all over the tree another fine feature as far as I am concerned. In the spring you will start to see buds forming and the really large buds will contain a flower bud and will look like a white flat topped flower cluster. Fall color will be yellow. During the winter there will be small green tipped buds on the end of each branch which will start to grow in the spring. This tree requires lots of water here in Colorado and I grow on the east side of the house or under 30% shade cloth now. Branches can be wired and generally will stay where you put them if they are big enough around. It may take years to grow new branches that will be strong enough to stand on their own. Wire pulleys were used all over this tree to support young branches.

This tree is still in development and is a pleasure to grow and work on it. This is a large tree and it is in a large Sara Rayner pot and is very heavy.

Future development: Continue to develop the branches on the right side of the tree to make them bigger. Keep the lower branch on the left side alive and restrict it from getting bigger. Hail will general shred the leaves of this tree and it will not be displayable until next year. Grow under 30% shade cloth, a large hail storm hit my house and this tree did not suffer any damage because of the shade cloth protecting it. Reduce the root ball more.

International Bonsai Master Bill Valavanis has a Climbing Hydrangea Bonsai. He just published a photo of it in his latest news letter.

Updated 05-24-2021:

The tree is doing great this year. This is year number 2 since being put into a Bonsai pot and the tree is responding with growth all over the tree. This is the fullest this tree has ever looked. It does have a couple of flower buds on this year. Next year it should have even more. I have not done anything to the tree this year except cut of some small dead twigs. I will be chopping back some of the longer branches soon as some of them are two long now.

Gallery 05-23-2021: