Bonsai

Yesterday we went to a bonsai show held by the Santa Cruz Bonsai Kai. I've seen bonsai plants in person at a couple of gardens, and these were also fascinating. I loved seeing all the different types of plants. Wisteria is always one of my favorites to see, with the draping branches. (I'd love to have a Weeping Willow someday)



Then there was a training demonstration. The sensei took a ~15 year old Juniper that had been growing in his yard, and in the roughly hour as we watched, turned it into a masterpiece. Or at least the beginning of one. He talked about long-term training, and working on 5-year plans for these trees.


I picked up a 12-year-old Chinese Elm to start training, and then I won a little Juniper already in its own little pot. Below is my little Elm next to a much older one. I thought I'd give it something to strive for.

Here they are at home. I'll call them June and Emily.

I'm also a member of the club now. I think I'll wait until after my first meeting to re-pot and start training Emily. I'm also going to replace June's rocks with moss. It's going to be great to have a place to go for when I need advice. I mean other than the Internet.

My favorite question from the Q&A session: "Ok, so you've been given this 5o-year-old tree, and you take it home and it dies. Are there support groups?"

The reply mentioned some training groups that spend a year focusing on watering alone. Wow.

The oldest tree at the show was 350.