And Now For Something Completely Different - Bonsai

I first got into bonsai when my wife got me a bonsai umbrella tree for Christmas in 2004. I started reading up on the subject and thought it would be fun to try growing my own. The silver cloud ficus is one of my first attempts. I currently have 13 bonsai, 3 of which were store bought. The rest I started from material I've bought at places like Home Depot, WalMart and garden centers.

This started as a small pot with 7 individual plants which I bought a Home Depot in the Spring of 2005. I transplanted 4 of the plants in a very small plastic bowl. This photo was taken in November of 2007, about 2 and a half years after I planted it. I learned several years too late that for a multi-trunked bonsai it's considered bad luck to have an even number of trunks. I still have the other 3 plants but I've allowed them to grow in a bigger pot and they really wouldn't match too well. In the meanwhile, my luck doesn't seem to have taken a turn for the worse.

In the Spring of 2006, the plant dropped all its leaves. When they grew back, the new leaves were smaller and had much more white in them. The plant is about 10 inches tall.



This is what it looked like in August 2005. You can see that the leaves are much greener. They are also bigger but you're going to have to take my word for that. The plant was about 10 inches high then as well. A bonsai requires a lot of trimming or it will outgrow the pot. Sometimes you want to transplant to a bigger pot, but I like it size it is now.