My Elephant bush bonsai started off as a Home Depot rescue, and was a 3" cutting when I started growing it on in 2012. In the photo above you can see the cutting has filled in quite a bit in the small pot in the middle of the glass shelf. My apologies for the poor photo quality on this one.
The thing that I absolutely love about Elephant bush and jade growth is that it is distichous, meaning that the leaves are arranged opposite from each other on the stem, but the following node will be turned 90 degrees and so on. This gives endless opportunities for design options when using the directional pruning method. Directional pruning takes advantage of the fact that new buds form at the base of leaves. By knowing this it is possible to plan the direction of future growth by pruning back to leaves pointing in the direction you would like future growth to go. Once branches begin to develop, directional pruning really helps to build lateral branch pads as you can easily prune to lateral/ horizontally pointing leaves/buds.
I always allow my plants to grow out seasonally and then prune them back once over grown. In that regard, I also always put my more tropical plans outside in the summer to enjoy as much natural sunlight as possible. With summer sunlight and winter lighting I typically prune my tropicals including this Portulicaria twice a year. It lines up nicely to prune before I take plants out in the summer and in for the winter. This makes moving them easier, and also allows for a nice display as you bring bonsai out in the late spring here in the Denver Metro Area.
The above photo was from when this elephant bush was about 1 year old. As you can see I am pruning to develop a lot of bends in the trunk line, and also working to encourage branches at the outside turns of possible trunk lines. Knowing that variegated plants grow more slowly, my goal has always been to keep this as a smaller bonsai, so the pot size has always been small. This is also important with succulents as pots that are too large will hold water often too long which can lead to rot. Rot is the number on killer of succulents, so always error on the drier side. I also prune and repot my succulents dry, and will keep them dry for a week after to allow proper callusing of any larger wounds made.
By allowing the plant to grow out and then cutting back many more buds swell and grow back. Think of any tree as a road system of water and nutrients. The trunk is a 5 plus lane Interstate highway, the branches are main roads and more rural highways, and the sticks are well the roads out in the sticks! 😉 Not a lot of energy is created out on the branch ends, neither is a lot of water or nutrients needed by the small amount of foliage at the end of a branch. Alternately, all of the water and nutrients pass through the trunk, as well as the vast majority of energy created via the foliage during photosynthesis. Now you can understand why after a large branch is removed from a tree it will often re-sprout in that same area vigorously for many years. Removing the branch causes a serious "traffic jam" of water and nutrients that used to have a route to follow. Just like may of us being alerted to traffic ahead by our GPS, the water nutrients will seek out alternate places to go. Sometimes that is adventitious sprouting at the site of the larger branch removal, but many buds in and around the area will also benefit from the now excess water and nutrients and begin to swell and grow. The buds exposed to light will quickly grow and fill the area in with new branch opportunities.
Travis asked me about lighting for Elephant bush and I have to say nothing beets putting your plants outside in the summer. These guys, and pretty much succulents in general, will love as much direct sunlight as you can give them. With that said, I do spend about a month to transition my tropicals from indoor lighting to outdoor sunlight. To do this I place all of my bonsai in the shade outside initially, and over the course of a month slowly move their pots to their final outdoor spot.
For indoor lighting I have used pretty much every option available minus High Pressure Sodium lighting. If you have a south or west facing window, your plants will be happy if they are within roughly 6 inches of the glass. Light quality diminishes exponentially for every inch you move away from the glass, so it can be done put think green house windows, not a bonsai as a center piece on a table 6 feet from the window. A center peice situation should only be used for temporary display.
I now prefer LED lighting inside as the longevity and cost have reached a point of being competitive with other options, and the spectrums generated by top quality lights cannot be beat. I use Black Dog LED lights on a light mover to expand the lighting footprint, and reduce apical dominance. I also still have some fluorescent T5 fixtures I still use as well. The issue I have with fluorescents, is that they induce apical dominance, and the lower branches of my bonsai are visibly weak by the end of a winter under them. For small bonsai this is not as much of an issue, but worth considering, as all plants continue to grow.
Thank you Travis for asking about this Portulicaria afra Verigata bonsai, and please let me know if I can answer anything other questions this post my have generated.