Manzanitas are shrubs that grow pretty much all over California. One probably notices them particularly in the foothills of the Sierra where a single species is abundant. They have red berry-like fruits which lead to the common name. Those of you who are linguists recognize the name as Spanish for little apples, which is just what the fruit looks like. Those of our dear readers who are botanically inclined know that the Manzanitas are in the genus Archtostaphylos which, of course, is Greek for bear berry, because the bears love to eat the little fruits when they are ripe.

Manzanitas are all that you could ask for in a fine bonsai. In addition to lovely fruit, they have pink flowers in the spring and trunks with a lot of movement. The bark is naturally a deep reddish-brown, and the foliage makes a beautiful contrast to the trunk because it is a soft gray green. Best of all, because of their abundance, they are easy to find and collect. Manzanitas are truly rivals of the current divas of the bonsai shows, the collected junipers. There is only one teeny little insignificant problem. Conventional wisdom flatly states that manzanitas cannot be grown as bonsai.

The pessimistic view about manzanitas as bonsai originated a number of years ago. Many were collected from the foothills, and in spite of all possible (and some not so possible) variants of soil composition and growing conditions, all died. Some departed instantly and some lingered for a very short time, but the result was always the same. This led to the statement, manzanitas cannot be grown as bonsai. Because of the great potential of manzanitas as bonsai, it is worthwhile to look once again at these wonderful plants.

First, a thought about establishing collected manzanitas. They generally grow is areas of very dry summers. Generally, plants growing in dry areas have specially adapted roots for coping with periods of summer drought. These adaptations normally allow the plant to survive, but also make it difficult for the plants to quickly grow new roots. Native California Junipers also grow in areas with dry summers, and knowledge gained from establishing these plants may prove to be useful for establishing collected manzanitas.

Many Junipers were collected in past years and simply potted up and watered like established bonsai. Success in establishing the plants using this cultural technique was usually 50% or less. The problem with establishing collected plants, and junipers in particular, is that the plants slowly lose water through the leaves, but the roots have not yet begun to function after the trauma of collection. They are unable (or unwilling) to replace the lost water, so basically the tree dies of thirst.

Lately, the technique of spraying the trees with water repeatedly during the day has greatly increased the success rate for establishing collected junipers. Either some of the water is absorbed by the foliage, or perhaps the presence of the water on the foliage reduces the amount of water lost by the tree. Regardless of the explanation, the technique works for the junipers. Is it possible that this might also work for manzanitas? Rooting hormones are now commonly available, and is it possible that dusting the roots of the collected tree with a rooting hormone might also encourage the growth of roots?

But wait, don’t give up just yet. There is more. There are two questions here that are totally different. How do you establish collected manzanitas and, secondly, can you grow manzanitas as bonsai? Establishing collected manzanitas has proved to be tough at best, but due to the bad publicity the plants have received, the second question has not been really addressed by the bonsai community.

If working with collected manzanitas presents an overwhelming challenge, all is not lost. Botanists tell us that there are about fifty species of manzanitas native to California, and they range from low mat forming plants to tall shrubs that grow into small trees, so there are a lot to choose from. Landscape horticulture offers several clues that should be important to us.

First, there are a number of manzanita species offered for sale in local nurseries. These plants are happily growing in nursery containers, indicating that at least some manzanitas can grow in a pot after all.

Second, these trees are propagated from cuttings, and some of the cuttings are easier to root than others. The manzanitas available in the trade are by definition the easiest plants to grow from cuttings. This suggests that these will be more amenable to grow as bonsai than others growing in the wild such as the oft-collected manzanita growing in the Sierra foothills.

Third, several of the varieties grown commercially are hybrids, either occurring naturally or accidentally produced from cultivated landscape plants. There are many cases in the horticultural world of hybrid vigor. In this case, two different species can be difficult to grow, but the hybrid of the two is much easier to grow.

Experience with native California junipers tells us that the hard part of growing collected plants is to establish them as pot plants. Once established, they are fairly easy to grow, happily responding to a careful repotting with a smile on their lips. Since nursery grown manzanitas are already established in pots, it is possible that they could well continue to easily grow as bonsai. Nursery grown manzanitas readily grow as landscape plants in the Bay Area so local conditions of sun and rainfall are fine. Further, these plants are pretty tolerant of soil composition as long as it is well drained. All in all, Bay Area, climate and bonsai soil should present no problems for culture of manzanitas as bonsai.

All of this suggests that manzanitas available from local nurseries may be the source for interesting bonsai material. The down side of using nursery stock as bonsai material is that most of the available manzanitas are in one-gallon cans, and are only occasionally available in larger sizes. As a general statement, starting material of most plant species in gallon cans is two or three years at a minimum away from being a presentable bonsai. The upside is that manzanita nursery stock has the potential of being outstanding bonsai. For someone with patience and a willingness to explore an uncharted area, there is no better place to look for new and exciting bonsai than at manzanita nursery stock. Once in a very great while someone who has not gotten the message that manzanitas are impossible to grow as bonsai subjects will show a manzanita grown from nursery stock as a bonsai, proving that it can be done.