I have been keeping this Crown of Thorns in this pot for 20 years now. Keeping it nipped back every time a new or larger leaf began, I haven't had a normal size leaf develop for many years now. It hasn't bloomed in a long time because I had been nipping any new growth back. Now every leaf that appears has been very small. I want to see if it will bloom soon to see if the flowers stay the normal size. That's what happens when something becomes a bonsai. I also take the square pot out and nip any roots that want to come out of the holes in the pot. The only thing I will do with this is to trim all the branches back nicely as I have just chopped until now. Then I will let all the new shoots grow out to see what develops. I have normal size Crown of Thorns, large flowering Crown of Thorns and I have also acquired a dwarf Crown of Thorns which has small flowers. I also have many color of flowers. So I am hoping this one keeps small leaves but has normal red flowers. This plant is 6 inches tall. The plant is actually in the square pink pot. I just have it in the larger pot to keep it upright and a little more moist.
I hope you can get it to flower for you Barb. I used to have bonsais but the flowers they produced were always small. Any fruit that they grew, however, was normal sized.
interesting. I have never tried any bonsai... I would probably kill during the Summer when I get busy and forget about it... oops!
Yes. Because of the small pot we put them in and the small root system they can dry out very quickly in the summer heat. Even in the greenhouse that waters everyday on one side they can dry out so I keep a saucer under them.
So eileen, I don't understand what you are talking about. Here is a "dwarf Crown of Thorns". Notice the size of the leaves and size of the flowers. Now see them together. On right is dwarf and left is my bonsai As the leaves become small on a bonsai the flower and fruits stay the size of the original plant. I think I have always heard that.
