What did you do when your 1st favorite tree died

[Stickroot]

I spray the roots off and hang them under my deck to remind me of how fragile it is!
There is a fellow out near smoke that has mounted them on the wall like a game trophy.
Keeping them around is a good reminder and I have had people remark on how cool they are, even dead!

 

[chicago1980]

How did you move on? I currently don't even want to spend time at my benches beyond watering.

Kept the tree in it's pot on my bench, gave it a name, and researched what I believe was the cause. Still working on elms in my area.

 

[JudyB]

I am not sure I "moved on"- the one I lost still kills me to think about. But I'm still in love with the rest of them. Try to fall in love with what you have, and learn from the experience.

 

[Cadillactaste]

I am not sure I "moved on"- the one I lost still kills me to think about. But I'm still in love with the rest of them. Try to fall in love with what you have, and learn from the experience.

I'm trying to move on...if I never quite...I will chalk it up to I'm not alone in this feeling. Thanks for sharing.

 

[JudyB]

I'm trying to move on...if I never quite...I will chalk it up to I'm not alone in this feeling. Thanks for sharing.

I also had to delete all the pictures of it out of my photo's, but I must have missed some, as I use all photos as my screen saver... And I see it on occasion pop up.

 

[Cadillactaste]

I also had to delete all the pictures of it out of my photo's, but I must have missed some, as I use all photos as my screen saver... And I see it on occasion pop up.

I too deleted the photos I had of mine as well. To bittersweet...to see it again when your trying to move on as best you can. Sorry you've had them pop up and sucker punch you.

 

[Bonsai_Jon]

I learned from it, learned to ask questions of those who know more and are willing to teach, but I still have her pot unoccupied in my green house, almost like a tiny reminder of how much the trees count on me...I know it's a bit much but I can't seem to put another tree in it, and it's a nice pot too!...man I loved that tree ...a Hackberry.

 

[Quince]

I lost an amazing field grown limber pine that didn't survive the transition from ground to container. I was dissapointed by the loss, but after a year of fretting, I was glad when it was over.

 

[M. Frary]

Cried like a little girl and punched a baby.

 

[Josh88]

I work in cancer care and hospice for a living. I find bonsai to be a comforting reminder of the stages of life we and our loved ones all go through, and the fact that no matter how good we may be at steering the ship there are so many things about life and death that we simply can not control. There are far greater losses in life than even our most beloved trees. As I type this I can hear an 8 month old boy crying after his radiation treatment. Perspective can be a humbling thing.

 

[GrimLore]

How did you move on? I currently don't even want to spend time at my benches beyond watering.

We had an unusual Spring here in 2015 to which I lost every plant outside due to a bacterial infection in the soil. It took a full Summer of very hard work to send all the plants, a large portion of the yard, and open bags of substrates to the landfill as there was no other way for safe disposal. On top of that the ground needed serious treatments, the fence, all containers, all tools needed a treatment and was followed with a chlorine cleaning.
It was a substantial loss, plants alone estimated at 6,800 - 7,400USD. I have no idea what the exact total was for new topsoil, mulch, sod, removal of old and chemicals but I would say 3,000USD would be a lowball figure.
Many teary eyed moments by my Wife and myself even as I type two years later... There was a lot of fond memories there.

Even after all that in mid Summer 2015 I bought 25 or so small nursery and starters to test my work on the yard. They all did good so this past Spring I tossed them anyways except for 3 or 4 that seemed to have potential and slowly have been adding some better starter and other material. Things are doing good and my one neighbor stated yesterday "Grim's Longwood Gardens is back!"

I am also working on two in particular that I am confident in enough to say they will be in shows by 2018 or latest 2020.

Bottom line is - When it's time we must often "Put on our Big Boy pants" and continue FORWARD. As many others we deleted most photos as not to go back... Press on my friend, no matter with what, someone has had it worse.

Grimmy

 

[GrimLore]

Press on my friend, no matter with what, someone has had it worse.

I did not finish that statement and it is to late to edit. In my case there were 4 or 5 large agricultural concerns that lost all - 2 of which went bankrupt the following year within a couple of hours from here.
I was fortunate

Grimmy

 

[Littlejoe919]

Thank you everyone!

 

[ml_work]

I have lost / killed so many favorite trees it is hard to remember what I did. Many times I think I am going to have a Bon-sia Fire and toss all of them in... then I think... what will I do then... this is really my only hobby so I just keep going. Trying to work more with collected tress from our area. The financial loss is not as hard when the die. We have a 11 week old grand daughter that stays with us a couple days a week.... she is quickly taking first priority in my life

 

[ml_work]

[/QUOTE]="Josh88, post: 476446, member: 20129"]I work in cancer care and hospice for a living. I find bonsai to be a comforting reminder of the stages of life we and our loved ones all go through, and the fact that no matter how good we may be at steering the ship there are so many things about life and death that we simply can not control. There are far greater losses in life than even our most beloved trees. As I type this I can hear an 8 month old boy crying after his radiation treatment. Perspective can be a humbling thing.[/QUOTE]

Amen!

 

[StoneCloud]

Sadly I am used to losing things in life so I'm good at coping or so I thought.......but it was different with trees.......

My first lost tree was a mallsai as they are called, but I was young like 18 or 19. I really liked it a lot.........had it for a little while and then it croaked.....I didn't cry or break shit,

but I did throw it out with vigor and didn't buy another tree for years as I took an "F this attitude, even though I really wanted to do it." I got back in after a few years, but as @Anthony mentioned, I started really only looking for trees that were hardy, resisted pests/disease well and showed me easy signs of what they needed......

Did that for a long time before I started to take risks again......

But all in all............once you have enough knowledge you'll be confident in the trees you buy even if they "intimidated" you in your past. I've conquered Junipers finally (I think ) I was young and junipers require patience........you can finish the rest of that thought lol

 

[Eric Group]

That was my "how I got into Bonsai story"- bought a tree tried to keep it long term, damn thing died on me... so that left me with two options "oh well, guess I can't do Bonsai"- move on to crochet... Or figure out what I did wrong and move forward, so I hopped on the net, learned as much as I could and eventually found out the old "any tree can be a Bonsai" thing- moved on to buying trees from local nurseries, digging them out of my yard... before I knew it I had over 100 in my back yard! Been some ups and downs since but I stuck with it pretty much non stop and that was like 15-16 years ago I guess!

 

[Bonsailane]

Life and death are an essential part of Bonsai,
You cannot have life without Deth and vice versa .
I have always said you would never know how wonderful roses Smell if you didn't get a wiff of shit every now and then .
With that being said it still sucks losing someone or something that has brought you so much joy,
You will eventually find a new tree and the art of bonsai will continue .
Good luck,