Blue Ice podocarpus bonsai
Blue Ice is the trade name for Podocarpus elongatus ‘Monmal’, a South African cultivar and the only podocarpus with genuinely silver-blue foliage.
What it is
Podocarpus elongatus is native to South Africa. The ‘Monmal’ cultivar was selected for consistent colour and a tighter habit than the species.
How to recognise it
- Narrow, elongated leaves, far more slender than costalis.
- Silver-blue to grey colouring — nothing else in the genus looks like this.
- Lime-green new growth contrasting sharply with older foliage.
- Gently pendulous branchlets giving a light, open feel.
- Upright but informal habit.
The blue, and how to keep it
The colour comes from a waxy bloom on the leaf surface. That layer thickens in full sun and thins in shade, so a shaded tree drifts green and dull.
Colour also deepens as foliage matures. Over-pruning that constantly forces new growth leaves the tree permanently lime-green — attractive, but not what anyone buys Blue Ice for.
Care specific to this variety
- Full sun for maximum colour; at minimum half a day of direct light.
- Avoid constant overhead watering, which erodes the waxy bloom.
- Most material on the market is grafted — inspect the union before buying.
Provenance and propagation
We graft Blue Ice onto P. macrophyllus rootstock. It will root from cutting, but the root system stays weak in humid tropical media and growth is markedly slower.