Schefflera Bonsai - 7 Year Progress

This was my first Schefflera that I turned into a bonsai tree back in 2018. There have been many trials and errors as I experimented with different styles and techniques. I finally got it to a place where I think we can grow, (no pun intended) from here.

From Chat GPT:

Here are some genuinely interesting (and useful) facts about dwarf schefflera (Schefflera arboricola, aka umbrella plant):

🌿 Fun facts

• It’s basically a houseplant that thinks it’s a tree.
In the wild (Taiwan & Hainan), dwarf schefflera can hit 25+ feet tall. On your shelf it’s living a very humbled life.

• The “umbrella” name is literal.
Each leaf is a cluster of smaller leaflets radiating from one point—same structure as an umbrella frame.

• It’s a popular bonsai species.
Because it backbuds easily, thickens trunks fast, and forgives abuse, it’s one of the most common tropical bonsai trees (right up your Bonsai Boise alley).

• NASA put it on the air-cleaner list.
It’s often cited as helping reduce indoor VOCs like benzene and formaldehyde. Not a miracle filter, but it pulls its weight.

• It can grow in water forever.
You can root and maintain dwarf schefflera hydroponically. It’ll straight-up live like a cutting in a vase if you keep nutrients coming.

• Variegated ones are light hogs.
The more yellow/white in the leaves, the more light it needs or it reverts back to green like it’s “going back to basics.”

• It’s mildly toxic.
Contains calcium oxalate crystals. Won’t kill pets, but it’ll make them regret their life choices for a few hours.

• They flower… but you’ll almost never see it.
Indoors they almost never bloom. Outdoors, mature plants make red, spiky, alien-looking flower clusters.

• You can fuse multiple trunks.
Young schefflera stems naturally graft together. That’s why you see braided or “multi-trunk” scheffleras at nurseries.

• They’re drama queens about light changes.
Move it suddenly and it may drop leaves like it’s filing a protest. Usually rebounds once it adapts