null_void
Seedling
Hello from Austin, TX!
I just took a weekend beginner class where we learned the basics of repotting, wiring and pruning. Bonsai is something I've wanted to try for some years now, but having mostly lived in apartments with north-facing balconies, I've not had much luck. During the class we received (and worked on) a juniper and a boxwood, which I think will satisfy my instant-gratification needs for now. Over the holiday I also received a chinese elm, already in a training pot, which I repotted into decent (I hope) soil. We'll see in a week whether or not I've killed it.
However, I know that trunk and root development are really important, and of course you can't really work much on that during a weekend-long class. So I thought I'd try to do a bit on my own. So I have a couple of questions (which yes, have probably been asked a million times before). I'd like to add a little bit of variety to my existing, small collection. At the same time, I know that some trees aren't really suitable for beginners such as myself.
I'd like to try a flowering tree. Azaleas seem to be the common choice. I've also been looking at bougainvillea and japanese flowering apricot (though I get the feeling these might be a little more challenging?)
A nearby nursery is letting people dig up trident maples in about a week - I thought I'd take a look at those.
Another conifer would be nice. I was thinking maybe a cedar.
Any concerns with any of those choices? Any recommendations for trees that I should be looking at instead?
So like I said, I'd like to work on trunk and root development. Assuming that I'm not going to find nursery stock that already has excellent trunk thickness and root spread, it sounds like I'll be growing these out for a couple of years at least. I see a lot of people saying that these should be planted in the ground. Unfortunately, I currently rent a house, so I can't really go digging holes. Hopefully a large pot will work? Or perhaps a wide, flat tray (so I don't go overboard on the depth)? When filling these, should I use the same soil that I'd use for a training pot (coarse, mostly inorganic)? I don't mind spending the money on soil, but it seems like it would require quite a lot of it in order to fill one of those trays so I wanted to make sure it was recommended.
Finally, there's the question of where to get the stock. I'm fortunate enough to live in a place near several nurseries, but I'm hesitant to believe that I'll find the things I'm looking for at a random nursery. So I guess my last question (for now) is, should I just browse nurseries looking for promising material, or is it better to go with something like Evergreen Gardenworks? It seems like that particular online retailer has a pretty good reputation, but it makes me nervous to buy stock sight unseen from the internet. Then again, I might be new enough that I wouldn't know good material if it jumped up and bit me in the face.
Any thoughts, suggestions, or corrections of my above assumptions would be appreciated.
Thanks!
I just took a weekend beginner class where we learned the basics of repotting, wiring and pruning. Bonsai is something I've wanted to try for some years now, but having mostly lived in apartments with north-facing balconies, I've not had much luck. During the class we received (and worked on) a juniper and a boxwood, which I think will satisfy my instant-gratification needs for now. Over the holiday I also received a chinese elm, already in a training pot, which I repotted into decent (I hope) soil. We'll see in a week whether or not I've killed it.
However, I know that trunk and root development are really important, and of course you can't really work much on that during a weekend-long class. So I thought I'd try to do a bit on my own. So I have a couple of questions (which yes, have probably been asked a million times before). I'd like to add a little bit of variety to my existing, small collection. At the same time, I know that some trees aren't really suitable for beginners such as myself.
I'd like to try a flowering tree. Azaleas seem to be the common choice. I've also been looking at bougainvillea and japanese flowering apricot (though I get the feeling these might be a little more challenging?)
A nearby nursery is letting people dig up trident maples in about a week - I thought I'd take a look at those.
Another conifer would be nice. I was thinking maybe a cedar.
Any concerns with any of those choices? Any recommendations for trees that I should be looking at instead?
So like I said, I'd like to work on trunk and root development. Assuming that I'm not going to find nursery stock that already has excellent trunk thickness and root spread, it sounds like I'll be growing these out for a couple of years at least. I see a lot of people saying that these should be planted in the ground. Unfortunately, I currently rent a house, so I can't really go digging holes. Hopefully a large pot will work? Or perhaps a wide, flat tray (so I don't go overboard on the depth)? When filling these, should I use the same soil that I'd use for a training pot (coarse, mostly inorganic)? I don't mind spending the money on soil, but it seems like it would require quite a lot of it in order to fill one of those trays so I wanted to make sure it was recommended.
Finally, there's the question of where to get the stock. I'm fortunate enough to live in a place near several nurseries, but I'm hesitant to believe that I'll find the things I'm looking for at a random nursery. So I guess my last question (for now) is, should I just browse nurseries looking for promising material, or is it better to go with something like Evergreen Gardenworks? It seems like that particular online retailer has a pretty good reputation, but it makes me nervous to buy stock sight unseen from the internet. Then again, I might be new enough that I wouldn't know good material if it jumped up and bit me in the face.
Any thoughts, suggestions, or corrections of my above assumptions would be appreciated.
Thanks!
.
