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".