Bonsai!!!

When Kris and my granddaughters visited Lomie and me over Christmas break in December, 2010, Kris and I tried to make a bonsai tree.  We looked around several places trying to find a shrub to trim up, but didn't have any luck.  Must be a Florida thing.  Kris ended up buying a very small Norfolk Pine at Walgreen's that was (poorly) decorated as a Christmas tree, and she said we'd try that.

We pruned and fussed on it, but it didn't look too much like a traditional bonsai.  Kris said they generally have three primary branches.  That Norfolk Pine just had it's main trunk and radiating branches...no forks.

I kept it in my bedroom and it grew, but just into a normal little Norfolk Pine.  I loved it though, and it moved up here to Indiana with me.  It got a bit sunburned in the back seat of the Cadillac during our drive, so I had to carve a little more off of it...and Kris and I think it looks more like a bonsai now than before!

But Kris was determined that I have a "real" bonsai, so she found a Bird's Nest Spruce shrub last weekend at Lowe's.

Before.

She began whacking and whacking at it -- admitting that it hurt her to cut off so much of the living plant, but such is the bonsai way.  As she trimmed, she quickly saw its primary trunk and two other strong branches.  I held the pot and cleaned up all the clippings.

After.

This was what it looked like when Kris got done trimming.  The next day, we took it outside and Kris and I pulled off almost all the soil and she cut off most of the roots, so we could plant it in a very shallow, clay bonsai pot.  First she ran a wire around the base of the trunk to secure it through the bottom of the pot, then we poured in some bonsai base gravel -- it almost looks like sand, but it is much coarser.  On top we added small bonsai pebbles.  And it was done!

BONSAI!!!

And just like I did before, with my Charlie Brown Christmas Tree, also known as the Norfolk Pine bonsai, I am tending to it like a new baby -- making sure it has plenty of water every day and feeding it plant food.  Such radical surgery is very rough on a wee shrub, so careful attention for the next few weeks is critical.

I keep it on the railing of the back deck on the north side of Kris's house.  It is shady, and I like to go out and sit in the swing several times a day.  I have no doubt that can pamper it.  I've been saving rain water and Kris had some evergreen plant food, so it is seems to taking the transformation very well.

I'll keep you posted when we get a new project started!