Hello everyone! It has been a while, but spring is here! I have been nervously watching my babies to see if they would push out new growth, confirming that they survived the winter. Some have, some haven’t. I have created a new sidebar category for fallen friends, where I will move past projects once that plant has died. It is sad and I lost some neat plants, but it is all a part of the process! And, now I have much more knowledge about how to care for these little guys and which species are optimal. And, more balcony room.

Which brings me to today! With all of the reading and research I have done, I know exactly what qualities to look for in nursery stock. Today, I adventured across San Antonio to local nurseries to find some new children.

I first visited Shades of Green, a favorite of mine. Their layout feels like a beautiful backyard; I could just sit and sip tea there. I found some good stock, but I knew that I would be hitting up several other places, so I took note of the species, prices, and took photos for reference.

Next, I went to Fanick’s Garden Center. This took me to a side of town I have not visited, and I am so glad I did. Wildflowers were absolutely everywhere, and I couldn’t get enough of it. It was gorgeous! Fanick’s was a great place, definitely worth the drive. Here, I got a Scarlet Bottlebrush and Grayleaf Cotoneaster here- I will show you pictures in a bit. For now, enjoy some selfies with their quirky decorations.

Next was Accent Plant Interior. This was an interesting one- a little place on the side of an access road. I was greeted by a sweet old woman who said that she would follow me around, and I soon understood why- there were no labels. No species or prices. This was a bit of a challenge for me, as I am still not perfect at identifying certain species. But, she was kind and was sweet to chat with. I ended up getting a kiddo there- a mystery tree. I got it on a whim because she gave me a great price for it, I really liked the trunk, and the leaves were small (good for bonsai).

Then I went to a few places that turned out to be wholesale only. I was already pretty tired at this point, but I wanted to see what else was around while I was in this new area. I went to Deez Treez, and despite its silly name, this is my new favorite nursery. I am so glad I mustered up the energy to go there. They had excellent quality plants, wonderful variety, and stellar prices. I am glad I didn’t get anything at Shades of Green- their prices are 2 to 3 times higher than Deez Treez. While Shades of Green has a wonderful atmosphere, Deez Treez is where is it at! I got a yaupon holly, jujubee, watermelon crape myrtle, and a green cloud sage. I was going to get an Indian Hawthorne, but it was my least favorite of them all, and I was worried about having enough space in my car. And now, the reveals!

The Scarlet Bottlebrush. Easily the biggest of the haul, but the vast majority of that will be chopped off. It has a lovely curved trunk and a secondary branch with lots of promise. I also like the thin leaves. This was $25 from Fanick’s.

The Grayleaf Cotoneaster. I could have gotten a bigger one for $15 more, but I liked this one’s structure. $10 from Fanick’s.

The mystery child, the risk. The top half is dead, but I am encouraged by the new growth pushing through at the bottom. Once more leaves come, I will likely be able to identify it. $15 from Accent Plant Interior.

The Green Cloud Sage. Sage reminds me of Texas, so I was a bit biased to this fellow. I am hoping there is more trunk under the soil so that I can keep that secondary branch. $15 from Deez Treez.

The Watermelon Crape Myrtle. I am a new fan of crape myrtles- one that I have right now is growing like a weed. I couldn’t argue with that beautiful thick trunk either. And, this variety produces hot pink flowers. Cool! $12.50 from Deez Treez.

The Yaupon holly. Yes, if you are a faithful reader, you will know of my disdain for these guys, because they are brittle and hard to shape. But, I wanted to give these a chance because they already had some neat natural curvature. And, I got three in one pot. $10 from Deez Treez.

Lastly, the Jujubee. I hadn’t heard of this species before, but a quick google search confirmed that they can be used for bonsai. I asked the garden keeper about it- she said, “It’s a baby from that mama!” She pointed to a forty foot tall tree. She explained that the area around it is constantly growing little seedlings, so the garden center can scoop them up and develop them into stock. Jujubees also produce an apple-like fruit. I am excited to see how this goes! $12.50 from Deez Treez.

I am exhausted, but so so happy with my finds. I was sure to take pictures of the original stock before I chopped them up- I chopped off what I knew I didn’t need to make it easier to bring up to my room. I will do individual makeover posts, so keep a lookout for those!

Just a quick update- all of my babies are back on the balcony! Most of them survived the trip, which is wonderful. Some are still a bit sad/droopy/leafless, but a bark scratch test tells me that they are all alive!

