Yeah son. Bonsai.
By skittles 15 Comments
That's right. Bonsai.
I'm not sure what got me in to the idea of caring for bonsai. I've always thought they looked cool, as I'm sure some of you do as well, but figured they were for retirees with too much time and not enough hobbies.
Oddly enough, I think it all started with me watching Hot Fuzz. In the movie Simon Pegg mentions that his beloved Peace Lily helps oxygenate the room and helps him think. I looked around my room and thought "Huh. Apart from the bacteria growing in those half-drunk cans of coke, I'm the only living thing in here." Thus I went to a local nursery and picked up a peace lily. I figured I'd probably end up killing it pretty quickly, but the thing absolutely thrived. Unfortunately when I moved house I took it with me, and a wallaby ate it. I went on with my life plantless for quite a while.
That is until Flower came out! Flower seemed to rekindle that desire to have living things around me. I suddenly felt sad at the lack of greenery around my room and around my city, so I decided to pop out and buy another peace lily. Unfortunately nowhere I went seemed to have any. It was one one of these trips to a nursery that I discovered a little enclosure with bamboo tables covered in young bonsai. There were also some pretty awesome midi versions of songs by The Beatles playing from a speaker nearby. I did a bit of research of which type of Bonsai would grow indoors and could take a lot of mistreating, and picked up a Banyan Fig. I later discovered it's pretty much the most popular tree to train as a bonsai, for the exact reasons I wanted it. It's been hanging out with me at work for the last year and a half. Hasn't changed much size-wise, but I've managed to reduce the leaf size a fair bit.
A second purchased one is just to the right. It's a Serissa Foetida. Apparently the leaves smell like dead flesh if you crush them, hence the "foetida" part of it's name. It's currently thriving, but it wasn't always so. When I got it, it was going fairly average. Had some foliage, but some of it was a bit yellow, and it was pretty sparse. I took it home and had it in my room next to a window, but its condition worsened. It was then that I finally learned my lesson about trying to keep outdoor plants inside. Just don't do it. I turned it over to my father to handle for a while, and since then it's been going awesome. I reclaimed it today. I'm going to do right by it. Also I'm aware there are weeds in the pot. I kinda like the overgrown look. Purists would probably spit on me.
So yeah. Thems my bonsai. I'm trying to incorporate more things into my life that I can do to relax, because I get the feeling if I can slow myself down at the end of the day by watering some plants, and reading a book as I admire them, I'll live a more peaceful life.
Anyone else in to bonsai? o.O