What is Bonsai?????

Well I think everyone know it's a little tree!! But is that all there is to it?? If that's the case then why are some of them Thousands to buy?? How do you know if you have a good Bonsai?? How do you pick one from the hundreds available??

Well personally I think Bonsai are great but I have managed to kill three of them over the years so gave them up as a bad job but then Kate's birthday came round and I knew that she quite liked the idea of a Bonsai but had never owned one so I thought about getting her one and then I found this great little place not far from home where you could do a day course of an introduction of Bonsai so I booked us both on and this was Kate's birthday present and we went yesterday.

So the course gives you some basics and whilst there you get to pick a tree to re pot so you learn about the root system and how to pick pots to complement you Bonsai and then we got to choose one of the ferns off the bench to create a Bonsai and then pot that up and learn how to wire it to sculpt it to what you wanted.

It was a really nice day out and if you think you would like to look into it then this is the link, Greenwoods Bonsai, enjoy the photos of Kate getting her creative side going with her 'bush'!!



'raw' plant ready for bonsai creation.

Getting dirty with Bonsai

Corin Tomlinson giving a few pointers.

Trimming roots is a very important part of bonsai

 

Wiring the tree in order to shape it the way you want.

Completed Bonsai tree in less than two hours!!

 The tree above is the one I did and then if you look in the background you can kind of see the Chinese elm which we also did that day. By the end of the session we knew different ways of starting off bonsai trees and had lots of ideas for creation which we could try without spending a fortune. Greenwoods is the largest Bonsai centre in the U.K. so we are really lucky that it is so close to home for us.

They have a wonderful shop full of great books, pots, tools and accessories but these can be VERY pricey and although Kate and I had a look yesterday we didn't buy anything as we want to see if we can keep our trees alive first!!

I am more optimistic about keeping the outdoor one alive than the indoor one!!

I Have placed my indoor Chinese elm on the bathroom window sill and I think it looks rather nice there...I will show you a picture later in the week.

Hope you're all having a great weekend.
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