Bonsai Doesn't Need To Be Hard

Some of the most common questions I get are how do I take care of these or is it hard? Another one is how do you keep them alive, especially in the winter? All of the

se are very, very good questions and it’s something I love talking about. If you have been here, you probably already know that.

Lets break down some of these bonsai “myths” today.

Starting with how do I/you take care of these? With lots of love and caring of course! When you come shopping at Bonsai Portsmouth, I want you to get a bonsai that is going to fit into your lifestyle while continuing to flourish. Proper care starts with finding the right species for your growing environment - whether that be inside or outside, for example. From there we can narrow down potential bonsai candidates and start talking about how to keep it alive. This is where most beginners, if not all, scare themselves out of the hobby and its really unfortunate. Even the best bonsai artist have lost trees, trees that they preciously cared about. Like life, the important part is that you don’t give up. Just like this windswept Juniperus chinensis ‘Shimpaku’ that I recently styled.

Which brings me to another very important, yet often overlooked component to tree health, is timing. Sometimes, performing the right work, on the right part of the tree, at the optimal time yields better results than outstanding technique being performed at the wrong time of the growing cycle.

Once we begin to understand the trees life cycle and how it responds to changes in it’s environment, we can start to hone in on the “technical” skills, like watering and feeding. Don’t worry, it doesn’t stop there either. After that comes the fun stuff! The stuff Fred and I have long conversations about, while spending an excessive amount of time staring at trees. The pruning, the styling, wiring, and repotting! Doesn’t this just already sound like so much fun!

Is bonsai hard? The answer is no! It definitely doesn’t need to be hard. Hard, of course, is a relative term, right? I prefer to say bonsai is/can be “as challenging” as you want it to be. But, hey, no one ever got to the top of a mountain and wished they hadn’t climbed up, right? Right! Its the challenge that keeps me/us coming back. Like flushing your 6-iron from 180 in the middle of the fairway to 3 feet. You can shoot 100 in golf, curse the course for 17 holes and all of a sudden you birdie 18 and now you love golf and can’t wait to play again tomorrow. Even though, you just threw your driver into the water off #7. I guess golf is another one of my passions too. Maybe I should try being a writer some day.