I was not born with a green thumb. Over the years I’ve tried to keep multiple houseplants, but every one entrusted to my care eventually died. I even killed a spider plant which the person insisting I take it informed me was a virtual impossibility. I’ve planted many trees, bushes, annuals, and perennials professionally over the years; but I’ve also cut down and destroyed thousands more dead, diseased, invasive, or unwanted trees in my lifetime. I’ve been experimenting with saplings in buckets for the past 20 years with mixed results. I’ve been trying to do this Bonsai thing for a couple of years now, and learned the hard way that I don’t know shit. As with most things, no matter how much DIY content you consume, nothing beats experience.
The tree in the photo above might be a beautiful Bonsai someday… That is if it survives the hell it’s been through in it’s short life and the torture I’ve exacted upon it. To be fair it looked pretty friggin’ pathetic when I dug it up on the side of the road last spring with a few others of it’s kind. It appeared to have been damned near killed the year before I found it and crammed it into that pot. There was just this tiny clump of branches at the very top. I estimate it must have been 2 feet tall or so when it was decapitated and almost ripped out of the ground by the county road crew’s mower. With the exception of one miniature branch sporting a hand full of paltry needles three inches from it’s base, the clump was all that remained of what was once the lower limbs.
Nevertheless it grew new shoots when Spring arrived in full and I determined it best to leave this little one to grow strong for a couple of years. I therefore selected one of it’s siblings to practice the Bonsai techniques I had been learning. I improvised a Bonsai pot, selecting a kitchen strainer somebody had tossed out as an adequate substitute.
I thought the aluminum wire I had was too big and would look ugly, so I used some steel wire I had instead. I was careful to wrap the trunk very loosely to avoid damaging the bark and the vital cambrian layer beneath as the steel would be very unforgiving. Initially I just twisted the trunk and left the branches for another day to let it become accustomed to it’s new home.
The little sapling thrived and grew new shoots like the others, so last July I decided to refine the project and give the branches a little more style. I used 18 gauge copper wire for this because the branches were much smaller and even more flexible than the trunk had been. I added a layer of moss and a little standing stone to complete the illusion. I thought it looked great and everything was going just dandy until this Spring.
I bought a semi-transparent 40 gallon tote in January to use as an emergency greenhouse as we were experiencing an unusual early warm spell. I arranged the smallest of the saplings I had managed to grow the previous year on the overturned lid. Fortuitously there were already holes around the edge of the lid adequate for drainage. Although this Bonsai in training was short enough to fit inside, there was no room for it with all the others. I turned the tote itself upside down, snapped it into place, and put this little guy on top to make sure the wind didn’t spoil my plan.
When Spring finally arrived and I was confident the cold weather was over, I took everything out of the tote/greenhouse and crossed my fingers. Less than a week later, the forecast changed... Everything immediately went back into the tote. I wrapped my larger trees, an elm and two maples that had already started budding, in plastic. I was confident the evergreens could handle at least one more night of below freezing temperatures… I was horribly wrong.
Although the maples, the elm, and all the others survived; by late April it was obvious that my little project tree wasn’t putting out new growth. I watered it and brought it around to the front of the house to get the full days Sun, but it never bounced back. I’m not sure if it was that one cold snap, or sitting exposed on top of the tote that did it in. Maybe the wire constricted it, I don’t know, but it has most decidedly kicked the bucket. Someday, I might tell you about it’s predecessor which also died by my hand, but right now I need to get back to the plant at the center of this story.
Three of the eastern redcedars (juniperus virginiana) I collected last year are still alive, and the little one pictured at the top was the only one lucky enough to make it into my makeshift greenhouse. It’s branches doubled their length last year, but the lowest one died. You can see what’s left of it sticking out adorably on the left in the pic. As I was removing it from the tote the second time around this Spring I noticed it was kinda flopping around in it’s pot. I had a lot to do that day, so I quickly threw some wire on it, shaped it just a little, and packed more soil around it.
A few weeks ago I thought I’d improve it’s shape a bit since it was already wired, but once again it still didn’t seem to be properly secured in the pot. I tried stabilizing it with some stakes and string, but in the process noticed the wire digging into the bark just below the canopy due to my previous hasty work. I removed all of it, packed in more dirt, and set it back out on the patio to recover. It seemed no worse for wear.
As I sat there staring at it, wondering what I should do, I was struck with the vision of this little tree in the position you see above. This Thursday, the first of June, I decided to execute my plan; hoping to avoid executing the tree in the process. I went with the heaviest gauge wire I had. It’s 2.5 mm aluminum, soft and pliable, and less likely to cut into the tree. I wrapped it as loosely as I could to keep the stresses to a minimum. I used two pair of pliers to avoid using the trunk as leverage. I had it almost to the top when I noticed the little fucker was all loosey goosey again.
At this point I really had no option but to finish what I started. To give you an idea of how bad it was the trunk started at the center of the pot, and it’s now been shifted about an inch and a half to the left. The wiring job will never win any prizes, but it’s only temporary and it’s getting the job done. The tree is tightly secured in it’s pot finally and appears to be intact. I won’t know for at least 6 weeks if the poor thing is going to survive. I have absolutely no idea how many roots it still has. I fear the answer is fewer than it started with. If it pulls through I can remove the wire sometime in August by which time the shape should be set. I’ll let it grow a full two years now before I put it through any more abuse.
Luckily this species is one of the hardiest I know of. In the wild this plant can endure just about anything other than industrial power tools. In some native environments it’s often twisted and distorted by wind, rock slides, and getting trampled under hoof. That’s why junipers are among the best candidates for Bonsai. This link will take you to a Google image search so you can get an idea of this wee tree’s potential.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the past two years it’s that Bonsai is for fucking sadists. In Bonsai, as with humans, it is life’s travails that generate character and strength… Our scars tell our true story and make us unique. As a child of abuse myself, I’m not sure I have it in me to keep doing this. At the moment I feel like a bit of a monster. If this little tree survives I’ll honestly be surprised. The last thing any tree really needs is to be shoved in a pot.