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Seeds! Aren’t! Bonsai!

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One of the first things that you learn when you dive into the bonsai world is that those cute “grow your own bonsai” kits are complete hoaxes. First off, you do not grow a bonsai. You turn a plant/tree/shrub into a bonsai through styling. Secondly, bonsai need to be years, if not decades old in order to be respectable.

I wanted to grow seeds anyway.

My thought process was that, if I continue this hobby for a long time, I think it would be so neat to be able to say, “hey, I grew that bonsai since it was a baby, a mere twinkle in the seed’s eye.” Also, with seedlings, I have immense control over shaping as they grow. No stubborn, brittle branches for these guys (side eyes hollies). And hey, it if fails, it was $7 worth of fun.

I got common privet, Monterrey cypress, Utah juniper, banyan, trident maple, Chinese holly, and sacred fig seeds. These are all good bonsai species. What I didn’t know is all of the preparation the seeds need before planting.

Most of them needed cold stratification, which is where you wrap the seeds in a damp paper towel and place them in a fridge. Some needed a month, some needed two to three. This simulates winter so that the seeds want to sprout once you plant them.

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I love that I put them in day and month range.

The figs did not need any pre-care, and they are doing very well. I planted a few of each seed when I first got them, no pre-treatment, just for kicks. The cypress didn’t seem to mind the lack of stratification and starting growing a few weeks after the figs did.

Today I planted the rest of the junipers and maples. The Chinese hollies require a lot of treatment and I may just call those a wash. We shall see.

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Happy, cold Juniper seeds. Let’s see if they do anything. These seeds are easy to care for, and I love the daily dramatic change. I get to see new sprouts come up and tiny sprouts gain new leaves. No, they won’t be bonsais any time soon, but they are still my cute little babies.

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Sticks with leaves

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Hooray, my pomegranate workout was not in vain. Four of the seven trunks have produced foliage. I call that pretty good! The growth is currently very low, which is not ideal. Those little suckers will be plucked away soon. But I don’t want to remove all of the leaves in order to help it stay alive.

The long term plan for these guys is, well, long. I will develop the branches as they push out. Most of the effort will be thickening up the branches to be in proportion to the trunk. Hopefully I can wire the branches while they are young and green to add movement that the trunks lack. Depending on where the growth comes, I may shorten the trunks. Lastly, I will train branches to hide the ugly chop at the top, like a little hat or wig. Bonsai is about little trees- I have never seen a tree with a flat top trunk like that. But it can be fixed!

The Leaning Tower of Texas

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With the addition of my brand spankin new 4.5 mm wire, I added some curve to my Texas ebony! This is temporarily hideous, only because I now have a more constructed future ahead of it.

I had thought about trying to chase down to foliage, but there doesn’t seem to be any pushing downward. I am thinking I will air layer this bad boy in half. In case I haven’t written about it yet, air layering is essentially where you force roots to grow along a trunkline that can them be transplanted. It would take a whole post to explain. Just imagine, chop, two trunks. By wiring it like this, I would add curve to both trunks. Sometimes you need temporary ugliness for a longer term plan.

Hello all!

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It is I, Claire! The plant lover at Trinity University. I believe that my balcony could win the award for “Most Plants on One Balcony.” It is my happy place, my creative space.

I have decided to document my progress as I dive into the world of bonsai. Some of my earliest work was not well documented via photos, but now that I know I have a source for photos, I will take more progression pictures!

I created this blog for two main reasons. One- I tell people about my love of bonsai, yet sometimes they do not understand the process that bonsai requires. Hopefully, this blog will shed light on this passion. Two- I plan to pursue this hobby for as long as I can. This is a great organizational tool to track the progress of all of my children (plants).

Are you unfamiliar with bonsai? Here are the basics, along with debunking stereotypical assumptions.

  • Bonsai is the Japanese art of training young plants, bushes, and trees to look old and big.
  • This training involves rearranging branches using wire that is wrapped around the branches. Young plants often have straight lines/branches- this is the enemy. By curving branches using wire, you help the tree look older and maximize its energy intake by allowing all leaves to reach sunlight.
  • The stereotypical bonsai master is a cute old Japanese man delicately trimming the leaves of a huge bonsai. This is 0.001% of bonsaists. Those types of trees are often hundreds of years old, expensive, and delicate to care for. And, the main task of bonsai isn’t trimming leaves. Sure, that is a part of it, but there is also wiring, repotting, chopping, prunning, and strategic backbudding!
  • Bonsais are not easy little houseplants that you keep on your desk to look cute and fancy. Only a select variety of species can tolerate being indoors, but all bonsai are happiest outside.
  • There are not bonsai “seeds” or specific plants that magically turn into bonsai. Bonsai is an art, not a species. With enough creativity, you could theoretically train any plant to be a bonsai.
  • Common bonsai species are ficus, boxwood, juniper, jade, crepe mrytle, Chinese elm, maple, pine, bougainvillea, cotoneaster, schefflera, holly, gingko, fukien tea…
  • Most bonsaists don’t buy bonsai. They buy “nursery stock,” which is a normal plant that they then train to be tiny. Or, you can collect plants from the wild, which is called yamadori.
  • Buying a a true bonsai would cost hundreds or thousands of dollars. The “bonsai” you can buy at Home Depot or malls are deemed “mallsai” in the bonsai community. They are mass produced trees that seldom have the characteristics of a true bonsai. They are kitschy and I am now disgusted by them.
  • A traditional bonsai has these qualities: a thick, tapered trunk with movement, curved branches, tiny leaves, good nebari (thick visible roots), and a distinguished shape, whether that be triangular or ovular.
  • You will never know everything there is to know about bonsai. It is a wide community filled with different perspectives, techniques, and opinions.
  • You will always kill trees. It is a rite of passage. Sometimes you push a tree too far, it stresses it, and dies. It just happens.

This list turned out to be far longer than I anticipated, and I could keep going and going! There is a wealth of knowledge that I am excited to share with you.

I will post tree/project specific posts that fall under the species category on the right (on PC). I may also make general posts about other things, like soil, pots, and technique.

Bonsai on!

Honeysuckle

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From October 28, 2018.

I got this nice honeysuckle for about $8 at Evergreen during their fall sale. I was excited by the nice trunk, small leaves, and bendable branches. No brittleness here!

I got this pot at a leftover estate sale, that I found on Craigslist. It was a wild experience. All the ad said was that anything after 9am was free to take, a general lists of items, and to please not block the driveway. Plants were on the list, so I gave it a try. I got there a little before 9, and the entire street was packed. As I approached the house, people were already clearing out furniture and other large pieces. Apparently they opened the house early due to the street chaos. All I got was this little pot. Hey, it was an experience. Almost like Black Friday, with people aggressively walking towards a table with a “that’s MINE” attitude.

After inspecting the trunk and its various angles, I decided on the front. I trimmed a significant portion of the foliage off, bye bye leaves. They were mostly on the top.

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Lookie there! There is a pre-bonsai! Amazing what some chopping and wire can do.

A general rule is that branches should start at one-third of the tree’s height. Following those rules, I should chop those right two branches. I like them there though, for now, I want to see how it fills out with foliage.

Also, there is a common technique used in bonsai known as a sacrificial branch. If you want a trunk to fatten up, you leave a branch on the lower trunk. This sends energy, insert science here, and the trunk gets thicker, and you chop it off once you are satisfied. Makes sense. So if anything, they are acting as sacrifices for now. Thanks, guys.