Atlantic Blue Cedar Bonsai #002

Blue atlas cedar—Cedrus atlantica 'glauca'—offers some of the most spectacular foliage colors. Its stunning blue color gives it significant ornamental and visual appeal all-year-round. But color isn't the only characteristic that lends merit to blue atlas cedar bonsai. The tree’s rugged bark, dense clumping are also characteristics that make this species such an incredibly special bonsai subject.

This cultivar originated as an exceptionally blue tree selected in the wild in the Atlas mountains of Morocco and has been in cultivation since the 1860s.

The Atlantic Blue Cedar is a truly unique and rare plant for conifer lovers. 

Watering 

Blue atlas cedar bonsai is a thirsty species and requires a perfect balance of water and oxygen.

While we want to allow blue atlas cedar bonsai to dry out between waterings, it's important to understand the tree will be using more water, and therefore will be drying out faster than many of its more rugged counterparts. 

This is largely due to the fact that blue atlas cedar bonsai is an elongated species with highly transformational foliar mass, and the large amount of water it consumes creates superiorly strong, aggressive vascular tissue production in Autumn. 

Sun Exposure

Blue atlas cedar bonsai prefer full sun.

Excluding the hottest, driest growing regions in the peak of summer, giving blue atlas cedar bonsai a slight degree of protection from the most intense afternoon sun will help maintain the depth of its blue color. 

Good to know: When blue atlas cedar is exposed to an overabundance of sun, its color can wash out, causing the foliage to turn somewhat chartreuse. However, this washing out of color is in no way detrimental to the health of the tree. So afternoon protection from the sun will benefit the trees spectacular foliage colors.

Blue atlas cedar bonsai can tolerate both hot and cold temperatures. 

Fertilizing

Cedars will produce a lot of needle growth and will elongate quickly when fertilized aggressively during development.

With moderate fertilization, Cedar bonsai tree will produce a fair amount of growth. Once a month application is sufficient.

Pruning

The best time to structurally style or remove branches from a cedar bonsai is in the early Spring, prior to the onset of new growth, or the early Autumn. 

For refinement, cedar should be pruned right after its first flush hardens. This allows for a much more manageable and controllable push of growth.

Letting the Spring flush growth exist on your pine will encourage more aggressive growth. 

Photo: 21 Mar 24

Height: 30cm from the bottom of the pot.