Milo Forest

Milo is an easy-to-grow native hibiscus tree used by the pre-contact Hawaiians for wood carving, and is still used to make fine decorative bowls today. The wood will not impart an unpleasant taste to any food stored in it.

The milo forest was grown from seed, assembled into a growing box, and then put into a mica pot for a feature in my book Bonsai Hawaiian Style. After nearly two more years, the forest was ready for its ceramic show pot.

Defoliation

On Christmas Day 2023 I defoliated the seven tree forest in preparation for putting it into a ceramic forest tray.

My milo forest needs pruning. Click the image to see the full resolution version.

After pruning and defoliating. Click the image to see the full resolution version.

After wiring with 1 mm wire guys and stays to hold trees in position. I also added potting soil to cover exposed roots and watered it in well
Click the image to see the full resolution version.

Repotting

On Thursday, December 28, Andrea took her car to the dealer for a routine service and I repotted the milo forest into the wonderful forest tray that she had given me for my birthday some time ago.

The forest had been defoliated and the trees had been wired together earlier. I'm going to put the forest into the ceramic pot and
put the trees into more upright positions. Click the image to see the full resolution version.

I put in some 1/16 inch aluminum window screens to cover the seven holes and covered them with fine black cinders. Click the image to
see the full resolution version.

I watered in the new soil. The completed forest viewed from the front. Click the image to see the full resolution version.

Photo by Andrea. Click the image to see the full resolution version.

Email Richard dot J dot Wagner at gmail dot com

MiloForest.html: This hand-crafted, human-readable, HTML file was created December 28, 2023.
Last updated December 29, 2023 by Dr. Richard Jeffery Wagner. Text and images copyright © 2023, unless otherwise attributed, all rights reserved.