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I am a beginner at bonsai. I joined Prairie State Bonsai last fall (Sept ?) with no prior experience. My first tree was a juniper left over from a bunch I bought for my son’s yard. (The Home Depot, originally $20 on half price clearance). I blissfully started chopping off branches one Saturday in October but stopped when I realized I had no idea what I was doing. I called a member of the club who graciously agreed to look at my mess and give me some advice. He talked about looking for movement in the trunk, and picking a front view and a back side. He mentioned leaving a few branch stubs as jinn and uncovering some roots to make nebari out of. The terminology was all new to me (much of it still is) but the concepts as he explained them made a lot of sense.

Forgive me if I oversimplify but it seems to me bonsai is basically a matter of common sense. It’s pretty straight forward, but there are a number of exceptions to the rules. As a beginner I’ve violated most of them. Hopefully if I tell you about my blunders it will help you avoid them.

Anyway, I was told it was getting pretty late in the year to chop off any more foliage so I had to stop and prepare my tree for winter. I dug a shallow trench behind my shed and plopped the juniper, plastic pail and all into it. When the first frosts came, I wrapped some bubble wrap around the pot and covered the top loosely with the braches I had trimmed off. This past winter was pretty mild but had some very cold freezes off and on. I forgot all about watering (Blunder #1) even though I was told to make sure it didn’t dry out. I got lucky and the winter was mild enough my little juniper made it through OK. Even the bunnies left it alone (I think they got lost trying to find their way out behind the shed).

Come February we got a real mild spell and I couldn’t stand waiting any longer. After all, I had only spent an hour or two on my bonsai and that was four or five months ago. So I dug up my tree and started cutting, this time with a plan in mind. I had a great time, leaving stubs and shaving off the bark on them to emulate nature’s broken branch trimming. I even tried my hand at wiring up many of larger the branches using some wire I found in my basement. Have I mentioned that I’m kind of cheap? I prefer the word thrifty. Anyway, this was Blunder #2. My leftover wire was steel, which rusted pretty quickly outside. Blunder #3 followed right on number two’s heels, but I didn’t realize it for quite a while.

I also repotted the plant (Blunder #4). My cheapness was showing. I went to Dollar Tree and bought a nice green plastic pot that looked like a real bonsai pot. I didn’t have any drainage holes but I poked some through and used it. I found out that it cracked right after loading it up with the heavy dirt. I left it in that pot figuring as long as I didn’t move it around too much it would be OK. (It’s still in there). I guess you do get what you pay for. That was it. I was so proud of my efforts! It kind of, sort of looked like a little tree. (OK, maybe you had to squint pretty hard). I left the pot on my back deck and admired it all through March and into Covid. I had to replace the rusted wire, but it gave me a chance to practice wiring again. I tried being cheap/thrifty again and picked up leftover cut wire from a construction site, but Blunder #5, cutting away the plastic coating and stripping the wires left me with many nicks and cuts and almost no usable wire.

I looked at my tree a lot through April, May and June. Cute little bugger. I lost a few branch ends that turned brown. I don’t think that was a blunder on my part. Come July and I looked closer at my tree and Blunder #3 mentioned above became evident. My wired branches had grown and thickened and the wire was cutting into the bark. Oh no! I rewired and hopefully the marks won’t show.

That’s enough blunders for me to admit all at once. I’m sure there will be more. Good thing little junipers are tough trees. Thanks for listening and I hope this may help you remember:

1) Water your bonsai in the winter when necessary

2) Material for wiring branches should be something that won’t rust like copper.

3) Examine your trees closely to make sure wires aren’t getting too tight.

4) Bonsai pots need to be sturdy enough for bonsai trees. 5) Scavenging things like wire is fine but may not be worth your time.

reprinted from Bonsai Hai September 2020

authored by Mark Skipworth