Caring for Your Bonsai

Add some moss and maybe a pebble or two to create a little landscape. Pretty much done – except for taking care of it! A bonsai is like a toddler or new puppy – it requires a LOT of attention. It likes morning sun and afternoon shade. Display it in a sheltered location which protects them from blowing over or getting drowned in too much rain. Because they are in very small pots with porous soil, you’ll need to water them once or twice a day – maybe more often in hot weather – and a good misting makes them feel happy.

To keep it small and healthy, I’ll pull it out of the pot occasionally, trim its roots, add new soil or maybe put in in a slightly larger pot and keep pruning it to improve its shape.

Remember, that my little tree will be living outside all year. How am I going to keep it alive? This fall, I will dig a hole in a sheltered spot in my garden, set the tree, pot and all in the ground, fill in the rest of the hole with soil, then heap leaves and mulch all around it. I’ll tell it a bedtime story and let it sleep there until spring, when I’ll dig it up and wash the mud off of the pot and there you go!

I doubt my baby tree will live to be 800 years old, but then who knows? Enjoy the process!