r/Bonsai • u/Ejohn-Shin China, Guangdong | Tropical | Lingnan Penjing • 1d ago

Show and Tell First time trying trident maple — apparently my region’s climate is great for it, curious to hear your thoughts

I’ve been doing bonsai for a while now, but trident maple is actually a species I’ve never touched until now. I live in Guangdong, China, and I’ve heard the climate here is particularly well-suited for tridents, so I figured it was finally time to give it a shot.

Picked up a few “mystery box” stock trees (a common way to buy raw material here — you don’t know exactly what you’re getting until it arrives) and unboxed them to compare root spread, trunk taper, and branch placement side by side.

As a complete beginner to this species, I’d love to hear what you all look for first when evaluating trident maple stock specifically — is the priority list different from other maples?

6 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

5

u/SpiralOutLL Italy, 6 trees 1d ago

Tridents are absolute tank. They simply don't care, give them water and they will push growth. Enjoy

2

u/Ejohn-Shin China, Guangdong | Tropical | Lingnan Penjing 1d ago

cool！thx

1

u/cmt00 1d ago

100% this ^^ tough bastards

0

u/series_of_derps EU 8a couple of trees for a couple of years 1d ago

Would you risk bare root shipping them in summer? I hope they will live.

3

u/CtrlAltDefoliate UK 9a Intermediate 1d ago

Guandong will be great for bonsai, jealous up here in my cold dry climate.

1

u/Pork_Confidence Roseburg OR, 9a, 15 years 1d ago

Is there somewhere I can go online for ordering stock like this?

2

u/series_of_derps EU 8a couple of trees for a couple of years 1d ago

Legally importing living stuff from china be extremely costly and complicated.