Plant City Bonsai

On a recent trip to Atlanta, I visited many places that you’ll probably hear about in upcoming posts, but the highlight was a trip to Clermont, GA to talk with Steve Cratty at Plant City Bonsai.  He took the time to talk with me about almost every aspect of his bonsai stock and even helped me choose a fine specimen to take home (which I’ll talk about in the future).  Plant City Bonsai has many specimens, but most of the stock is for beginner bonsai artists like myself that is a step above nursery material so that your only choices aren’t a $10 5 year old tree and a $500 30 year-old tree.  Steve tries to fill that gap with material that is already started on it’s way to being a good bonsai, but still leaves you plenty of creative control over what the final look will be.  I found the experience to be very enjoying and sorry that I missed Warren Hill, who was appearing there the next day.  I’ve included some pictures of my visit, and sadly, did not video the tour that he gave me. This is definitely a labor of love with Steve and I got that hint that it may have given him a few gray hairs along the way :)

My 2nd Costa Farms Bonsai

My 2nd Costa Farms bonsai, which some would refer to as mallsai, has turned out to be one of my favorite trees in my collection.  People love the S-curve even though most bonsai artists would call it boring and unimaginative.  The first bonsai I purchased is much like this (and also a Ficus Retusa) and will be something I will stay motivated to maintain no matter how good or bad it looks.  I love the low-maintenance and toughness of the Ficus Retusa species.  It stands up to the heat of the South and my beginner mistakes, not to mention that it grows quickly.  I have a tough time finding Ficus Retusa or Tigerbark Ficus trees in my area, and I never know what I’m going to get online unless I’m prepared to pay over $100 for a finished bonsai.  So, the latest aquisition is again another Ficus Retusa that I found at Wal-Mart with interesting movement (again, in my opinion).  Here it is:

bonsai, ficus retusa, south

The Behr Bonsai Scholarship

Passing along information about a good cause for bonsai and for education.  Behr Appleby passed away in May of this year and contributed a lot of knowledge to the bonsai community.

Bonsai Vault has established a scholarship fund in the memory of Behr (Grampz) Appleby (1948-2009) to skilled students / enthusiasts of bonsai seeking a education to improve their art and the bonsai community as a whole. The scholarship will be awarded to an individual(s) for the purpose of achieving a more advanced level of bonsai.

The concept of this scholarship is to encourage and support budding bonsai artists in the fashion Behr showed and demonstrated through his commitment to the art over many, many years. In turn, any individual(s) receiving this scholarship must, with in one year of the award, demonstrate to the Behr Bonsai Scholarship Fund the knowledge that they have acquired. This demonstration of knowledge must be displayed in four distinct different ways.

Here’s more information and a button to donate:  The Behr Bonsai Scholarship

Here’s the forum thread showing the balance of the fund:  Scholarship Balance and Contributions

bonsai scholarship

Indian Hawthorn

As a groomsmen’s gift for my best man, I had bought this tree in hopes of giving it to him to grow eventually into a bonsai. Fortunately, I found a great bald cypress at a good price instead. The bald cypress will be much easier to take care of for a beginner bonsai artist because it’s so tough. This indian hawthorn will have to just stay in my collection while I explore the possibilities of where it should go and it lets me know where it wants to go. Some have very large leaves and multiple trunks, but this one has a nice single trunk and smaller leaves than many of the other varieties. Should stand up to the summer heat and be easy to take care of. It’ll either be a great bonsai specimen one day, or an excellent addition to my garden :)

Ficus Bonsai Progression

This is basically a one year progression of a Ficus Retusa var. Microcarpa I purchased at Wal-Mart last year when I first got into bonsai.  They grow really fast and despite setbacks and my beginner maintenance, it has thrived.

I spoke about this last year, but after leaving it outside for a few months, birds (or something) stripped all the branches off.  There wasn’t a leaf left on the tree and most branches were broken.  About a week or two later, this is what it looked like.

And after repotting this spring.  As you can see, the branches are really starting to develop, and in my humble opinion, this is going to be a nice bonsai.  It does need some wiring which I haven’t done on this tree at all.  The branches are very flexible though.  It gets a lot of good compliments from the people that visit me.  People tend to love the S-curve, even though bonsaists hate it.  I don’t know if I’m here for the experts though.