TAKE THE COURSE!

Learn how to create and care for bonsai in Manitoba.

The Bonsai Society of Winnipeg presents an introductory course on Bonsai. More...

Outdoor Trees

Winter-hardy trees are much easier for beginners to work with and look after. Popular species are winter-hardy tamarack (larch), jack pine, white pine, spruce, cedar, wild plum, hawthorne and birch. We find these species growing in the ditches along road allowances all over southern Manitoba, where it's legal to dig them out. Twice a year, the club guides outings in designated areas where members can harvest potential bonsai trees.

Some other popular outdoor species which can be treated quite similarly are mugho pine, birds nest spruce, dwarf Alberta spruce, juniper, Siberian elm, amur maple, Manitoba maple, cotoneaster, lilac and potentilla. Fruit trees such as crabapples and plums are also grown as Bonsai. These species can be purchased from Garden Centres and Retail Nurseries. The best time to buy is late fall when end-of-season sales make them more affordable. Look for healthy trees with radiating surface roots, a thick, interesting trunk and lots of low branches.

Winter hardy trees spend the winter in dormancy, outside in your garden, protected by mulch, snow and wind breaks. Deprived of their dormant period, these trees soon peter out and die.

Winter Protection for Outdoor Trees

Manitoba-hardy trees, (native trees, garden centre cultivars), must be buried or mulched to the rims of their pots into a sheltered, shaded corner of the garden, and must be covered with snow until the ground thaws in the spring.

Transition, in spring and autumn, between the summer/winter extremes is gradual and uneven.

The Manitoba bonsai artist is ever alert to the conditions of the day, especially the overnight forecasts, and must be prepared to react quickly in the event of sudden temperature drops or late/early frosts.