treebeard55

We all know that the best way to put bulk onto a bonsai-to-be is to plant it in the ground for a few years. Let the roots roam, feed the heck out of it, and it will usually grow a lot faster than it would in a growing pot.

But what if you don't have room for a garden on your property, much less a growing field? What if you don't live near enough to a community garden, or an outfit like North Star Bonsai where you can lease a piece of their ground?

That's my situation. The house we recently moved to has a yard just big enough not to be sneered at by a postage stamp, with no place for any sort of garden bed. My wife even grows her lettuce in containers! What to do?

My solution is to incorporate pre-bonsai into the landscaping. We do have room for a couple a small (table-cloth size or smaller) landscaped beds in the front lawn, and my wife definitely wanted me to do something along that line. We talked it over, and a week or two ago I finally got a chance to launch the project. Each mini-bed is built around a red Japanese maple.

In each of the mini-beds I included an Austrian pine, Pinus nigra; 1-gal size, smallest and youngest I could get. Each shows the start of some good low branching. I'll leave each pine there for two years, pruning and pinching as best I know to encourage compactness and low branch growth. If I do it right, they'll look more or less like shrubs, and that's the role they'll play in the landscaping for the next two seasons.

In spring 2012 I'll lift them, prune the roots, and move them into either growing or training containers. I hope they'll have flourished enough to be ready for the latter.

Why only two years -- why not root-prune them and put them back for another two? The Japanese maples (which are not meant for bonsai) will also be spreading their roots over the next two years. Lifting the pines will disturb the maples' roots to some degree, and I prefer to do that only once.

But the next stage of landscaping will probably include an annual bed or two, and what's wrong with a few "shrubs" anchoring an annual bed?

Attached Images

LandscapeAustrian 003.jpg (99.2 KB, 37 views)

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Treebeard 55
Steve Moore
http://hoosierbonsai.blogspot.com

The most important bonsai tool is your brain.

JLDoggett

Great Idea. Tree! I have done that in my actual bonsai garden, I have small beds arranges so they look good as the trees grow. I know Ravenna was doing something similar in her father's rose garden, tucking bonsai in to let them grow a bit. Good luck.

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dankone

hey treebeard, how ya been? i think it is a great idea and i do this as well. i have several boxwoods and junipers in the garden beds i made playing the landscape role. when they are ready to be in bonsai pots they will be removed and a new plant put in their place.

treebeard55

Hey, dankone. Long time no see!

I didn't get this idea from anyone else. At the same time, guys, I was sure beyond reasonable doubt that I wasn't the first person to think of it!

__________________
Treebeard 55
Steve Moore
http://hoosierbonsai.blogspot.com

The most important bonsai tool is your brain.