This is my first post on Bonsai Empire and so glad that i found this community of Bonsai lovers and pro's that i can learn from and progress. Im Tam, moved from Canada to Saudi Arabia 10 years ago for work. Im new to Bonsai and been reading and watching tutorials for a while now. i have attempted to work on a nursery stock Blue Juniper (I beleive it was called) when i was on a trip in Jordan 6 months ago visiting my mother. Junipers grow like weeds there. ill post before and after pics and videos of this later for some critic and ideas on improvement

I just purchased a Thuja from a local nursery here in Saudi Arabia and did some small work on it. Im not sure what type of Thuja it is, if anyone can give me the exact type that would be great. I would also love to hear what you guys think about the work ive done and what i could do to make it look better for the future as im planning on letting it grow during this grow season now and see what happens from now till next year.

Weather is crazy here, the growing season starts in FEB and summer hits in May where temperatures reach 60 degrees Celcius in June/July. Im hoping if i keep the tree in the shade it will survive this extreme weather.

Anyway i leave you guys with the pics and If anyone knows what types of plants do well in this region I would love to know so i can start working on something that can survive this countys weather.

Thanks Thuja

Hi welcome.
I have been to Riyadh a few times and know the climate. Not sure what you would grow there!!

You should probably stick to trees that grow in nature locally, since they should be able to deal with the weather. Otherwise you could try to have them indoors when possible, even when generally it is not recommended to have trees indoors.

And I guess it drops to 10 at night? These are extreme differences I dont know what really survives there.

To expand on what was already stated, see what trees are being grown for landscape. If they are sold at the local nursery, I would expect they have a good chance of surviving the climate. Do they sell olives? What about any ficus species? We traditionally think of ficus as tropical but with their waxy leaves they are pretty heat and drought tolerant. Also I would think providing summer shade and some misting might be critical for survival.

Surprisingly, Riyadh's climate isn't much different than Palm Springs, CA (see below graphs). Unfortunately that's not much help, as I couldn't find any online bonsai clubs in Palm Springs. But I know there are plenty of hobby growers out there. Also, ask at the local nurseries or community centers to see if there are any local bonsai clubs.

Lastly, a quick google search showed that the salt cedar (Tamarisk) is invasive in that area. You might be able dig some wild specimens with good trunks.

Good Luck!

tambasel wrote:

Anyway i leave you guys with the pics and If anyone knows what types of plants do well in this region I would love to know so i can start working on something that can survive this countys weather.

Greetings Jayhawker,

Maybe you´d be interested in reading this scientific paper:

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4191616/

Among all the plant species enclosed in that paper, I believe the one that might better fit Saudi Arabia environmental requirements is this:

Euphorbia tirucalli


"Habitat: Impoverished rocky areas.

World Distribution: A native of East Africa; now in tropical Asia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. Widely cultivated as a hedge plant (Aziz and Jafri, 1975). In Saudi Arabia, it is now seen invading the natural habitats of Asir Mountains.

Distribution in Saudi Arabia: Foot hills and valleys of Asir Mountains."

Now, even if the species seems to match the rigorous conditions of Saudi Arabia climate, I´m not fully sure of its suitability as a future tree that migh be regarded as a Bonsai.

---

In any case, here is another posibbility. This time I´m not fully sure that would met your current weather requirements, but in turn I do know it can be grown into a beautiful Bonsai tree, given the proper care and techniques are provided:

Suriana Maritima (Commonly known as Bay Cedar)
"It has a pantropical distribution and can be found on coasts in the New and Old World tropics"


Hope all of this might help. Please, keep us posted with your progress. At least I´m quite interested in knowing if a Bonsai can be developed in such hard environmental conditions.

Alain

I'd use a similar approach:

Look for trees that are native to Saudi Arabia
Look up each species with the word "bonsai" added in your search.

www.worldatlas.com/articles/native-plants-of-saudi-arabia.html

From this list:

Adenium Obesum . Not really bonsai, but can give nice results
Juniperus Procera
Red Acacia
Jasminum Grandiflorum

Hi everyone it’s been a few years since I last posted about trying to find good species that work well in Saudi Arabia’s rough climate. I found tons of different species that flourish . Find below some yamadori material which was collected last year and is under training some are a year old some less and I believe 1 is 2 years old.

Any comments that can help would be highly appreciated

Thanks