Hi, I’m Angela and I bought a Carmona Microphilla bonsai in April this year. I put specific soil for bonsai and I water and fertilize the plant regularly. This month he started giving me some white flowers, but unfortunately they wither after 2 days. I thought that IOC was linked to the fact that I sprayed the leaves and then for a couple of days I put the water only in the soil but nothing to do, 2 days and the flowers wither. How can I go about solving the problem? What can it be? Thanks in advance for the answers.

Dear Angela,

congratulations for your Carmona, it is a shrub of Asian origins, and not always easy for a bonsaista to keep a carmona in good health, due to the climate that often turns out to be excessively dry, especially during the summer months. The good health of your carmona manifested by flowering, which many bonsaiists consider a chimera, as they have never been able to obtain it on their small plants. Having said that, I have bad news for you: Carmona has a very short flowering period; certainly the vaporization of the foliage leads to a premature deterioration of the flowers, but in any case, usually 2-3 days pass from the bud to the withered flower. In fact, the carmona specimens are not cultivated to enjoy their flowering, as the flowers are very small and short-lived; it is usually chosen for its beautiful glossy foliage, and only occasionally for the tiny purple berries that follow flowering. There are other flowering bonsai, which can offer a longer and more satisfying flowering. Those who love flowers, and prolonged or very showy blooms, generally choose azaleas or rhododendrons, or even beautiful lagerstroemias, which bloom all summer. For the showy spring blooms there are prunus and flowering apple trees, but even in this case, from buds to withered flowers often no more than a week goes by. Gardenias are very popular for indoor bonsai, as they carry their fragrant flowers for several weeks. Among the deciduous plants chaenomeles (or Japanese quince) or even the quince are definitely among the most spectacular, also because they often produce their pinkish flowers before the plant begins to produce spring leaves.

Grow A Bonsai Tree Aluminum Wire for Floral / Plant / Tree / Bonsai 5-Sizes Starter Set – 1.0mm, 1.5mm, 2.0mm, 2.5mm, 3.0mm (45 Meters Total) – (5 Sizes, Green) Price: on offer on Amazon at: € 17.99