Bonsai - why?

Jun. So true. Also leaving a living legacy to a child. To find wealth and richness beyond simple cash. Its sad to bonsi if people are only compairing and competing. Maybe Im selfish but i love it because it beters me. And i always think mines best.

I've always been fascinated with bonsai. They're adorable and beautiful. But I think the main reason I like this art is that it is temporary; like a snowman, or sand castle. At some point (hopefully not in my lifetime) it will die and no longer exist, but I had my hand in there. I changed what would normally happen and helped create something natural yet artistically manipulated. It kind of makes me feel like god. That's why I like bonsai.

..because I love art

-Dorothy  

Love your response feiona. This is a bonsi site. Maybe more people do bonsi we would have to chase our tails for human rights. Trees keep us breathing.

David Brunner wrote:Hello all! I very rarely initiate posts, but something has been on my mind which might be assuaged by posting this.   Why do we (you) cultivate bonsai?
[...]

Why did you start growing bonsai?  I am sincerely interested?

Yours,
David B.

I bought a house in the late 1990s that had a landscaping problem in the back. I turned a ditch into a dry creek with an arched bridge, which led to some Japanese Pagoda lanterns, which led to some some bronze cranes, and more Asian garden stuff, and finally to bonsai.

It seemed a natural progression.

theBalance wrote:Andrew - absolutely NOT, I guess karate kid was a great way of introducing this art and it's quality to the western audience

the question is - what keeps you in this since then ?

Well the original question was why we started it, but I guess there's no harm in saying why I continue with it as well. I'll tell you a little story:

My parents recently traveled to the UK to London to go and visit my brother who lives there with his family. They all went out one day to a small English countryside village. It had a smart name like only English countryside villages have . . . you know . . . something like Ticklemouseborough. Anyhow, they all went to see a Steam Festival. It was apparently very interesting as there were a collection of folk there who make things out of steam engines. Whether it was miniature locomotives, cars, sewing machines, blah blah blah . . . the list goes one. Pretty much anything and everything under the sun with a motor. So my old man was telling me about this and I made a remark to him about how I found it interesting that there were so many weird people who could get a rush out of something so mundane as making small steam powered doogimiflaps. He looks at me dead in the eye and said. "Well, you get a rush making small trees.". And that was that.

So, I do bonsai because I enjoy the little trees. I enjoy the process of working with my hands, seeing the outcome of that work and sharing the journey with friends. Nothing deeper than that I guess. I made a few knives recently out of old metal files, and the handles out of old olive from the base of a few of my old yamadori olives, and to be brutally honest I enjoyed it just as much. It's about as much fun as I can have with a respirator on!

Cheerio,

Andrew

^^ This.  And it's just cool being around these little trees.

I discovered bonsai 15 years ago when in a friend's house. He had a procumbens juniper mallsai indoors. He said he got a new one every year because it would always die.

My wife and I met 11 years ago through the previous incarnation of the IBC, the email list. We're still at it with an enclosed area in the backyard and lots of collected trees. Anita favors deciduous trees, and I lean heavily toward evergreens, including junipers and boxwoods, although I've got a bunch of different trees, including various tropicals.

I haven't been on the IBC for a couple of years but some of the old timers would remember me.

Welcome back Craig! And I am so happy to learn of the romantic possibilities of IBC! Perhaps that is a new marketing angle?

Yours,
David B.

David Brunner wrote:Welcome back Craig! And I am so happy to learn of the romantic possibilities of IBC!  Perhaps that is a new marketing angle?

Yours,
David B.

Thanks David. This was 11 years ago so I couldn't attest to the possibilities now. Things are still good so it was a good choice.
Craig

Ah well - 11 years seems to be a good foundation on which to build! May your relationship and IBC continue to thrive in tandem!

Welcome back Craig, good to see you here :-)

Wow! Good to hear from you, Craig! I'd lost all e-mail addresses, and even Nina told me (a while back) she's lost touch.

Yours is still the only wedding I've been at that featured a bonsai display. Remembered fondly. Say hi to Anita for me.

JimLewis wrote:Wow!  Good to hear from you, Craig! I'd lost all e-mail addresses, and even Nina told me (a while back) she's lost touch.  

