Bonsai - If You Have a Lifetime to Spare

Written by Rolf

I love green plants. But somehow the love is not mutual and plants commit suicide after I bring them home. Maybe it is a marketing trick, maybe I should seek the blame with myself, but even ferns have a short life in my house.

If I ever get any better at convincing plants to stay alive, my ultimate goal would be to care for, or even cultivate my own bonsai tree. Not to be confused with 'banzai!', meaning 'ten thousand years', although it does take quite a while before your bonsai will have its desired shape. No, 'bonsai' means 'tree in a tray'.

Many bonsai trees are actually miniature versions of real trees. They are kept small by pruning, shaping and repotting. A bonsai that looks like a tree that's fifty years old, is probably that: fifty years old. One of the oldest bonsai still alive is in the Tokyo Imperial Palace collection and is over 500 years old. Do I have the patience? Not right now. I could of course also just buy one. Fourteen monks possibly gave their life for this one, which is only $699:

I will not claim to have mention-worthy knowledge of bonsai cultivation. I just love them for how they look and the care that someone evidently put into them. I hope to start a small bonsai garden (or window sill) when I am retiring. Enjoy the pictures and follow the links below if you are interested in botanic details.