Adventures in bonsai (5/13/2019)

As you may know, my blog posts are all over the place, which may be why I do not seem to have a large following. But then, they are partially a diary for me that I share publicly (at least that’s how it all started, as a photographic diary); partially a way for me to educate my readers in some of the things that I believe in, especially in the natural and environmental fields; and sometimes to bitch about the political climate in this country. At rare occasions do I throw all these three subjects in a big hat, mix them together and barf them all out on a computer screen. My posts are partially selfish and for the other part altruistic. However, I want to change the subject today.

I have been trying to grow bonsai for the past 30 years or so. This is the 12th post of the 363 odd posts in my blog where I mention bonsai. I started out in New Mexico with seedlings and eventually ignored them. I never really gave up, my plants traveled with me from two locations in New Mexico to Ohio and finally to Virginia. When people asked, I grew bonsai, but I never did anything with them; I ignored them except for watering them. A few of my plants died, I never repotted them. Most of my plants still looked like the seedlings that I started in the late 1980s. The poor Siberian elms, the New Mexico privets, the Japanese pine and the azalea that I had started in New Mexico were holding on to dear life. 

Finally, about five or so years ago, I was bitten by the bug, once more (or I really never gave up). I decided that I better take care of them or get rid of them. My poor trees were root bound; it was difficult to untangle the roots. I tried a little bit, but I was way too careful; afraid to kill them. I potted them up in the hope the roots would somehow sort themselves out. YouTube to the rescue. It were Nigel Saunders from “the Bonsai Zone” and Ikbal Khan from “Mikbonsai” who opened my eyes and showed me that you could really hack at the roots and the plants could still survive. I have been doing this now to my trees the past three or so years to get them in shape, and this is not what I really want to write about today, but it seems to be working. 

So this winter, I used what I learned from all those YouTube videos, Google+ (rest in peace) pictures and had some fun around our yard. We had this huge (8 foot tall) privet growing that we needed to get rid of.  Based on some of the pictures I had seen, it would make a great bonsai after a few years when carved, so here I went at it. One February weekend it took me two days to excavate the plant cut the roots with a saw; some of them were two inches thick. After that, I stuck the plant in a tub of water and covered it with a wet towel (I had to go to my regular job). Two days later, I bought a big kitty-litter box mixed enough soil and stuck the plant in there. My wife predicted it would die, and I figured she was correct. Little did we know. Just look at the pictures below. 

Here I have just finished excavating the plant in early February.   It is too heavy for one person to lift.

After some more soil and root removal I was able to fit it in this litter box.  We were absolutely thinking I abused it too much.

Loo and behold, by mid March there appeared to be life in the tree.  There was hope that I would have a few branches to play with.

By early May this is what I am looking at, the plant has gone absolutely crazy and I have more than a few branches to work with. 

The weekend after that I figured that I needed to get rid of a mimosa volunteer in my yard. I had killed the mother plant 17 years ago and I still had the root trying to sprout volunteers. One of them was very tenacious and it had a 1.5 inch trunk that we had cut at ground level over the years. However, it had sprouted back every year. So, I put a shovel in the ground and tore it off. To my surprise, a root came out that looked like a 2 inch thick carrot with a few small roots coming off it, including one long thin root. I thought, “Nothing to lose” and stuck it in a pot in my bonsai mix. Well look at the picture below! 

Here is the mimosa.   Part of the root is sticking out, but my pot was not deep enough.  I did not dare to cut more root off.

There is an old abandoned asphalt road in the woods behind our home.  It is a favorite of bikers and walkers, alike.  It is partially covered by leaves and plants grow in it.  Once the trees get old enough they die.  One morning in January this year, I just pulled a loblolly pine seedling out off the litter.  It's roots were spread horizontal all over the asphalt, looking for that crack where it could go through. Guess what?  As you can see in the picture below, it is doing great in a pot on my bench and we'll see how it develops.  It is thanking me for saving it from it's imminent demise.

The little pine that I picked up in January this year.  I have no idea how to train it yet, or what to do with it.  We'll see what comes from it.

Finally, we have a sassafras tree in the back yard that was throwing off root sprouts. Again, this winter I cut one off. It just had a few roots, but was still connected to the mother plant. Not expecting much, but remembering Nigel’s programs, I stuck it is a pot with my mix, and the photo below shows you the result. 

Finally the sassafras.  I have not yet seen a sassafras bonsai, so we'll see what we can do with this guy.  For one, it is doing fine right now.

Especially the mimosa and the privet seem very droughty. I really need to make sure that I water them a lot. This is most likely because of their limited root mass, but I have high hopes they will survive and make great bonsais or fun bonsais in the future.  Moreover, all the plants will need years to develop into credible bonsais, but that is the fun of this hobby.  I recommitted myself to working with my plants; it is fun again and I will continue. My major problem right now is the lack of sunlight in my garden.

In one of my next post I will write more about my azaleas, two years ago I dug two up and this year I dug up one; however, that's what I thought, but it ended up yielding four.  More in a subsequent post.