Why do You do Bonsai?

fredman

fredman

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1. Why did you start doing bonsai? Are you still doing it for the same reason?
2. Another thing I would like to know is do you have another hobby?

I'm curious because deep down I think we bonsaiers are very similar people. Different personalities yes, but down deeper (in our feeder roots:p) we are souls alike, and I think that's super cool !!! :cool:

For me its very simple...I absolutely love trees. Looking back I should've studied Horticulture, but realised it to late in my life. I am "obsessed" with trees. Said it in another thread and it really is true...If I see a great tree, with a stunning woman next to it, I'll glance at her and admire the tree....

Hobby...No I don't have any other. I grew up in South Africa and fishing ruled my life... and hunting (hunting for seeds that is) I went fishing in the wildest places (because that's where the best fishing was)....always collecting seeds wherever I went. Spend most weekends and ALL holidays fishing. Came winter it was hunting time. Went hunting every year. Fantastic memories man. While the guys hunted I cooked (on the fire) and walked my legs off searching for seeds in the bush....never shot a thing in my life.. collected shitloads of seeds though ;)
When I moved to NZ the fishing couldn't compare so I slowly started drifting towards collecting native trees from nurseries (that's where "bonsai" started for me) The trees here don't compare with African trees either (well nothing compares with Africa really:oops:) but I love them just the same now...except pines, conifers and those...I suppose I didn't grow up with them so they don't really interest me much...they all look the same (and always looks the same) to me anyways.... if I see a woman standing next to a stunning pine (if there is such a thingo_O) i'll glance at the tree and definitely compliment her on her nebari (or whatever:D)

Anyways enough of my ramblings..... Go in peace my fellow bonsaiers/ists :p
 
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Spend my days behind computers writing policy documents and answering email, and spend the other half of the day in meetings. Being a biologist, I need a 'real life' outlet. So when my garden was roughly the way I wanted it.. I picked up bonsai. As a means to relax, get back down to life. That was 2011. So yeah, still the same reason. However, it is not getting to the point it is not relaxing anymore, as I have too many plants, some are getting refined and need more time than I sometimes am willing/able to spend..

Other hobbies? I like to be out with my cameras. I potter around the garden. I used to build websites, but have not kept up with my coding skills and over the past 4, 5 years I realized that my coding is not good enough anymore. So now I just have a couple of wordpress based websites. When the trees are done, I sometimes work on those.
 
Well having only just caught the bonsai bug you would think the reasoning behind it would still be fresh in my mind, it is somewhat but it is also clear that it is not that simple either and if I want to achieve what I first imagined then I have a long way to go/learn/experience.

Basically we have just brought our first house and are in the slow process of renovating it and the garden, the garden is something I know how to deal with and enjoy doing and plan on having a Aussie native themed garden in our little corner of Spain but I quickly came to the realisation that I will not be able to load up the yard with every and all species I want and then I stumbled across some pics of bonsai Callistemon in flower which blew me away.
Over the next couple of months I just couldn't shake it, I kept going back to learn more and discovered the Grevilleas and Melaleucas as well and it eventually dawned on me that this is something I wanted, nay must, try and do.

So I did a bit of reading, joined up here and found a local store which had a range of bonsai and brought home a Chinese elm. Last night we were off looking for some thinset and to my surprise the big hardware store we go to has started stocking bonsai too so now I have a nice little Serissa to go with the elm while I work out what I'm actually doing and no doubt I will bang out the tiles so we need more product and have to go back to get more ficus', I mean mortar.

I'm already planning for spring and digging up some bouganvillea to see if that will work and have an order in waiting for a whole load of Aussie natives for the garden which of course I will check for any bonsai suitability or just take cuttings from them and start the slow process.

Either way I'm hooked now, confused but hooked.

