Create your own bonsai using nursery stock.
Photos at:
www.one2go.co.uk
As there hasn’t been much said about bonsai, I’d like to show how easy it is to create your own bonsai, from a plant bought from a nursery or garden centre. I chose Taxus baccata adpressa “Variegata,” which is ... Read review
Advantages: Easy to care for Disadvantages: Get someone to water them while you're on holiday!
Create your own bonsai using nursery stock.
Photos at:
www.one2go.co.uk
As there hasn’t been much said about bonsai, I’d like to show how easy it is to create your own bonsai, from a plant bought from a nursery or garden centre. I chose Taxus baccata adpressa “Variegata,” which is a long-winded Latin way of saying Golden Variegated Yew. I bought this conifer from a garden centre last May and took photos ... ...
Firstly, bonsai can be created from any suitable variety of tree (suitable means that the leaves and growth habit should be not too large or vigorous – don’t attempt to bonsai a Buddleia, for example! – you’d be fighting nature instead of working with it).
The idea that it takes years to make a bonsai, or that it’s an extremely skilled art, is, quite frankly, poppycock! Anyone can do it, there’s no right and wrong way ... more
Create your own bonsai using nursery stock.
Photos at:
www.one2go.co.uk
As there hasn’t been much said about bonsai, I’d like to show how easy it is to create your own bonsai, from a plant bought from a nursery or garden centre. I chose Taxus baccata adpressa “Variegata,” which is a long-winded Latin way of saying Golden Variegated Yew. I bought this conifer from a garden centre last May and took photos of the various stages of creation, and I’ve included a picture of how it looks today.
Firstly, bonsai can be created from any suitable variety of tree (suitable means that the leaves and growth habit should be not too large or vigorous – don’t attempt to bonsai a Buddleia, for example! – you’d be fighting nature instead of working with it).
The idea that it takes years to make a bonsai, or that it’s an extremely skilled art, is, quite frankly, poppycock! Anyone can do it, there’s no right and wrong way to shape a tree, it’s a matter of personal taste. Look at pictures of mature trees, and trees in parks and gardens round about where you live. Notice how the branches grow from the trunk (as opposed to shoots sprouting from the trunk. – if you don’t want a branch to grow there, nip it out when it’s small, otherwise leave it to grow.) Notice how the branches are arranged, and the twigs and leaves. It’s not often you see twigs growing downwards off branches – they grow up towards the light. Use nature as a guide. If there are two branches and you want to prune one of them, choose the one that’s facing outwards, rather than downwards. If you don’t like what you’ve done, wait until some more branches grow, and start again – you can prune quite hard, but always leave enough green so the tree can feed itself. If you’re pruning roots, and you’re taking away a third of them, prune a corresponding third off the branches. As for wiring, get some bonsai wire from the garden centre (the aluminium, anodised if you can get it, is better than copper – it’s softer and much easier to work. Once copper wire hardens, you have to cut it off – with aluminium you can unwind it.) The wire should be just slightly harder to bend than the branch or trunk you’re wiring. Use about one and a half times the amount of wire as the length of the trunk or branch you’re going to wire. Start at the bottom of the tree, push around 2inches of wire into the soil to anchor it, and wrap it around the trunk, at a 45 degree angle, up the trunk, and out onto a branch. You don’t bend the tree yet. For branches, start in the middle of two, with the middle of the wire, and continue to the ends of the branches. When you’ve wired what you want to, then carefully, covering as much surface area as you can with two hands, bend the branch to the desired shape. Be aware of how hard you’re bending the branch, don’t put too much pressure on it. If it doesn’t bend enough, you may have to do it bit by bit, over the years. As soon as the wire starts to dig in to the branch (this can happen after a month if the tree’s growing vigorously, or a year if slow-growing – keep checking,) take it off and re-wire.
