One of my favorite species for bonsai is the dwarf jade.
A great deal of traditionalists don’t like them, though. The refrains are
“it’s not a real tree”
“the leaves are funny”
“I always over water them”
…etcetera etcetera etcetera….
Looks like a bonsai to me, how about you?
Jim Smith has been growing them as bonsai for 30 years. Is that long enough for people to accept them as bonsai? Many people kill shimpaku junipers yet they are still considered, along with Japanese black pine, the ultimate bonsai.
A juniper is easier to kill than a portulacaria.
It’s my aim in this post to demystify the dwarf jade a bit and maybe convince some of its detractors out there that this tree (it is a tree) is a legitimate bonsai.
It is native to the southern part of Africa. It is called “spekboom” in Afrikaans. Which is literally ”…
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