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BONSAI
Nov 30, 2006 8:38:20 GMT
Post by mickthecactus on Nov 30, 2006 8:38:20 GMT
I don't know whether this should be in gardening chat or greenhouse chat because it could be either.
Anybody out there dabble in this?
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BONSAI
Nov 30, 2006 8:41:33 GMT
Post by sweetleaf on Nov 30, 2006 8:41:33 GMT
I have one Mick, its a Malaysian Apple Tree, so the label said, but googling brings up plants that dont resemble mine...I`ve had it 5 -6 years so its just a baby.
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BONSAI
Nov 30, 2006 8:46:21 GMT
Post by obelixx on Nov 30, 2006 8:46:21 GMT
I was given a bonzai Chinese elm 4 years ago. The poor thing was like a Chinese woman with bound feet - tiny roots and its branches wired into unnatural shapes. I liberated it into a decent pot of compost and removed the wires. It is now a healthy specimen out in the garden enjoying an unfettered life.
I should add that the person who gave it me is a gardening philistine who knows I find the whole bonzai thing deeply unattractive but he likes to tease and is not offended that I gave it its freedom.
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BONSAI
Nov 30, 2006 13:05:16 GMT
Post by mickthecactus on Nov 30, 2006 13:05:16 GMT
I like bonsai and succulents by their nature give themselves readily to this.
I have a number of plants that grow and look very good in bonsai pots but I don't go to the bother of wiring them up etc. Presently I have succulent pelargoniums in particular that lend themselves and are natural bonsai.
Indoors I have a couple of Australian botle trees (Brachychiton) which have big thick roots which I grow exposed (the plants, not me that is) plus that fig I mentioned recently.
However, the oddest thing that I grow bonsai style is lily of the valley. I dug up a clump a few years ago and placed it on gravel in a bonsia water dish. You keep the water dish topped up all the time with very dilute feed in the growing season. It slowly gets larger as various mosses grow and die on it and now resembles a little mountain. The plant happily flowers each spring and (to me, at any rate) is very attractive and very unusual.
I got the idea from an excellent book, The Four Seasons of Bonsai which isn't all stunted trees by any means. It includes grasses, flowers, etc.
I think it appeals to the arty bit in me - I can't draw or paint to save my life but my Dad could and my son can. The genes just missed me out.
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BONSAI
Nov 30, 2006 13:26:19 GMT
Post by andy on Nov 30, 2006 13:26:19 GMT
I have been keeping bonsai on and off for over 20 years now. Unfortunatly, i sold my entire collection last April. The problem was the amount of water they needed and as we have a hosepipe ban, the time it would take to water them all. I had some real stunners....Korean hornbeams, Japanese maples, larch, Celtis, Birches and loads more....plus hundreds of seedlings and nursery plants ready to train. Here's a few pics .....some of the trees i bought but many i have trained from nursery stock for about 10 years. Acer Deshojo This is a hornbeam....carpinus tzurkoskinowii (spelling) and was one of my faves...measuring 22" tall This was a Korean hornbeam (lovely autumn colours) Two small trees....larch on the right and a small japanese maple i grew from seed about 12 years ago ! Lastly, another japanese maple
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BONSAI
Nov 30, 2006 13:30:12 GMT
Post by mickthecactus on Nov 30, 2006 13:30:12 GMT
Wow! You sold these?! You must be a millionaire now.
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BONSAI
Nov 30, 2006 15:42:21 GMT
Post by andy on Nov 30, 2006 15:42:21 GMT
I wish m8....Bonsai sell for peanuts on ebay. I find it quite hard to take that a tree that has been with you for 25 years and had so much love and attention can sell for £50
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BONSAI
Nov 30, 2006 15:56:17 GMT
Post by mickthecactus on Nov 30, 2006 15:56:17 GMT
That's appalling. Surely a Bonsai nursery would have offered something decent?
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