Use secateurs to prune the branches, and a gardening hand fork or weed cultivator (a wicked-looking thing with prongs) to tease out the roots prior to root pruning. Use scissors or secateurs to cut the roots. Just trim off a third, (not yet though!) no harm will come to the tree. Repot into a mixture of John Innes No3 and grit, about half-and-half. When you repot, try to spread the roots out, especially if you’re planting into a shallow container such as a bonsai dish. Planting the tree at an angle helps if the trunk is too straight.
Looking after a bonsai isn’t hard, especially an outdoor tree like the one you’re going after from the garden centre. Watering is absolutely vital though. Don’t miss a single day of checking to see if it needs watering. In the summer it WILL need watering every day, and sometimes twice, morning and evening. If it dries out it’ll die. If it’s a conifer, it might take several weeks to die after a shortage of water. If it does dry out, stand it in a bucket of water so the water is halfway up the pot, and stand it in the shade for an hour or so. Don’t forget to take it out again though – the soil needs oxygen. Leave it in the shade for a week until it recovers. If it’s severely dry, cover the branches with a polythene bag as well, to conserve the moisture. Feed the tree fortnightly throughout spring and summer with any of these plant foods: Liquid Seaweed Extract, fish, blood and bone mix or specialised bonsai feed. Don’t go for Growmore or tomato food unless you want your tree to grow long gangly shoots! Trim the branches whenever you want, trimming induces the tree to put on a spurt of growth, and that way the branch structure fills out.
To find your tree, have a look around the local garden centre (outside) at what’s on offer. What you’re looking for is firstly an interesting-looking trunk which may have a natural curve or twist, or the bark may be gnarled or damaged, making it look old. Check out the roots, you may have to poke around under the soil to expose the root, sometimes they’re planted around 2inches below soil level. Avoid those with too-straight trunks, or too-long trunks. The branches are not that important, as long as there are a few evenly-ish spaced, better if you can spot one with branches that grow alternately, or are spaced out interestingly.
Make sure the tree looks healthy, and isn’t pot-bound (the roots coiled round and round inside the pot and hardly any compost). If it’s pot-bound it’s probably had a shortage of water at some time, and this will place a severe stress on the plant when it comes to root-pruning – and I wouldn’t advise you to root-prune this late in the season. Best just to work the top and leave it in it’s pot until the autumn (November).
The photos show the various stages of the creation of the bonsai, (always a bonsai, never a bonsai tree, as the translation of bonsai is “tree in a tray”) and the pictures show the following:
Taxus baccata adpressa “Variegata” fresh from the garden centre.
More trunk, and roots revealed below soil level.
Most of the branches now removed, revealing trunk and branch structure.
Trunk and branches wired.
Planted into a bonsai pot, with as little root disturbance as possible, due to the late season. The finished tree was kept in a cool, shady place for a couple of weeks, until the roots were re-established.
The tree in September 2003
The tree now (June 2004)
Some of my bonsai collection .
I hope you have fun creating your own bonsai, it’s an absorbing and fascinating hobby!
Advantages: Look gorgeous Disadvantages: bring lots of bugs increase biodiversity on your window ledge
Bonsai trees are special miniture trees that grow indoors (usually) in pots.
Bonsai is japanese for 'potted plant' and originated in China. they are absolutely gorgeous, the idea of having an entire tree on your windowsil amazes me till today, they grow like trees for years and years, there are several styles and types of bonsai:
The formal upright style, or Chokkan, is just as the name suggests, and is characterized by a straight, upright, tapering ... ...to get me interested in Bonsai trees. In the movie he talks about how precious they are and how they needed to be treated carefully, and can be shaped by cuttings to control their size.
Personally I water my Bonsai every two days, Its about 5/6 years old, i bought it when it was 4 from Lidl for ONLY £4.00 which is great as bonzai can sell for hundreds depending on the species.
My Bonsai adapts within two days to changes in positions of light (the ...
f18nfz 29.07.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Bonsai
...I'm weird....but wait!!