Also, I have decided that once each plant starts growing new foliage, I will name them! I didn’t want to name them initially, because death is inevitable with experimental gardening.

As you may recall, bonsai need special special soil. They are picky little guys. Every bonsaist swears by their soil mix. Essentially, you need something that has good drainage. Sounds easy enough! Hahaha, no. It is almost political, the world of bonsai soil. If I was a professional, I would use akadama clay, from Japan, but importing it is very expensive. So, with the powers of the internet, I have found a soil mix that will be my first effort. I may alter it as I see fit. It is 50% NAPA #8822 (diatomaceous earth/rock. Used for oil spills traditionally, but it is just a great water absorber), 25% lava rock, and 25% peat moss. I have to sift the NAPA 8822 vigorously to get rid of all of the dusty, sandy bits. I need a good size granule, about 1/8 to 1/4 inch in diameter. But that is not what we are here for! We are here for lava rock!

You can buy thirty pounds of large lava rocks (1-1.5 inches) for about $5 at Home Depot. Or, you can order small crushed lava rock for about $15 per pound. Hey, I have a hammer and time, no need to spend all that money!

So I set out to crush rock. Early in the fall 2018 semester, I attempted this by running over the rocks with my car until they crumbled. This worked, but very slowly. A hammer was the more efficient way to go.

It really isn’t as complicated as is may sound. Hammer meet rock, rock get small. But, you do have to monitor size control and the amount of force you use. I have lost many a small rock that I wanted to split in half because I pulverized it into dust. But that’s the way it goes. So smash smash!

I have probably spent about 8 hours working on these rocks, and I still am not done. It is laborious, tedious, and hurts my hand and back. But I had the energy to show the process for my lovely and supportive fans as home. Enjoy the thrilling transition from big rock to many small rocks.

After about a dozen rocks, I get this:

Oh, how I care for my babies.

I will transplant most, if not all of my plants into bonsai soil, even though they are still in training and aren’t true bonsai yet. My friends on Reddit say that this will help with growth and root development as a part of the bonsai process. And of course, during the growing season, I fertilize regularly because they are not many nutrients in the soil mix.

Feel free to comments or ask questions! I would love to interact with you guys and share my knowledge.

Hello all! I have not posted in a while for many reasons. First, I have had quite the eventful winter break, and because the trees are in winter dormancy, there is not much exciting action.

Upon leaving my dorm for winter break, I have to take all of my plants from my third floor dorm to the ground floor. Thank goodness for elevators. It took me four trips of dragging a huge Rubbermade tote back and forth to get them all downstairs. It was much more than I thought.

Here are all of my plants together. Pots are heavy. I put them here rebelliously- this is a university loading zone, but other people were doing it, so I took the chance. While loading up my car, two campus policemen walked by. I was nervous that they were going to scold me, but they simply were awed by my bounty.

So, on the trek to my Dad’s house, I skid on black ice, ran into a barbed wire fence, and totaled my car. It was a wild day, but everyone was safe and no one got hurt. Except for maybe a few plants, but as much as I love them, they were the least of my worries in the grand scheme of things. More on that later.

My sad smushed car.

My new car, after a stressful amount of car shopping.

Who knew a barbed wire fence could do that much damage? But alas, I researched tirelessly trying to find a new (to me) car. I replaced the 2009 Honda Accord with a 2016 Ford Focus. I am happy with it!

But my plants still had trauma. Many had been shaken out of their pots and chilled, barerooted, until they were retrieved from the tow yard. Here is some of the damage.

This will be a hard first winter for me. I am doing all I can to revive them, but the weather is still against me. In addition, the plants have this trauma. It will be hard to identify whether a plant dies because of trauma or improper winter care. Hopefully I will learn more next winter.

I will be okay if I have a few fallen soldiers. That is part of this hobby! It is just a shame that it had to happen this way. But alas, I have not lost hope!

Look at this unit of wire!! I was so excited to get this new wire in the mail. I had previously only had 0.5, 1, 1.5, and 2 mm wire. It was sufficient for thinner branches, but I needed some more power if I had any chance of wiring my hollies. I follow “Adam’s Art and Bonsai Blog,” and I have acquired a wealth of knowledge from his blog. One tidbit was about this thick wire! I had to search much harder to find this wire, but I found this 4.5 mm dark brown aluminum wire that was great. It is, of course, much harder to bend than thinner wire and I cannot achieve quite as nuanced structure with it, but that’s okay. Catch this wire being integrated in my children!