Yours is still the only wedding I've been at that featured a bonsai display.  Remembered fondly.  Say hi to Anita for me.  

Will do Jim. I'm glad to be back. I thought about getting back on last year but didn't get around to it.

Spring is coming in fits and starts to central New Hampshire. Today is mid 70'5 and very windy. Tomorrow 61 and rain, then the bottom drops out. Tues. night mid 20's, Wed. 39 or so during the day, then back to the 60's during the day. Here it is, April 14, and we don't have a single tree out of winter storage yet. Easter is next Sunday (20th) so not much will happen before then.

I've done a few displays since our wedding. I have two displays/demos in May. I'm getting nervous because we haven't been able to get the trees out, and they'll need some sprucing up.

The owners of New England Bonsai in Mass. always get a kick out of seeing us because we both do bonsai. Last Sat. we were there and I saw a number of reluctant spouses being dragged along by their spouse who had just discovered bonsai last week and were full of enthusiasm about getting their first trees.

I am a nubile, I am now 36 and i am sure i am pretty old to start bonsai at this age. i will be about 60 to grow a meaningful bonsai and i am not sure whether i will live that long. So, why?
May be it is the basic instinct that leads one to have a baby. The father assumes that his child will outlive him and continue a part of him in this world. I hope my bonsai will do the same. Like it did for the old masters of Zen and Shinto Temples in Japan. The bonsai carries the personality, the sensitivity of its grower. All those attributes of a grower is passed on to the next with the tree. I simply like the spirituality of the idea and i want to be a part of it.

Mahbub

You are certainly not the only bonsai enthusiast to have wished that you had found this fantastic hobby/pastime/obsession earlier in life but don't beat yourself up over it. It may well take twenty years + to really develop a tree but the journey is all part of the fun and it's not like need to start with a seed.

You can derive a lot of satisfaction from watching your creations develop. After all, life's a journey not a destination, no bonsai is ever really finished anyway and you can grow with your trees etc, etc (and other clichés)

Above all else enjoy the process.

Regards

Richard

Thanks Richard.

Richard S wrote:
...but don't beat yourself up over it.  

Rest assured, i wont.

Richard S wrote:
Above all else enjoy the process.

I am wondering if i am enjoying a bit too much.

Richard S wrote:
(and other clichés)

I am reading a lot about bonsai. I think those cliches are priceless. Thanks for reminding me.

I got into bonsai for the women.

I lost my job of 17 years because a new branch manager was hired in and he decided he wanted his own team. I really enjoyed the crew I had, the company and what I did......loved it in fact. I was in a pretty deep depression. One day my wife got me up out of the house and took me to the local conservatory. It was spring and the plants and flowers were starting to bloom. While there we came across their modest bonsai collection. From there I went into mad research mode and now I'm hooked.

Mahbub,

speed up the growth process -

[1] Seedling in a colander in Bonsai soil.

[2] Use wire to shape to what you want. A tile under plant for surface roots.

[3] Place plant in colander in the ground --- grow.

[4] Dig up colander allow plant to recover fine feeder roots [ happens naturally in a
colander.

[ 5] Transfer to a larger container [ say styrofoam box for holding grapes for export or sale ]
Begin refinement training.

See how that long that takes to get the trunk diameter, you want.
Laters
Khaimraj

example - around 9 months or so. 8 mm.

M. Frary wrote: I got into bonsai for the women.

me too... well and the drugs and booze too.

Mahbub - I did not start until i was 50... I was given 2 tiny spekboom (portulacaria afra) cuttings and within 3 years i had developed them both into respectable and sizeable trees. They grow fast

check it out:
https://ibonsaiclub.forumotion.com/t16171-portulacaria-afra-spekboom-2-1-2-year-progression?highlight=spekboom

Bonsai - why?

In a nutshell, I love nature... trees, mountains, streams, lakes, oceans, rivers, birds, fish, animals, clouds, etc... just being outside is what I prefer more than my Android. Bonsai brings me a bit closer to those elements that I love.

I'm not quite sure why I love to collect expensive pots though.