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Here's a little about Me and how I became interested in the Art of Bonsai!
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I'm
32 years old and live in south eastern New York, about one hour (nw) from
Manhattan. I am the oldest of 4 children. My parents moved
to this, then, small suburb, before I was born. Growing up, there
were only a few homes on our street, the rest was farm land (long gone).
There were only three neighbors with children and all were much older than
me, so I spent a lot of time wondering the woods and fields.
I have been fascinated by the world around me. I was always bringing home different bugs, snakes, frogs, plants, you name it, to show my parents and little brothers. They never seemed to be as interested as I was though. In fact, I usually got yelled at for bringing them into the house (mainly because they would get away). When I was about 12 years old, one of my neighbors, who had been living in California, as a Forest Ranger, came back home to take care of his father, who just had open heart surgury. I had never met him before, because he was several years older than me and had moved there when I was real little, but when I heard he was a Forest Ranger, I jumped at the first opportunity to show him what new plant and animal species I had been finding in the woods near our homes. To my amazement, he knew what they all were and even showed me more. But the most amazing thing he showed me were all the miniature trees he had brought back from California with him. I was fascinated! I quickly showed him where there were little trees on the edge of one of the the farm fields that were being eaten by rabbits and deer. Little did I know, they would stay that small if you just kept cutting them. Before I knew it, his collection had doubled in size. I didn't mind though, I probably would have just killed them if I tried to grow them. He did, however, give me several lessons on pruning, potting and wiring these little trees. I didn't bother trying to grow my own for a few years, mainly because I didn't know where to buy that special wire or those little pots. Then, one day I was doing some landscaping around the house, and found a little Mimosa tree, that my dad must have been mowing along with the lawn. It was on the edge of the property that dad must have missed a few times. I thought this would be a perfect tree, since it is a native of Japan, so I dug it up, trimed the main tap root a little and planted it in a sunny, safe spot. I kept it about 14 inches tall and pruned the roots by pushing a shovel all around it and under it, several times a year. It looked Great! I had it for 7 years and never put it in a pot. Then my parents decided to sell the house and move to Florida. Well, I wasn't going and therefore, had to find an apartment nearby. Unfortunately, I had no where to plant my tree and I didn't want to put it in a pot. So, I asked a friend if I could plant it on the side of her house. No problem. I did, and I was happy. She said she would take care of it for me. I went to visit my tree, several months later, and found she had let the two main branches sprout to over 2 feet in height. I was Stunned. I quickly grabbed the two branches and snapped them off at their original height. Well, she was mad. She couldn't believe that I could do that. I couldn't believe SHE could have let them get that long! We had a big fight and I told her I would be back in a few weeks to get my tree! When I returned a few weeks later, My tree was gone! She wasn't home, so I couldn't ask her where it was. I called her later that night and she told me it had died because I broke of such large branches. That turned into another fight and I hung up on her and haven't spoken to her since. I have, however, had several other Bonsais since! In fact, I was living out in Phoenix, Arizona last summer and had 5 that I had been training. One was a Great looking Pyracantha! It looked Awesome! But then I moved back to NY and shipped them. Unfortunately, they all froze in shipping. I have, this summer, started a Wild Cherry (about 5 yrs old and 16" tall), an Eastern White Cedar, (about the same age and 8" tall), a Pitch Pine, a Beech tree, (still 3 feet tall, I'm waiting 'till next year to prune the branches), and I started growing some Pinon Pines this spring (still only about 2" tall. A long way to go on them). If any one would like to relate their stories, and have me post them here, Feel free to e-mail them to me and I will post them.... on a page of their own. |
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