So, Bonsai trees, I love em. Well actually I've only got one, so I'm no kind of expert on the matter but it does make a good houseplant. I've had it for a while now and haven't managed to kill it (so they must be robust) and it adds a bit (ok, the only bit) of colour to my room. Bonsai trees are like no other plant in your house, and its not just the fact that they are trees that makes them different. I don't know what it ... ...loads of different types of bonsai tree you can buy, and they basically mirror every type of real tree you can see from around the world. Personally I prefer the one that has pine needle style leaves but has the shape of a normal tree (sorry I can't describe it any better!). Whatever type of tree you want (it basically depends what your tastes are) there seems to be three ways to buy a bonsai tree. First of all you can buy your tree ready grown, ...
real_rob_writer 05.07.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Bonsai
Advantages: It will add a bit of the orient to your home Disadvantages: delicate
...moment are selling very cheap bonsai trees and are Carmona or Fukien tea types . These are very nice and do blossom and very hardy .
I would say to anyone thinking of getting one to go for it ! because its so rewarding to keep a plant which slowly grows due to you care into something of true beauty.
The basics are keeping them in light and airy conditions with watering every week as you would do with house plants. Also feeding every two weeks and ... ...internet and in shops with bonsai or even BNQ'S that you are told to buy bonsai special food , i want to tell you that its rubbish go out to any shop and by Baby Bio it is cheap and extremely effective and will do the same thing for your bonsai.
Overall i was very happy with my bonsai and i bet you will be too ! ...
seano0o 18.03.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Bonsai
Advantages: Renewable, sustainable and natural, incredibly versatile Disadvantages: not great on dazzling whites
I love soap nuts!
I even grew my own mini soap nut tree and bonsai'd it.
I've found so many uses fro these leathery berries and the solution you can make by simmering them gently in water. They can be used to wash pretty much anything. I use them to wash me, my kids, our clothes, car, pets, floors, windows and surfaces. The solution is handiest in a spray bottle and used like a conventional surface cleaning spray, adding in a few drops of tea tree for an anti bacterial edge.
The solution has also kept the greenfly off my roses this summer and the blackfly off my beans.
An all round brilliant *green* product that I would recommend anyone to try.
They are a bit rubbish at getting white clothes dazzling white though so I'd have ecover laundry bleach on hand too. ...
EthicsTrading 03.10.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Soap Nuts
Advantages: Grows almost anywhere, size from tiny to massive. Disadvantages: None
The Silver Birch or betula pendula is a truly beautiful tree, a vast canopy of delicate branches gives shade on those few hot days of the year we call summer, the distinctive silver bark makes for a year round feature and the volume of water it takes up makes it an ideal tree for wet gardens.
It is one of the easiest trees to grow and because of its fine branch structure and its naturally small leaf size it makes an excellent specimen for Bonsai.
Silver Birches can be found in natural Bonsai situations such as disused quarries where they grow in a natural dish made of rock, in these locations the rootball can quickly take up all the available soil area and literally Bonsai itself by reducing its source of food.
Growing it as a Bonsai gives you the opportunity to admire the beauty of the tree in small detail, to spot diseases ...
carpathian 20.05.2001 (23.09.2001)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Birch
Advantages: Excellent range and quality. Disadvantages: Slightly pricey.
I love garden centres and Notcutts is one I visit regularly. My nearest branch is just off the M42, junction 4, south of Solihull. This is the only Notcutts I have ever used although they do have a further 12 around the midlands and south east. This branch has a large car park which is shared with Tesco, so at busy times it can take a while to find a space.
On walking into the garden centre you first go through the cut flowers section. This always smells lovely. Their flowers are not the cheapest but the quality looks excellent. If I wanted to buy flowers as a gift I would choose them from here. Further on there are indoor plants. These appear healthy and there is a good selection of both foliage plants and flowering plants such as orchids. Whether you need houseplant food, bonsai equipment or a pot for your precious ...
