WHAT ABOUT THE ROWAN?

Yes. You may well ask! My experience with this species as bonsai was a real shock to the system. It gave me endless problems but after many experiments these were not insurmountable.

The Rowan or Sorbus Aucuparia or Mountain Ash (call it what you will) can be a difficult tree as bonsai unless you know a few basic facts about it. So limited was my horticultural knowledge in the early days that I was not even aware that the branches it produced with all those attractive leaves were not branches at all but simply one leaf.

A friend of mine in the West Country took me to an area where there were masses of saplings which we carefully uprooted. These were potted up and during the first summer they produced plenty of foliage. 'Great' I thought. Then in the autumn all the so called branches fell off and I was left with sticks in pots.

The following summer I fed them profusely but the same thing happened. Still only sticks in autumn. My patience was at a low ebb and I thought that they would not improve until the were quite old.

Then it happened! No, they did not shoot branches but I met an old gentleman with whom I discussed my problem. He said "Fret no more young man, (yes I was young once) just wait until they are in full leaf around June and then remove all the leaves. It will bud back and you should get branches." I did this for a couple of years and it worked. The trees were continually fertilised with a weak solution of Phostrogen and eventually were acceptable little bonsai trees.

The moral is 'Don't give up on anything - someone somewhere will have the answer.'

Sponsored by Dai-ichi Bonsai