Dedicated to the bonsai trees I am trying to grow.
Not long after I wrote this page about my bonsai trees in 2005, they succumbed to the bratty teeth of my dog, and he swallowed them up in only a few bites. I never even got to start pruning them and shaping them! Someday I will take up bonsai trees again, but I'll probably start with seedlings instead of seeds. Well, that's all for now.
In February of this year (2005) I decided that I wanted to grow some bonsai trees. I decided to do it the hard way and grow them from seed. I ordered 35 Chinese elm seeds and 20 Umbrella tree seeds off the internet. I was new at growing trees from seed, so I wasn't the most successful. The desert weather didn't help - several of the ones that did sprout ended up wilting. None of the Umbrella tree seeds ever sprouted. So, from that batch all I have left is a single chinese elm seedling. Here it is in all its glory:
I have yet to name it. Now between my house and my neighbor's house we have dutch elm trees. Yes it's true - they are living, and they are tall, and they grow like weeds. And we think they have the dutch elm disease, but maybe they don't seem to be as adversely affected out here in the desert. In any case, they let out quite a load of seeds in the spring, and several of those sprouted in my wife's vegetable pots. They seemed to do better than my Chinese elm trees, and I think that's because she watered her vegetables more that I watered my trees. I was just paranoid of overwatering my trees like all of the tutorials on growing trees from seed talk about. Well now I know that that principle doesn't hold out in the dry hot desert - you have to water those seedlings twice a day even if the soil isn't dry, or they will wilt. In any case, here are four of my dutch elm seedlings (there are more) that I plan on making into bonsai trees:
I haven't named these trees either.
Well, that's all for now.
This webpage originally started on 10/5/2005.
e-mail: alkaline at alkaline.org
copyright 2005 by Garrett Jones