Is Cotoneaster A Good Tree For Bonsai?

There a few different types of Cotoneasters, but most of them are amazing for bonsai. They are extremely tough and naturally quite small due to the fact they are actually a bush and not a tree.

They tick a lot of boxes for what you want in a bonsai. The small leaves alone are enough to make you happy, let alone the rest.

They are also very, very tough. If you are a beginner they are going to be the perfect tree. They are easy to care for, can take a beating and will just keep growing while still ending up looking amazing. 

You can use them for any size tree, but they work especially well for the smaller style tree. They are also easily found in garden centres and nurseries and are usually pretty cheap.

I have been growing a cotoneaster for a while and you can follow its development in my Cotoneaster Bonsai Progression.

Is Cotoneaster Foliage Good For Bonsai?

Cotoneaster has some of the best foliage you will find in the bonsai world. Most types of cotoneaster will naturally have all the foliage attributes that we need in bonsai. 

Leaf Size

Most variants of cotoneaster will have naturally tiny leaves. They are literally perfect.

I am trying to remember if they will reduce in size. I’m pretty sure they do, but even if they do not, they are still tiny and amazing.  This is really going to help any tree you have look miniature. Half of the battle with bonsai is trying to make it look realistic and small leaves will really help make everything look in proportion.

Internode Length

You can get extremely short internodes on cotoneasters. If left to do its own thing it can grow out of control but even then it’s still never that bad. The internodes are never too long. If you are pruning your tree regularly, you will see the internodes can become seriously short and compact.

Is A Cotoneasters Growth Rate Good For Bonsai?

Cotoneasters can grow quite fast. They are strong trees and when they get going they can really put a lot of growth on.

Response To Pruning

They respond really well to pruning. You can really work hard on a cotoneaster. You can brutally prune them and they will act like nothing happened.

I have also found that they will shoot a number of buds below where you have pruned, making it very good for building ramification and they are just a very easy species to work with.

If you make a mistake the tree will just grow something else in that area that you can use to replace whatever you did wrong. 

Back Budding

Cotoneaster will bud back like crazy.

You actually need to keep an eye on your foliage as you will quickly find random shoots popping up all over the place. It will very easily pop new buds in the crotches and collars of branches which if left can become problematic as they can form knuckles of growth.

You will also get new growth all over the trunk, so you will need to pinch this back if you are not wanting branches in that area.

Ramification

The short internode length along with the tiny leaves means you can really build some excellent ramification on cotoneasters. You can very easily build up thick, tight foliage all across the tree. With enough time you can really build a very strong structure with lots of ramification.

Is A Cotoneasters Styling Ability Good For Bonsai?

Cotoneaster is basically a bush, so you are free to take it in any direction you feel like. The fact they will back bud very easily means you can really take them in any direction you want and the tree will give you the growth you need.

They are like a blank canvas when it comes to styling. This is great for bonsai as it means you can have plenty of options and no matter what you decide to do the tree should cooperate.

Wiring

You can and should wire your cotoneasters. This will give it the basic shape you want and then after that you can focus on building foliage pads through clip and grow. You could probably build the tree totally from clip and grow, but you should never fully dismiss wire it can really help get things perfect.

Is A Cotoneasters Fall Colours Good For Bonsai?

Most cotoneasters are semi-deciduous, so you might get some leaf drop, but maybe not all of them. I usually find about 90% of mine drop.

The leaves can produce some really nice shades of red, yellow and oranges, which is interesting next to the fully green leaves that haven’t changed. It’s not the best displaying tree in autumn, but it’s not bad. You can often get red berries growing in the tree at this time of year, which always looks good in between the leaves.

Personally I prefer the spring flowers. They are small and white and the whole tree can be covered in them. This display of flowers is far superior than its autumn show of colours.

Is A Cotoneasters Winter Silhouette Good For Bonsai?

If you tree drops most of its leaves you will get have a good look at your structure over winter. This is probably when you will notice that you have loads of little shoots that popped up in the crotches without you realising. You will be able to go though in late winter/early spring and cut these all out and get things back in order. Once your tree has developed and has lots of ramification the winter silhouette can look amazing.

Is Cotoneasters Bark Good For Bonsai?

Cotoneasters have quite thick gnarly bark. It has a real nice texture to it and is again excellent for bonsai. Young branches can look much older because of this, which is exactly what you want.

This also allows for good wound healing, and even if you do have some wounds, it doesn’t look out of place. These trees can take a lot and scars and wounds and they just don’t seem out of place. My own tree has some pretty big scars from when I reduced the trees size down from over grown nursery stock. They are quite ugly scars but I feel they do not distract from the tree, they sort of get lost in the overall imagine and do not really stand out. 

Deadwood Opportunities

While deadwood isn’t really applicable, you could carve out some areas of a cotoneaster and it would look pretty cool. This rugged look would certainly fit in well with its tough attitude. If you have a trunk that is thick enough, I believe some hollows would really increase the interest.  

Are Cotoneaster Roots Good For Bonsai?

Cotoneasters are extremely vigorous root growers. This is where they show their toughness. They are little bushes that can grow anywhere and when you put them into some good soil they will reward you with a tonne of roots.

The roots are actually pretty good and you can really get some nice fine root systems developing fairly quickly.

They can also take some extreme work. They really are tough little trees. When I transitioned mine from a nursery container I really went hard on it and it barely flinched. It had so little roots I honestly didn’t think it would survive, but it just powered through.

This is perfect for bonsai as being able to work the roots in this way means you can easily keep a tree in a small pot and not worry about it too much. 

Is Cotoneaster Easy To Care For As Bonsai?

Cotoneasters really need minimal care. They are really hardy little trees. You can’t really mess them up. They are maybe not invincible, but they are still pretty tough.

Even if you are a beginner you should be able to master this species pretty quickly. You can read more in my Cotoneaster Care Guide.

Conclusion

If you haven’t already got a cotoneaster, you need to go out of your way to get one. They are certainly worth it and they really can make excellent bonsai. They are honestly a tree a wish I owned more of and I will certainly be adding more to my collection in the future.