Bonsai!!!

So my newest interest these days is looking into try my hand at the ancient art of Bonsai. 'Bonsai' is Japanese and is 'roughly' translated to mean 'pot planted' as referring to the unique tray-like pot used in traditional bonsai forms. The general idea it to take various tree, shrub, and bush species and adapt them to a miniature version mimicking what we see in real life. As I am always looking for ways to experiment in my own life and garden I thought this sounded like a lot of fun. I wanted to use native plants to keep things local if at all possible and save some $$, the traditional trees and seeds can cost bank!! I am planning to use some wild-growing plants from my own yard, ones I would pull anyway so I see it as another form of recycling and a cheap source of materials. First trial is up and running. By generous donation, my lab mate Gail gave me a small Western Red Cedar (Thuja plicata) growing up next to her garden that she has planned to remove for years. I have re-potted the plant after extensive root clipping and started pruning the top to generate a shape I like. If the plant continues to grow I plan to do some wiring in the future to train the limbs into interesting shapes. There is almost no, or certainly very few, examples I have been able to find of using this tree for bonsai so this a true experiment. Next few weeks will also see me planting my new seedlings in preparation for going into my garden for the summer. Anticipated plantings include radishes, pumpkins, peppers, tomatoes, broccoli, and possibly lettuce. Growing stuff is fun!!

This weekend Janelle and I plan to head to the islands as we have reservations for Saturday and Sunday night for a fun hotel on Orcas Island in the San Juans. It will be a great opportunity to get away for a few days and spend some some time celebrating Valentine's Day and our engagement that happened 1 year ago on that date. We are looking into some park explorations, window shopping, and other low-key activities. I am certainly hoping that some significant sleeping in will also be on the menu for the weekend. It is always nice to take a ferry trip and we will get the opportunity to use the new digital camera that John and Amy gave us as an early wedding present, thanks guys!! The pictures you see here are actually some of the first I have taken with the new gadget, more to come for sure.

Look at that, another post in as many days...who knew?!? Maybe if I keep them shorter and more manageable they will happen more frequently. The possibilities seem endless... ;-)