C. ovata are tough to get a good bonsai effect with because the leaves stay pretty big. The best you can hope for is an interesting trunk and good branching structure. Yours has a pretty good taper on the trunk.

I dont think they have a thick root either. I've never seen anybody try the exposed root look with this plant.

This might work of I pinch it back hard..so that there isnt much more leafy growth. Thats makes the woody parts look more tree like.

Funny thing is,in Florida and the tropics Portulacaria IS used much. In California not the Jade plant in serious Bonsai..but some look good on the net.

Jades don’t get much respect here in California! But they are easy plants, trouble free, in the ground or in pots. And when they bloom in the spring they do look nice.

Stan, I wonder what happened to yours at the base on the left. I have a p. afra which is overwatered (near a sprinkler). It’s bending over like that and the outer part of the stem is split open. I was wondering if yours had been overwatered at some point. They are real toughies. It will be an interesting look for your collection.

Nice trunk :) I would probably take off many leaves to expose trunk even more...

Socks,it was a large plant I dug out from my front yard,then kept to the side under some hedges in all of 2 winters ago very wet winter. Between the loss of roots and all that cold wet winter..when I grabbed the plant to pot- two trunk tops broke off from rot. Other branches also fell off. I never pruned a branch.

Rina,I think your right. You know I had done this to a previous fat trunked Jade i posted on GWeb,only that one rotted on me from the big change of regular pot to a Bonsai pot...or I should say,the main trunk totally rotted but I still have it...with thin trunks.