Trees are the earth's endless effort to speak to the listening heaven. ~Rabindranath Tagore, Fireflies, 1928
Southern Bonsai Blog
Blog about lessons learned growing bonsai in the South
"What I like about bonsai is that it has a beginning but no end. A bud today becomes a branch tomorrow. --John Y. Naka
Fall is here
Highs this week are in the low 80′s signifying the end of the really hot temps that we’ve seen all summer here. Some of my trees are slowly coming back to life with some fall growth like the boxwoods, junipers, and even some late growth on my crape myrtles. Not all of my bonsai made it through the summer though, with this azalea struggling for the past 3 months and finally giving up the fight in the past month or so. I have repotted trees in almost every month of the year, but got entirely too brave with this repot. I repotted during the flowering period, put it in too shallow of a pot, and there was just too much of the root system above the soil line. I started out with sphagnum moss covering the top part of the root system, but it kept that part too wet. The other part stayed way too dry due to the soil being about 80% turface. I guess you could call this a progression picture, but it’s certainly not progression in the right direction.It’s an understatement to say I still have much to learn about the art of bonsai.
Satsuki Azalea "Shanghai Rosie"