what not to buy.

Here is a picture of what I found at the Home depot today. 2 juniper bonsai trees and 2 Chinese elm bonsai trees. These trees were either close to death or already dead. The junipers for sure were toast. I know that because they were shipped from Florida. The weather there is much different than here. These are outdoor trees. the shock from the move to colder weather was enough to kill them.
The Chinese elms were almost dead. They had very little healthy foliage. most of it was dried up and falling off. All 4 trees had dead moss glued to the soil.
So don't buy bonsai from these stores.....

Don't do it. :) wait until spring and buy one from a nursery...

EUPHORBIA PULCHERRIMA/ POINSETTIA

Poinsettia are normally considered a common house plant known for their scarlet red new growth which appears around Christmas time. They do however make excellent subjects for bonsai, poinsettias readily take to hard pruning and bud back with ease, with age their light brown bark becomes deeply furrowed and gives a strong impression of age. Their leaves are normally quite large (up to 15cm) but reduce well with standard bonsai techniques to around 1/3 normal size.

Poinsettias are native to Mexico where they can reach heights of up to 4metres. As well as the familiar poinsettia, there are also a number of varieties of Euphorbia pulcherrima which produce varying new growth colour.


BONSAI CULTIVATION NOTES

POSITION Poinsettias should not be exposed to temperatures lower than 13°C for any length of time and for this reason are commonly grown indoors in most parts of N Europe. Place in full light. During the hottest periods of the summer it is worth moving poinsettias outside as long as night temperatures remain high enough. When outside place in semi-shade.

FEEDING When in growth apply a low-nitrogen fertiliser every two weeks.

REPOTTING Allow to become pot-bound to help reduce leaf size. Repot every 2-4 years in early Summer.

PRUNING Repeatedly prune back new growth throughout the growing season. Hard prune anytime.

PROPAGATION Semi-ripe cuttings in Spring or Summer.

PESTS AND DISEASES Whiteflies

STYLING Informal upright forms in medium to large sizes.

FLOWERING To encourage more prolific flowering during the winter, poinsettia need 12-14 hours of complete darkness daily for 2 months beforehand. During this time watering should be reduced.
bonsai4me.com

I'm so glad I started this blog. I had a hard drive crash a few days ago and lost all of my pictures. Not just these pictures, but my macro nature pictures too. I'm kind of bummed about those. I did post a lot on facebook..

Chat for Websites

Here is a Beech tree that I collected this past spring. I was originally out looking for birch trees, but didn't find any.
The tree itself isn't anything special, but I like the trunk.

Mini greenhouse

This is a mini greenhouse that I found discarded beside a broken gas grill on the curb. I have been looking for something to house my evergreens in this winter.

boxwood

It's that time of year again. The time when all the big box stores are reducing their inventory of trees and shrubs. I love this time of year. I got a boxwood for $5.00 at Wal-mart a few days ago. Boxwoods can be re-potted in spring or fall, and don't mind hard pruning. I decided to thin out come branches to let air and light in to the middle of the tree. If you don't do this the inner branches will be thin and have few leaves.While i was clipping I noticed a break in one of the larger side branches, so it had to come off. Here is the result of it's initial pruning.

before pruning

I will take off more branches this winter when the tree is dormant.