Thank you yoda. Your answers are always so helpful. I guess I will wait till after winter to wire the rose. I've actually noticed the second batch of leaves has been a bit smaller, thankfully . I think directional pruning is a bit different with a rose, because if you cut a stem the the buds lower down the branch flourish rather than new ones forming where you cut the stem.. I duno that's just what I've noticed, so I'm going to have to work with that.

I took the wire off my ficus yesturday. And everything stayed in its place. It had only been on for just over a month and the wire was starting to bite. I'm glad it worked, its my first try at wiring .

I wired and cut back the rose a bit a month or two ago. I took the wire off recently and the rose went back to its original place, I think im going to have to leave the wire on for an entire season. I think it will look great in a tiney little cascade pot. I need to wire the main base to make it look more fluid and natural.

My plan for the rose is not to make a bonsai out of it, I would never consider a rose as a bonsai, but perhaps an accent plant for a large bonsai display. It will look really great with its white flowers.

The last pic is what it looked like after I airlayerd it.

cetain species (like yours) can be made into bonsai the do form woody trunks. the stems are hard to bend because they are kind of like bamboo with rigid outer layers and a soft middle.maybe som shallow cuts on the inside of the bend will help graduate the bend and the callus that will form will hold it in place,it works for spruce trees
did you do a normal airlayer or just root a cutting??? im wondering because i have a few 40+ yr old roses in my garden and there is one i just love. new leaves and stems are a rich dark red with deep red flowers. the base is about 3 inches across ,but i dont want to pot it and kill it

Good idea with the cuts . I will try that if the wiring doesnt work again. I just airlayerd it. I read up a bit on it, its hard to get it to root on old or very new growth, the best is to airlayer last years growth.

Here is a progression pic on the ficus airlayer, its coming along great in its new pot, I shortened the trunk a bit when I repotted so that it could put lower in a bonsai pot. Luckily it was easy to do because there were lots of roots going further up the trunk, but the tree took a massive hit, and lost most of its foliage, only for me to realise that ficus should be repotted in summer not spring, so I keep the tree indoors for a few weeks.

Im also trying my second attempt at airlayering an oak. I tried on the same tree in the beginning of the year but the wound healed over and did not produce any roots, hopefully it will work this time. Second time lucky. fingers crossed

manofthetrees wrote:

cetain species (like yours) can be made into bonsai the do form woody trunks. the stems are hard to bend because they are kind of like bamboo with rigid outer layers and a soft middle.maybe som shallow cuts on the inside of the bend will help graduate the bend and the callus that will form will hold it in place,it works for spruce trees
did you do a normal airlayer or just root a cutting??? im wondering because i have a few 40+ yr old roses in my garden and there is one i just love. new leaves and stems are a rich dark red with deep red flowers. the base is about 3 inches across ,but i dont want to pot it and kill it

Hi new here. I am a good gardener but newbie bonsai woman.
Roses especially hybrid ones dont have good root system They are prone to diseases.
I always use wild rose that has strong disease resistant roots, and bud on it any rose I want. It is fast and easy. I cut the stick from a wild rose, bud it and then stick it in sand. In three month it is ready.
The cutting can be as long as 1.5 meter (for a standard).
My friend puts them in water and they also root.