Uncle Phil said:
I did ask. But I don't know. However, politician-like, I will evade the question by answering that I think most bonsai trees are of species that have small leaves anyway - possibly because the answer is no,they don't grow leaves in scale and a six-inch tree with six-inch leaves would just be silly.
Good answer.
I've got some stumpy oak trees that are producing leaves in proportion to their full grown size not the 18" or so I plan to keep them at.
It might take them a
bit of time few years to get used to not growing any bigger, I dunno.
I did hear that the leaves shrink to suit the scale of the tree but that might have been campfire talk or from a bloke in the pub.
That trees with small leaves are normally used for bonsaing does seem to fit with what I've seen done in the past.
I was talking to a forummers dad the other weekend and admiring his diddy trees, I reckon he'd know but I forgot to ask him.