As for other hobbies I do a bit of backyard astronomy, mainly solar imaging but also lots of lunar and planetary too. Not so much the pretty galaxy and nebula imaging yet, that's a whole different ball game.
Aside from that it's family mainly, and gardening is turning into a thing too. I guess having your own land to do with as you please really lifts the enjoyment levels.
 
i got into bonsai maybe 10 years ago while i was still married.
i built a koi/goldfish pond and i would go to the library and read up as much as i could about it.right next to the watergarden books were some bonsai books,i got a glimpse at the cover of herb gustafsons book bonsai workshop and was intrigued by the tree on the cover.i had seen mallsai before (which never really interested me) but this was the first time i had seen a real bonsai
so my interest/obsession turned to bonsai for a couple years.than i got divorced and became a single dad and didn't have time or money for bonsai.
last spring my 15 y o son became interested in bonsai and it resparked my interest.

my lifelong obsession has always been fishing and fly tying.

i do bonsai because i've always had a creative side-the same reason i tie these classic salmon flies(my other hobby/ true obsession)
P1060943.JPG
 
I think we are the same too!
Even the Paris arguments say so!

I think curiosity plays a big part....
Yes.
And Hoarding!

I brought home a ficus Ben, and upon googling care for it, I learned Bonsai wasn't a species of tree.

I fish too, of course, model railroading and fish tank design too.
Tinkering. I am a tinkerer.
I hate TV and Video Games so I always need something to do.

Looking at trees is a good...something to do!
It always leads to something else.

Sorce
 
sorce said:
I think curiosity plays a big part....
Yes.
And Hoarding!
Click to expand...
i agree 100%.you would not believe the boxes and boxes of fly tying material i have,not to mention the 1,000's of dollars invested in those materials.
i'm finding that same sense of "hoarding" carrying over into bonsai-in 7 months i've gotten around 30 trees and about 10 bags of diferent soil materials.
from what i see thats very common in bonsai
 
fredman said:
1. Why did you start doing bonsai? Are you still doing it for the same reason?

I began bonsai when I learned of a tropical tree that we seen while on a mission trip to Honduras could be kept in a small pot. Being a northerner...it can't survive outdoors. And I no room to keep a larger sized house potted tree with having a tropical hibiscus. To me the bougainvillea represents so much more than just bonsai...it reminds me of a project we still need to finish. It reminds me of what we have accomplished so far there...and the friends we have met along the way.


The bougainvillea was the reason...but it lit the fire for wanting to know more of the hobby...and like potato chips...you can't have just one. So the other trees are just a rabbit hole of sorts to feed my enjoyment I get from the hobby.
2. Another thing I would like to know is do you have another hobby?

I tend my own landscape. Love working with flowers/shrubs and such. So I have to balance my time between that. I also love to hike,read and just spend time with the family.

I'm curious because deep down I think we bonsaiers are very similar people. Different personalities yes, but down deeper (in our feeder roots:p) we are souls alike, and I think that's super cool !!! :cool:

Though all different as one would find on a thumbprint...of course there is something that draws us all to this hobby. No matter the original source of the reason. We all find joy from it. And so there must be something that triggers that in all of us. Even for different reasons...we all can appreciate what bonsai is.

For me its very simple...I absolutely love trees. Looking back I should've studied Horticulture, but realised it to late in my life. I am "obsessed" with trees. Said it in another thread and it really is true...If I see a great tree, with a stunning woman next to it, I'll glance at her and admire the tree....

Hobby...No I don't have any other. I grew up in South Africa and fishing ruled my life... and hunting (hunting for seeds that is) I went fishing in the wildest places (because that's where the best fishing was)....always collecting seeds wherever I went. Spend most weekends and ALL holidays fishing. Came winter it was hunting time. Went hunting every year. Fantastic memories man. While the guys hunted I cooked (on the fire) and walked my legs off searching for seeds in the bush....never shot a thing in my life.. collected shitloads of seeds though ;)
When I moved to NZ the fishing couldn't compare so I slowly started drifting towards collecting native trees from nurseries (that's where "bonsai" started for me) The trees here don't compare with African trees either (well nothing compares with Africa really:oops:) but I love them just the same now...except pines, conifers and those...I suppose I didn't grow up with them so they don't really interest me much...they all look the same (and always looks the same) to me anyways.... if I see a woman standing next to a stunning pine (if there is such a thingo_O) i'll glance at the tree and definitely compliment her on her nebari (or whatever:D)

