This is a small planting of Erodium reichardii, also known as Crane's bill,
I've had Erodium in my collection for ever, an there seems to be some turn over. The plants are easy to propagate from cuttings, so I usually have a bunch in various stages of development-cuttings, in development and 'finished' enough for display. The plants seems to peter out after a few years, so don't get attached to any particular one. But on the other hand, they turn from undistinguished cuttings to nice looking little bonsai fairly quickly.
There was a planting of three, but the plant that was located in the far left corner of the pot died off and needed replaced.
I had several cutting that might work, so decided to pull them all out of pots, stick one that worked in to this planting, and root prune and repot the others
A root cutting after about two years. It has been in full sun from April through October while out doors, under a florescent tube over winter inside.
I fertilized liberally with a low N feed, so they grow wild. Its a good way to develop 'trunk' thickness.
On the left, the plant pulled out of its pot. notice the mass of roots. Erodium produces lots and lots of fine feeder roots, and when repotting, the root mass can be reduced by at least half with care.
Photos on the right show the tiny plant after trimming dead leaves and some major root work. This one has an interesting base of twisted roots, that unfortunately doesn't fit well in the intended space. This one will
go into a training pot for another year.
Here's another potential applicant for the spot, and the training pot it came out of. Yes that is what is left of a tuna can! Waste not, want not!
This plant also was a bit to large-in fact far to large to fit in this small grouping, It look well developed enough to go right into a little mame pot.
Third time is a charm, this one looks like a good fit.
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| Checking on the angle. |
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| Set in place. Notice the new soil, which shows a different color since it has not been watered yet. |
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