Botanical name
Ulmus parvifolia
Click here to view the Chinese Elm we currently have for sale.
Introduction
The Chinese Elm is one of the most common varieties of Bonsai. Elms grows fast making it easy to build up a dense foliage mass by pruning alone within a few years. With them being quite an adaptable species they are more tolerant to imperfect growing conditions. Fortunately due to their natural vigour they are very good at recovering from accidental neglect. This is what makes them ideal trees for beginners.
If something upsets a Chinese Elm they can often drop their leaves very quickly. Don’t panic, they are usually not dead and with correct care and attention will almost always leaf back within a few weeks.
Many Chinese Elm are mis-labelled and sold as Zelkova, which is a Japanese tree with similar serrated leaves. Genuine Zelkovas are rarely seen as Bonsai in the UK. One of the reasons for this is the importing of Elms was banned to stop the spread of Dutch elm disease.
