My Home Depot Bonsai

Got this at Home Depot for $12. They had smaller ones, too, but I really liked the shape of this one.

The upside is that it only needed some spring cleaning. The downside was that all the stones (which were too large) were glued in place. I suppose that is to keep stray fingers from picking out the nice stones and to keep them in place while being shipped to the store.

Anyway, I pried them all out and put in nice small stones from Dallas Bonsai. I kept the three large flat ones for decoration. Isn't he lovely?

It's a beauty....

I would get rid of ALL the soil that came with the plant because the glue, and who knows what else, certainly have polluted it. You can buy ready bonsai mix. I just use 2/3 of garden soil to 1/3 of peat moss.

I will do that right away, ulrich! Thanks for the tip! And, as for the trunk (other thread), I will leave it be and wait. Having MS, patience is my middle name!

I forgot (oldtimer's) who gave us this link: http://www.evergreengardenworks.com/trunks.htm
He/she deserves a heartfelt thanks.

Sooooooooooo... all those lovely seedlings of dwarf japanese maple begging my attention in my front flower bed... I should find them a home in the ground and not in a pot... hmmm... looks like I need another fenced in bed for bonsai development... Ohhhhh, wonderful husband? Guess what?

I had Basic Training at Fort Dix a while back (1948); is it still there?

Yeah, still here though scaled back. Maguire, too! Miss the heat and humidity in ol' NJ, do you? I had a physical therapist who served in the Phillipines that said Jersey is worse in the summer!

I was lucky, it was early spring. Besides I had just come from NYC where the summers are bad enough.

Don't forget to give it a winter!!!! I have no idea what your experience level is but I hear from so many people how they kept evergreens in the house and they died. I leave mine out till after Christmas and then put them into the cold cellar near a light source. I bet you could leave yours out all winter with protection!

Thanks, bseddon. I am definitely a newbie to this particular passion. I was planning to take it into our shed in Nov/Dec and put it in the window. Glad to know I was not far off track. My worry was that the root system would freeze if I left it out all winter, but I did think it should get some taste of all the seasons.

Barb