Meeting my bonsai neighbor

[penumbra]

I have been thinking about situations like this quite a bit lately. A few decades back it would have been considered standoffish not to introduce yourself to your neighbors. I think that this very tool we are using here, the internet, has isolated people physically and I think that is a terrible loss. Do yourself and your neighbor a solid. Go knock on the door.

 

[TrevorLarsen]

I wish someone would come to my house and talk bonsai with me. Tear.

 

[Tidal Bonsai]

My trees are pretty well hidden from the street, usually I get spotted when I am bringing things in and out of my car

 

[Carol 83]

I'd be happy if someone showed interest in my trees. The only one that has is one of my sons friends. He likes to grow things, weed for one but that's not all. I gave him a BRT cutting and he's doing well with it.

 

[nuttiest]

Not a bad idea Carol - rooted tree cuttings

 

[Srt8madness]

I have been thinking about situations like this quite a bit lately. A few decades back it would have been considered standoffish not to introduce yourself to your neighbors. I think that this very tool we are using here, the internet, has isolated people physically and I think that is a terrible loss. Do yourself and your neighbor a solid. Go knock on the door.

Agreed, this whole premise borders on absurd to me. Say hello. What's the worst that will happen, they'll say "no, I only keep my bonsai for myself"? Lmao. How are we literally afraid to speak to other human beings these days?

Then again I'm a Texan so YMMV

 

[pandacular]

I have been thinking about situations like this quite a bit lately. A few decades back it would have been considered standoffish not to introduce yourself to your neighbors. I think that this very tool we are using here, the internet, has isolated people physically and I think that is a terrible loss. Do yourself and your neighbor a solid. Go knock on the door.

Definitely, it's a weird world we live in. When I first moved here, I introduced myself to all my neighbors on my floor in my apartment building. Half of them practically slammed the door on me (well not quite, but that's what it felt like). The neighborhood I'm living in now is quite different, and I know most of my neighbors on my block.

I'd be happy if someone showed interest in my trees. The only one that has is one of my sons friends. He likes to grow things, weed for one but that's not all. I gave him a BRT cutting and he's doing well with it.

I love how common the weed to bonsai pipeline is. This is how my teacher started out too.

Agreed, this whole premise borders on absurd to me.

I suppose it's not that clear from my initial post, but I was mostly joking around asking this. I do think it would be funny to write a letter though.

 

[nuttiest]

If writing first is your stye - then it is. Maybe you can find a stationary card with a garden or bonsai on it : )

 

[shohin_branches]

I have neighbors talk to me about my garden all the time. I live in Milwaukee though and my urban neighborhood is actually incredibly friendly. A woman stopped to tell me how much she loved my yard and then goes "OH MY GOD ARE THOSE BONSAI? THEY'RE SO COOL!!!" and of course I have to bring them in to the fenced off area to see the benches and talk about my trees.

I have a neighbor with a beautiful Wisteria and I never get the chance to talk to him. I really want cuttings when he prunes it. I had been waiting to catch him outside to chat but I think I'll try a note in his mailbox.

 

[Potawatomi13]

If as hot as personal avatar pic I'd be overjoyed if you came to my door.

 

[Gabler]

If as hot as personal avatar pic I'd be overjoyed if you came to my door.

That's not creepy at all...

 

[ShadyStump]

I felt the same way when @Colorado came over to my garden a month ago! I was worried up and down about how my collection would look, especially because I admire his trees a good deal. And even though mine are unremarkable, he was super enthusiastic and polite the whole time and seemed to enjoy visiting the garden.

Granted, we had known eachother for a few months at that point, so it wasn't like slipping a note on someones bench...

I will say, that a note left discreetly could be taken as evasive and impersonal, whereas a knock on the door is direct and personal.

@Colorado really is a great guy.
Our first in-person meeting he came down to go collecting with me, but that night before was the first time I tried going to bed sober in about 6 months He just rolled with it, and was even a good sport when my newly sober brain was teetering on the edge of propriety.

@pandacular you're not the only one who still thinks you should introduce yourself to the neighbors. I don't generally just go knocking, but I'll go shake their hands when I catch them in the front yard. (I did with the new single mom that moved in down the block, but then I was giving her my janky old rotary mower because she didn't have a mower and she desperately needed to mow before code enforcement showed up. Damn, she's a highstrung one, though!)
When you have something in common it's not weird at all to knock. If you had a classic car parked nearby, would it be that strange if someone came knocking? Or even the front flower bed? People like to share the things they enjoy, and if it's something you enjoy yourself then you have an automatic ice breaker.
Worst case scenario, they look at you funny and politely decline. As long as you're not pushy and can take a hint you'll be fine.

 

[ShadyStump]

I have been thinking about situations like this quite a bit lately. A few decades back it would have been considered standoffish not to introduce yourself to your neighbors. I think that this very tool we are using here, the internet, has isolated people physically and I think that is a terrible loss. Do yourself and your neighbor a solid. Go knock on the door.

Agreed, this whole premise borders on absurd to me. Say hello. What's the worst that will happen, they'll say "no, I only keep my bonsai for myself"? Lmao. How are we literally afraid to speak to other human beings these days?

Then again I'm a Texan so YMMV

To be fair, I've been a closet misanthropist most of my life.
That's why I like getting to know my neighbors I insist on being fully aware of why I hate them, and then not being like that.

 

[shohin_branches]

If as hot as personal avatar pic I'd be overjoyed if you came to my door.

And people wonder why some bonsai clubs have so few women

 

[ShadyStump]

And people wonder why some bonsai clubs have so few women

It's almost like highschool, inviting a girl to your D&D night.

 

[pandacular]

Very confusing, especially since my avatar pic is clearly a painting.

I am very hot of course; not a woman, but not afraid of men either

 

[Gabler]

It's almost like highschool, inviting a girl to your D&D night.

I had not one, but two girls in my D&D group in highschool. With a group of six, I feel that's a reasonably even distribution. Gaming and social skills don't gave to be mutually exclusive.

 

[August]

I had not one, but two girls in my D&D group in highschool. With a group of six, I feel that's a reasonably even distribution. Gaming and social skills don't gave to be mutually exclusive.

The group I DM for has 6 women and only 2 men! Come to think of it, high fantasy is pretty "girly"!

 

[ShadyStump]

Yeah, but was in highschool 23 years ago. There were girls who would game with us at lunchtime sometimes, but not often. I think it was the social stigma leftover from the 80s that kept them away.

 

[hemmy]

Yeah, but was in highschool 23 years ago. There were girls who would game with us at lunchtime sometimes, but not often. I think it was the social stigma leftover from the 80s that kept them away.

I’m just a little older, but that Satanic Panic from the ‘80s was definitely still going strong into the mid-90s in small town middle America. That’s probably one of the reasons that I enjoyed Stranger Things.

I also keep coming back to this thread for the meeting story and the twist that their neighbor is an actual ‘Nut also!