Bonsai for Beginners – Part 1 – Reasons and Requirements

I am sorry it took me so long to actually begin with this since several of you said you’d like to read it, but I feel like I am chasing my tail most of the time this year. It is very frustrating, being behind schedule on absolutely all fronts all the time…

I am not going to try and persuade anyone about anything, but in my opinion, if someone considers having a bonsai tree, they should have good reasons to actually do so successfully, and they must meet some criteria too.

Some of the good reasons are if you like growing things, whether in the garden or in pots doesn’t matter, and you want to try something new. Another good reason is if you are interested in studying Japanese culture and you see caring for a bonsai tree as a way to try and to get a more personal feel for it. Or you just think bonsai are cool and you would like to have one (that was my reason for starting).

Some of the bad reasons might on the surface look very similar to the good ones, I am not going to list those, however. Just a note – New Age is crap.

But whatever your reasons, the main underlying requirement on you as a person, if you want to have a bonsai tree, is liking nature and plants. Another is not minding to get your hands really dirty from time to time. The third one is patience. Lots of it. And lastly, you must be prepared to cope with loss and disappointment. Some trees will just die randomly.

Cupressus sp. In memory of a tree that got killed by unpredictably fast changes in weather. © Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.

What is my reasoning for this? Having a bonsai tree means committing yourself to take years or even decades-long care for a living organism with its own needs and unique properties. Good reasons are in my opinion those that would be favorable towards such commitment, bad are those that would undermine it. And being really interested in something is not the same as being infatuated with the latest fad.

Enough of pseudo-philosophical babble though, for introducing this suffices. In this series, I will concentrate first on some basic aspects of bonsai care – what tools to use and where to get them, what are your space requirements, etc. Then I will list several species that are well suited for beginners in various environments, species that are more challenging and also species that a beginner should avoid like a plague. I will occasionally also write detailed articles about how to actually care for several of those species in order to have a prosperous and beautiful bonsai.

So, stay tuned, I will post on weekends whenever I find the time.

Jack’s Walk

It reminds me of the Starship Enterprise ©voyager, all rights reserved

We’re having a steamy day today with humidity at 93% and afternoon temps of 32° before the humidex and 44° with it factored in. Luckily, I had trouble sleeping last night (this weather sets off my fibro) so I was wide awake at 5 a.m. and decided it was probably a good time to take Jack out. He seemed a bit perplexed at being woken up so early, but he cheerfully joined me and off we went.  Even that early in the morning the temperature was already a hot 27° and our walk was more of a plod. We did discover that 5 o’clock is a busy time of day for rabbits. We must have seen a dozen of them in front years around the neighbourhood and every time we spotted one Jack would stop and stare. I think he was hoping that one of them would hop over and say hello and he seemed disappointed when they didn’t.

Fungi Friday

A few Fridays back I posted photos from Avalus of some pretty cool fungi with the title of It’s Fungi Friday. Well, I’m pleased to say that for the next little while Fungi Friday is going to be a thing.  Opus has sent in some sensational portraits of fungi and they’re going to roll out on Fridays because Fungi Friday sounds way better than Fungi Monday or Tuesday.

Here’s Opus’ first wonder-filled photo.

Blooming Moss, ©Opus, all rights reserved

Jack’s Walk

Yum, Yum ©voyager, all rights reserved

It’s a hot one here today and Jack and I didn’t get out as early as I hoped – a bit of extra gravity from the humidity slowed me down. Instead it was about noon and Jack was obviously anxious to go out so I decided the shade of the woods was our best option. Jack wanted to go swimming in the river, but there isn’t enough shade there for me so I pulled rank and we went to the forest. For once we didn’t run into any strange happenings, but we did find a patch of ripe wild black raspberries. YES! I picked and ate until my fingers were black and Jack was making the “Come on Mom” noises. I offered him a berry, but he looked at me like I was offering him poison and then he made the sad little whimper again. Sheesh! I’d pretty much denuded the patch by this point, but there are oodles more berries still to ripen so I think next time we come (very, very soon!) I’ll bring a bowl and maybe come home with enough wild, “organic” black raspberries for a pie. I know just how to make it good.

I’ll be back (with a bowl) ©voyager, all rights reserved

Jack’s Walk

Just a hole?

Jack and I went to the woods today hoping to see Drucilla and Murray from the Stone Tribe, but we couldn’t find them. Jack followed their scent to a hollowed out area in a log and told me he thinks they’ve gone inside. Inside? I told him it doesn’t look large enough for anything to hide inside. Jack took another sniff and said he was sure they went inside and he was just as sure that they hadn’t come back out. I bent down to take a closer look and could see that the opening was large enough for the Stones to pass into, but it was not large enough for them to hide inside. I grabbed a stick and poked into the hole. Surprisingly, the stick was almost a foot in before it hit the end of the tunnel, but at that point it felt solid all around and there were no Stone people hiding from my probe. Jack thinks it might be a corridor or a secret tunnel and that my poor human senses are too dull to find it. I couldn’t argue with that and there didn’t seem to be much point in hanging around so we went back to the path and hurried the rest of the way around because rain clouds were moving in.

The Art of Book Design: The Epicurean

Today’s book comes to us from Marcus’ collection (stderr) and it’s a classic. Published in 1920, the book is a complete culinary encyclopedia written by a master chef. Its art deco binding is beautiful and being a first edition, the book is quite rare. It’s in excellent condition, too, with its colours still bright and its tactile cover still inviting. It looks delicious.

Charles Ranhofer. The Epicurean: A Complete Treatise of Analytical and Practical Studies on the Culinary Art. Including… a Selection of Interesting Bills of Fare of Delmonico’s, from 1862 to 1894. Chicago, Hotel Monthly Press, (1920).

The book  has been republished countless times since 1920 and remains a comprehensive guide to cooking and entertaining, The book contains 800 illustrations, including some that are full-page. I’ve included a sampling below the fold.

The book is available to read at The Internet Archive.

[Read more…]

Jack’s Walk

I think it makes the park look like the Shady Acres Cemetery ©voyager, all rights reserved

Jack asked to go to the park this morning. He said something about smelling pee or leaving pee to smell, but I wasn’t really listening and I might have that wrong. Anyway, I couldn’t think of a reason not to go to the park, so we grabbed some water and off we went. We aimed ourselves toward the gazebo because I wanted to check out the progress of the renovation to the small pond. The city has had it walled off for weeks and I was very curious to find out what they were doing. Well, they’re finished, but….they removed the pond and replaced it with a rock. It’s a nice enough rock, I suppose. It’s big and it has burbling water at its head that cascades in a fake waterfall sort of way, but it looks to me as if it belongs in a cemetery and it won’t have fish or frogs or tadpoles. Damn.