"Geeks Turning to Bonsai to Combat Stress". That's the title of an article I just came across. The author claims that "the art of bonsai, which takes extreme detail to attention and tremendous patience, is the ideal stress reliever for the “geek”." This may be true, but it got me thinking about another geek trait with which I am afflicted: extreme procrastination.

It's been a long while since I've done anything other than water my trees. I let my wine grape dry out a little too long in the basement, and all its leaves dried up. I plucked them off--I was pretty sure that the leaves were also harboring a fungal infection (they had a dusty coating and some of the leaves had started to shrivel anyway), so I figured I'd see if I could get it to grow new (fungus-free, hopefully) leaves, and if not, well, I've still got a nice pot. The wine grape was in a sorry state to begin with: soil completely taken over by liverwort, small white worms in the bark, which was perpetually soggy, by the way.

Anyway, to get to the point, there's been a ton I've wanted to do with my trees (prune my ficus & repot it over a rock, prune my pomegranate, and possibly repot it with new soil, stratify japanese maple seeds...), but I haven't done any of it, because I am an excellent procrastinator. See, it's because I don't want to mess it up--the easiest way not to mess something up is to not to it. So I haven't.

But I'm reinspired since a friend gave me a brand new awesome bonsai book...and since I just read that it's OK to prune a ficus pretty much any time of year, I'm gonna go ahead and give it a go. Pics to come...

winter care to-do list

Getting my trees through the winter alive, preferably thriving, will be a major challenge. Here's a current status check:

-The dwarf pomegranate is currently in the basement, next to a window. It dropped quite a few leaves, but not all. Most of the newer growth is still intact and green. I even still have a bud growing!

-The ficus remains on my desk, next to the glass slider. I plan to repot it soon--have to check and see whether I need to wait until early spring to do this. It continues to grow, and I really need to figure out exactly how to pinch back the new growth, because it *really* needs doing.

-The cotoneaster is still outside. I haven't taken any winter precautions yet. It's still in its nursery pot, so it's a lot more protected than it would be in a bonsai pot. It seems to be doing well--it's lost a few leaves, and the remainder have just recently been turning red.

-The miniature wine grape (my latest acquisition--an anniversary gift from my husband) was recently moved down to the basement alongside the pomegranate. I'd been under the impression that this tree preferred a more tropical climate, but further research convinced me that it should get a winter cool-down. It actually seems to be doing better now that I've moved it downstairs. It's just now starting to really cool down outside, so we'll see what happens.

To-do list for winter/early spring:

-Prune (moderate) and wire pomegranate
-Leaf-pruning
-Wire cotoneaster?
-Pinch back new growth on ficus, and repot
-Repot cotoneaster?

Cotoneaster pruning attempt

On Friday I received my new bonsai tools from Dallas Bonsai! OK, OK, I know it's not the time for major pruning, but I admit my excitement got the better of me and I couldn't help myself. I got out those concave cutters and went to town. Here are the results:

(Before picture can be seen in my previous post).

Right now I am mainly hoping that the plant survives this trauma. But I like the overall shape I achieved!

New acquisitions

Last weekend, because I am starved for things to "do" in this off-season (for most bonsai tasks, that is), I dug up 2 small maples from my yard and put them into pots:

Both were doing fine, until I noticed the leaves curling and getting brown this morning on the larger of the 2. I removed a few of the worst leaves, and moved both trees into a location where they will get less direct sun. This time of year is not ideal for transplanting--spring is best--but we'd just had a lot of rain, and we may not be in this house in spring, so I decided to go ahead and try. It's not as if the trees had to go very far to be transplanted! Plus, they were free, so if I lose them, it's just a learning experience.

I also visited the Home Depot on Friday, where I purchased a cotoneaster (Cotoneaster horizontalis) nursery shrub, as well as a Ficus bonsai
I probably won't touch either of them until fall. The ficus definitely needs repotting--it had the glued-on rocks typical of "mallsai", and is potted in a very deep pot with no drainage. I removed the rocks on top but will wait a bit to repot it into a proper container. The cotoneaster is a practice tree, but I need to read up on it a little more before I figure out what to do with it. At least now I have a lot to work with!

Getting Started...

This year, one of my birthday presents from J (who is the BEST gift-giver EVER!), was a bonsai. A dwarf pomegranate (Punica granatum 'Nana'), to be exact:



Now, anybody who knows me knows that I love trees. I also love pets, and I love to pick at things in an obsessive-compulsive manner. So, considering that bonsai are kind of like pet trees that need a somewhat obsessive-compulsive level of care (and picking and pruning), well, I think you can see where I'm going with this. I was meant for bonsai.

I have been reading voraciously, in books and on the internet, about growing, caring for, and training bonsai. I thought that a blog might be a nice way to document my (and my trees') progress, and to keep track of successes and failures so that I can learn from them.

I received my dwarf pom on August 10th, and kept it inside for the first week and half or so, until I learned that bonsai should be kept outdoors (in general). So, out to the deck went the pom. It has been raining almost continuously since the tree has been outdoors, so I haven't watered it in over a week. The top layer of soil is still retaining some moisture, so if it doesn't rain again for a day or two I'll probably have to water. I fertilized the tree with some balanced (0.2% N,P,K) liquid feed on Sunday (8/24), though with all that rain I'm not sure if it just washed right through? I'll probably give it some more this weekend, as it is still summer.

I did consider repotting the pomegranate, as I don't think the soil is as free-draining as it should be. However, because it is off-season for repotting (best done in early spring or late autumn), and because the tree is actively growing (and therefore definitely not dying!), I've decided to leave it be for now. Pomegranates are semi-tropical, flowering/fruiting trees, and therefore can use a little extra moisture as compared to some other tree types.

Today I ordered a basic set of bonsai tools from Dallas Bonsai. I'm so excited for them to get here! I don't feel ready to do any serious design/pruning (and it's not the right season anyway), but I'll probably do a little maintenance pruning when the tools come in to clean up some of the new growth. I guess it's a good sign that I've seen visible growth just in the last 2 weeks! Just keeping a bonsai tree alive is the first major challenge for "newbies".