I would imagine nothing is quite like home where you grew up...but, I do agree...once bitten by the bonsai bug. You never look at trees and such the same. Even when choosing for my landscape I notice graft unions and such and am more particular as to what is in my yard. But even have a greater appreciation for trees in nature.
Anyways enough of my ramblings..... Go in peace my fellow bonsaiers/ists :p
Click to expand...

Lol...you likewise...enjoy your journey.
 
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My other hobby is design. Design logos, gardens, house renovations, curriculum, etc... Bonsai is a hobby that gives me another chance to design.
 
I was into art my whole life, got a degree in it too... Was into plants my whole life.. always helped my Mom- a Master gardener- in her yards and plant rooms.... Then I dated an Asian girl when I was in college and a couple years after.... Developed an interest in Asian Art, Music and culture... And Bonsai for me became a sort of combination of all those interests into one... Somehow it was a natural progression for me. It just stuck and the addiction has grown over the years. As Grouper said- I enjoy it a lot.

Other hobbies? Gardening though that is somewhat related. I have always collected stuff- Baseball cards, comics when I was younger, coins more recently.. Used to fish, but I don't do that any more. Tried Golf but it is too damn frustrating (and EXPENSIVE) for me!
 
Bonsai to me is my favorite expression of art, it is ever changing on it's own as well as changing by our styling. I have always expressed myself best in art,I feel it very rewarding to have art react/live and change. My parents used to get the Readers Digest books and when Harry Tomlinson's book came in the mail, I was hooked! I still have the book, got it in 1995. It stays on my night stand.image.jpgOther hobbies, metal art sculpture, gun smithing and long range shooting, prairie dog hunting! I have also always like pottery and have been pretty serious about it in the past year. Bonsai will be my happy place always, everything else I do just inspires thoughts of TREES!
 
Bonsai has become as vital to me as breathing. I wish I knew twenty-years ago what I have learned over the last few years from numerous sources I would ----- still be doing bonsai.
 
I'd always been intrigued when I saw pictures of bonsai. I'm still comparitivly new bit I've learned a lot in 2 years. It started at the local botanical gardens in December of 2013 when I went into the gift shop and saw a tiny herb bonsai garden that I got. Started the seeds and started researching. Unfortunately it's gone now but that okay I have over 300 trees to care for. I couldn't tell you why I do it as of now but it opened me to understand nature more and intern I began understanding more about everything in the world. Ive learned a lot of patience, I used to have sever anxiety but somehow these trees have almost cured it( though I still have it on occasion ) my doctor is absolutely amazed. And as sorce said I don't like TV or video games I just want to be with my trees all the time no matter what. I guess after all this I can't say why I do it other then it makes me happier than a lot of things in this world and always will. When I feel there's no hope in anything and the world's against me I just go to the garden and relax. BONSAI FOR LIFE

Aaron
 
fredman said:
For me its very simple...I absolutely love trees. Looking back I should've studied Horticulture, but realised it to late in my life.
Click to expand...
1. See above
2. home/garden repair, reading, walking, um...drinking.
CW
 
I have found a plant that I can keep alive. Indoors. It not only stays alive but grows and thrives. I am quite amazed by this everyday.
Thanks for asking.
Originally I went to a group meeting about 20 years ago and left with a small tree which I quickly killed. I don't remember the name of it but it had lemon scented leaves.
Through the years I have enjoyed viewing bonsai but never thought I could participate.
In 2005 I visited the Epcot flower show and enjoyed it ever since.
 
Hmmm... What drew me into bonsai was the "How do they keep it so small?"

I'm not as much into the "art" aspect. What intrigues me is the "technique" used to keep the tree healthy in such a small pot. And the techniques of wiring, pruning, bending, etc.
 
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