Beginning Bonsai

My dad has always been really big into Bonsai trees, and I think they're pretty neat, but I've always felt very ill-equipped, and so never started up. That is until this afternoon during an outing with my mom. We visited that wonderful Bonsai shop together, and she set me up with a cute baby Fukien Tea Tree, and an appropriately sized pot, as well as soil, top dressing, and a tiny ornament to decorate with!

When I brought my little tree home, I was hesitant to do anything with it until after I did some research into the appropriate care. After doing the appropriate reading, I took out all my supplies and got started. First thing I did was remove her from her old pot. Afterward, I removed as much of her old soil as possible by massaging the root ball, and gently shaking. Once I felt that I had gotten most of it, I put her root ball under a bit of running water, and then picked the rest of the soil out with a small poking instrument. The Bonsai reference book that I have says to use a rake to "comb" the small roots, but I just used my fingers to untangle the roots as best I could.

From there I trimmed the roots a little so that she would fit into her new pot. I fixed some wire mesh over the drain holes, and then added a mound of new soil right where I wanted to place her root ball. I gently massaged her into the pile of dirt, and then secured her with a couple twisty ties before filling in the rest of the space with more soil. I then added the top dressing - some simple pebbles, and then added my cute little Elephant decoration.

New Acquisitions

In the last couple weeks I've impulse purchased a couple plants. The first one is Kalanchoe tomentosa 'Chocolate Soldier'. How can you not like this fuzzy little guy with such a strong name? He's just adorable. I've got the panda plant, which is identical except mostly green, and just had to have the Chocolate Soldier variety.

I also had to get Kalanchoe blosfeldiana 'Sarah'. It's the typical Kalanchoe you see sold everywhere, but I just love the bright red-orange blooms. It's such a delightful happy plant. I enjoy seeing it's prolific blooms when I wake up.

I recently obtained a few plants from my mom during my last visit. One of my very first plants was an Airplane Plant (Chlorophytum comosum 'Variegatum') which I named Fred. It was a baby of one of my mom's plants. I took him to college, he survived the terrible Rochester, New York winters, and even the super hot road trip back to Texas, but when I moved into my own apartment, he died from lack of sun, while he lived in the center of my apartment, because I was too lazy to buy hooks to hang my macrame outside! Anyway, my mom gave me another one, and this one is thriving in his new home.

She also gave me a couple Wandering Jew (Tradescantia zebrina) cuttings and a cutting of something I haven't identified. They're all three rooting in water until I can pot them up somewhere.

While my mom and I were talking about each other's plant situations, she mentioned how she was going to pretty much take on stalk of her Aeonium, and then toss the rest. I couldn't let her plants go to waste so I offered to take the mother plant home.

New Plants

Yesterday I had to get out of the house, and so I decided to take a stroll at a few of the local nurseries. I didn't plan on buying anything, but the second place I visited had leaves dropped everywhere, and I wanted to bring those home, so I felt obligated to make a purchase if I was going to ask if I could keep their garbage.

First I visited Home Depot, and I saw a few items I'd like to have bought, but I left without purchasing anything. My second stop was to Calloway's nursery. It's very close to my home, and I visit there often. They had a bunch of some kind of Echeveria leaves all over the place. I picked up about a dozen of them as well as my very first Hoya! I think it's Hoya carnosa. I also picked up a spectacular little Bromilliad. He's got very dark leaves with brilliant silver tiger stripes! I think he's called Bromilliad cryptanthus "Black Mystic".

After leaving there I visited this local Bonsai shop. They have a lot of Bonsai plants, pots, and other miscellaneous stuff including succulents. The store looks like someone's old home turned into a plant nursery. It's an absolute treasure hidden between Taco Bell and an Alcohol store. If you're not looking for it you're sure to pass by it without ever seeing it. From here I picked up a very large curly Tillandsia, and two succulents - Faucaria tigrintha (I think!), and a Crassula ovata, Gollum. Although all the variations in ocata are fairly daunting so I may be off base!

 

Angel Wing Begonia

Ever since my mom gave me a large pot and some wonderful home made compost, my begonia has been flourishing! It's making several clusters of flower buds, which until today I thought were open flowers. When I checked them out this afternoon, I noticed several of them that were open, and I just HAD to take some photos. These flowers are so brilliant in color, and so prolific. It's difficult not to enjoy them!

The blooms are so heavy that I have to lift them off the ground to get a good photo of them!

The colors are so brilliant, aren't they?

Succulent Propagation Project

Several months ago I started taking cuttings from my succulents, and let hem all dry out a bit before laying the leaves onto some cactus potting mix. I took cuttings or leaves from: ghost plant, Sunset seedum, bear's paw, panda plant, and kalanchoe thyrsiflora.

After putting the leaves on soil to allow them to root properly, it became evident that my light source was less than adequate. I had been keeping them on a bench inside my hone with a grow light about 1.5 feet to 2 feet above them. Not only was it not enough light for them, but it was getting very hot as well.

Many of my baby succulents are very tall and lanky, but they are now all sitting in my bedroom windowsill where they get direct afternoon sunlight. They all seem to be doing much better, although none of them are fully established yet.

I also continue to add more succulent leaves, as they fall off the mother plant, or as I get new plants, so my tray of succulent babies continues to produce new plants! Today I added some pork and beans, burro's tail, and jade as well as a couple unknowns.

Resources and Limitations

Both my mom and my dad have major green thumbs. It runs deep in my family, and so I am also fond of plants. Growing up was wonderful. My parents would always have plants everywhere, and all kinds to boot! We had indoor plants, outdoor plants, a greenhouse, fruit trees, flowering plants, vegetable gardens, and all sorts or other varieties.

But after I went to college and started living on my own, I stopped having the same advantages as my parents have growing up. Today I live in a one bedroom apartment. I've got two windows - one that is double wide, east-facing, and tinted in the living room that starts at the floor and is about as tall as the door, and a west-facing one in my bedroom that's about half the size vertically. Needless to say I have limited access to sunlight, and limited space for my plants to grow! That doesn't stop me from collecting more and more plants though!

Even though I don't have a private patio, I do have a second floor walkway. I put a few sunlight needy plants outside on the patio including my Knock Out Rose which really wishes it would be planted in the ground, my Angel Wing Begonia, a philodendron and Kalanchoe. I have filled up my bedroom window with all the succulents I can fit. That window gets the most direct sunlight. The other windowsill holds my Ponytail palms, a fern, a bromiliad, and my African Violets. And lastly, I keep my few Tillandsia in my bathroom. I have switched one of the bathroom light fixtures with a grow bulb and the Tillandsia seem to be growing well there.