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.