Can Anyone Create A Bonsai?

Let me answer a question with a question. Are you at all creative? Yes indeed I think most of us have a creative side but most of the time we simply do not use it a lot.

It is said that our brain is divided into two parts at least as far as the aspect of thinking goes.

And I have also read and heard that the right side of the brain is the creative side while the left side is the more dominate side and seems to try and over take when ever you want to try or do something creative.

So then the real secret is to try and concentrate and shut out the left side and let the right side do what it does best and that is create.

But getting back to the question at had can anyone create a bonsai? Well unless you’re totally disabled I would have to say the answer is yes.

But let’s take a look at the basics of what you’ll need and want to acquire before you start out to create your first bonsai.

Fist off pick a material that you really are excited about and have some interest in. I for instance have always loved maples and so that would most always be my first choice of material.

I would first pick the type of maple that I wanted to work with. Let’s say I choose Trident Maple because perhaps I have seen examples of finished bonsai in pictures or perhaps even in the real setting in a nursery and I have fallen in love with this type of maple and just have to have one.

The next thing I want to do then is to read all of the articles I can find that are free on the net and then I would make a trip to the library and see what I could scare up on this particular maple variety.

Learn as much as you can about this tree before you make your final decision. Study first before you leap because there might be something that you will read or learn along the way that will sway your decision about this material.

I have always taught that it is much better to be prepared and too no what your up against before you start out. Don’t wait until latter to find out that you really did not make a wise choice and then for some unseen reason you wind up disappointed.

Once I have done my home work then I will go out in search of a starter tree and by a starter I mean one that is already nursery grown and established in at least a one gallon pot.

You could accept a plant that is smaller in size and do well but for my self personally I prefer my starts to be at least one gallon size this way I know that they have been around for a while and survived the elements for at least a couple of seasons and personally I do not have a life time to wait until a plant begins to show some sings of being mature.

Plant that are at least one gallon size are less likely to die from movement and they will have been tended for some time already in the nursery and most likely been fed good with fertilizer and have a nice root system developed.

Next once I have picked out a reasonable plant starter then I will proceed to find a suitable pot. Now this is a matter of choice and you need not have a pot right off to start with.

In fact some bonsai masters as well as other growers will tell you that they will train a plant for many years before putting it in a final pot.

Makes sense because if you were to follow the rule of bonsai and plant the plant in a pot that is of the right size for the plant you have chosen then yours may look fine in that pot to you but will really never grow to any size at all because you have essentially all ready stopped the growth by selecting its confines.

In other words give it time to grow in a much larger pot so it will establish root structure and gain a nice size trunk and establish a nice limb growth over all. Then work the plant down into the smaller sized pot.

You will then appreciate your plant a lot more because you will have worked with it over the course of a few years and you’ll have also have learned what it entails to make that variety of plant material bonsai.

Thanks for reading.

BY: Harold Yearout

What's In Your Pond?

What’s in your pond?

Hi and good day to you, this article is not really about bonsai but still if you have a garden it might be of interest to you .

I have a fairly large garden and in it I have not one but two ponds and they both are active most of the year.

I believe that a nice well developed pond can really ad a nice effect to any garden and especially a bonsai garden. I have no fish in either of my ponds simply because I do not want the added work of feeding and cleaning the pond for fish or the added expense of high end filters for fish.

Not to mention that we have plenty of small varmints and critters that would feast upon the fish and have a field day at the pond if they were fish in it.

There are ways to keep the critters out and one is by adding netting to the top of your pond. However I want to be able to enjoy my water effect and to have netting in place would to me destroy the effect.

I love the flowing water and have both ponds set up so that the flow of water is very much cascading and this also makes a nice sound as the water splashes down over the rocks and then empties into the pond.

I made my first pond about four feet deep and about 5' feet by ten' feet in diameter and used a heavy rubber based liner to hold the water in. I have a pump that pumps 1900 gallons and hour on this pond and it is more than enough and keeps my pond fresh and clean even without a filter.

I learned the hard way that if you’re going to build a pond by all means try to do it with liner rather than a perform and here is why.

The perform pond type designs are attractive and nice but they do tend to contract and expand with the weather and after a short while the plastic will eventually spring a leak from a crack some where in the material.

But if you do by a perform pond type liner or already have one not to fear if it does spring a leak then simply by enough rubber liner material to go cover over your entire surface area and allow a little extra for contraction and your back in business.

Simply put the liner in place and cover the outer edges with interesting rocks and line the edges of your pond with some nice plants to hide any areas that you don’t want seen.

Some of the benefits of having a pond to me at least are the relaxation of the water flowing and trickling down over the rocks and it ads humidity to my back yard garden and also makes a nice place for the birds to take a drink and have a bath.

Butterflies love it too and the ever so tiny honey bees and not to mention frogs and toads and other little fine aquatic creatures that I know nothing about but still enjoy seeing.

Even the next door neighbor’s cat welcomes a bath and some times believe it or not sits for hours just staring into the water.

Probably looking in hopes of finding the not to be there fish.


It also provides a lovely home for my water plants and some of my trees that love a bog type setting such as my cypress and my alder trees that I have had growing there now for a long time.

There are so many nice features of having a pond that it makes me wish I could have more and if I had the space I would have more or at least have a much larger one for a more desired effect.

If you decide that you want a pond and you don’t have the space then look into trying your hand at one that can be totally self contained in a very small space even in a space as small as the diameter of a fifty gallon drum top or even perhaps in an old whisky cask or many other options the choice is all yours.

Many people have small ponds on there patios and enjoy the water effect with out even having a lot of space at all.

I have four other small pounds that are small container type in various places in my garden and I enjoy them all just for the added beauty and sound of water running that they ad.

So next time you have some spare time and a little pocket change consider a water pond for your garden or patio I promise you that you’ll always enjoy it once you have created it.

Thanks for reading,
Harold Yearout
C) Copyright 2005 by Harold R Yearout All rights reserved worldwide.