Chinese Tallow Trees

[dbrock]

I I am curious if anyone else have ever bonsied Tallow trees. In Southeast Texas they are called weed trees, another nice way to say it is an invasive non-nataive tree. It was brought into the South in the 1800's. Like it or not, they are native now. However, I never see them as a bonsai. They have a unique heart shaped leaf, like an Aspen, that reduces well by my experience and has beautiful fall colors. So what gives? I have read different forums and like much of the bonsai world, there are many different opinions. Some say they don't transplant well, others say they die back alot. Neither of those two statements I find to be true.
Who has tried them and what are your opinions? I have a photo of the one I collected last year and I will post it when I can get to a computer instead of my cell phone.

[plantmanky]

dbrock,

Chinese tallow (Sapium sebiferum) is not native but rather an imported species from South East asia and Southern China and as such this thread should be moved to deciduous trees. Sapium sebiferum has not been used much for bonsai but I have seen one or two attempted examples over the years. They exhibit all of the characteristics (leaf reduction, budding back, root working, etc....) needed for bonsai. As you say, it does have a wonerful display of fire Red leaves in the Fall. Collecting from the wild is quite doable if one can find good examples to take. I think the problem with this tree has always been one of which style to use. In my mind it is not suitable for the traditional forms (formal or informal upright or multi-tree) but it certainly would make a wonderful quasi-natural style. I say quasi-natural style because the actuall natural style of t his tree is rather "lolli-pop" shaped but with some work, a better visual effect can be had. I would love to see more examples of this tree used for bonsai and maybe with the abundance of seedlings avaliable where it is capable of being grown (warmer climates of the West, South West, South Central and South Eastern US) we will see some in future years. I would bet there are some good examples in Southern Califormia Bonsai collections that have never been seen by the general Bonsai Community.

[lewisjk]

They used to be commonly used as bonsai in S. Florida.

Florida is spending millions of dollars in a -- probably vain -- attempt to get rid of this highly invasive pest.

[dbrock]

Hey Randy, Thanks for the feed back. Yes, if the forum administrator wants to transfer this to deciduous trees, that is fine by me. I placed it here because basicly the Tallow has pretty much become indigenous, and the Australia forum talked that maybe we have a different variation then they have which might suggest the different problems they have experienced Down Under. No offense intended to our native born trees (I love them all).

I agree that they don't seem to lend toward a traditional style. I never thought about trees being in a feminin or masculine style; but after reading Robert Steven's book, I think that the Tallow lends to a more feminin style. What I mean by that is something flowing, graceful and delicate; instead of a more strong and bold traditional tree with large trunks and thick limbs that express being well grounded and sturdy. Literati lends well to a Tallow.

This picture of my Tallow is one year out of the ground and it already is begining to express the idea I had in mind when I started it. My idea developed from the Aspens I saw as a kid when my family would go up to the mountains of New Mexico. Before I knew anything about bonsai, I was always mesmerized by the giant Aspens that would shoot a staight trunk some 50 to 60 feet in the air to have and umbrella of foliage fighting for sun at the top of the canopy of pines. The Aspen's trunks would sway in the wind and you could here them creak. The Tallows develope a similar pattern in heavy forest with the long straight trunk shooting for the top of the canopy. This is definitely not a typical tree but when I am down close to level of the pot and looking up, I really get the feel of those tall limbless trunks with the canopy at the very top.

[BillsBayou]

Topic moved from the Native forum to the Deciduous forum.

[dbrock]

This is the tree after trimming the tips and a little wiring and the new foliage has developed. I hope people can start to see my idea.

[BillsBayou]

THIS MAY BE is an example of the style. I found it at THIS PAGE.

The trees appear to push continuously upwards shedding unneeded limbs as they go. Even in the canopy the trees are still pushing a single trunk upwards. I'd recommend trying to replicate that in your style.

Did a bit more checking. HERE'S AN ENTIRE GALLERY of aspen tree posters. Several represent your description.

[dbrock]

Those are exactly what I am talking about! As a kid it was so magical to stand at the bottum of one and look strat up the trunk and watch it sway. Something mesmorizing. If I really wanted to push that feeling, I would have left another foot of trunk before hacking it off. I am letting the top leaders grow more upward to recreate just watch you are talking about, and to heal the top scar.

[dbrock]

I still have not heard of many people using a Chinese Tallow, so I am posting some other pictures of what I am playing with. I have found them to be quite fun and extremely fast growing. The leaves reduce almost on their own, just by cutting back. This is how much I have reduced the leaves without defoliating.

[dbrock]

This is another small Tallow that was actually a nasty root that I had to remove from the pot of another collected tree. It had hitch hiked its way into that pot during collecting the other tree and it still survived. I pulled it out of the root ball and it had a ton of roots. I said this thing couldn't possible survive now. So I tested it. stretched the roots over a rock and threw it into a flower pot. Quess what!