Garden Centre

Friday, December 28, 2007

Bonsai bonanza ...

A friend of mine got a bonsai for Christmas. She rang and asked my advice.

Should I have told the truth and said that unless she wishes to devote her life to a new horticultural hobby that will steal her hours and money, she should simply leave the poor thing outside and let it take its chances?

It’s not that I don’t like bonsai. I do. I think they are gorgeous. But they do require a lot of work.

Bonsai means literally to plant in a shallow container – the art of bonsai is to reduce a tree in size by pruning, directing the growth and limiting fertiliser and root expansion while preserving the natural form of the tree by developing its attributes to the maximum. In other words, you should end up with the illusion of a fully grown, aged and well groomed tree – but tiny!

Assuming your tree is from a hardy species, it should generally be grown outside in the fresh air. You should not move them from one extreme of temperature to another without giving them a chance to acclimatise in between. Liquid fertiliser should be given at fortnightly intervals from May to September or bonemeal can be added in the spring.

The tree must have sufficient water, which means watering the soil daily in summer, in winter daily watering will not be necessary but you should never let the tree dry out. Ordinary tap water is usually fine but if your water contains lime, you should use rainwater on any lime hating plants such as Azalea, Rhododendron etc.

And that's before we get onto pruning and shaping ... more next time!

Labels: bonsai, christmas gifts

The All Seasons Gardener at 3:08 AM

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