Introduction

Day One

This is my first ever blog posting. The reason I have decided to start a blog is because I feel that through my learning curve I could give some else a few good tips. My intention for this blog is to show the steps that I have taken to grow my own bonsai from seeds. I started doing bonsai about two years ago. My first tree was a juniper I bought from a box store. I now have several trees, a Mugo pine, Ruby stars Japanese maple, Chines elm, Boxwood, Canadian Maple, and a regular old pine tree. 

My inspiration for doing this stems from a local gardener who told me that I could not grow trees from seed in the fall/winter. Well with a little research, I learned about grow lights and cold stratification. First I will start off by talking about the seeds that I have chosen. 

The first bonsai hopeful is a Rhododendron schlippenbachii a.k.a. Royal Azalea. It is a wonderful deciduous flowering shrub that many bonsai artists use. I chose this shrub simply because I would like to have some color in the garden, and I believe that it will be easy to take care of.

The second tree growing is an Hinoki Cypress. It is in evergreen tree that grows very slow. This one will grow up to 120' tall. Not in my yard. The popular style of this tree is formal upright or informal upright. I am going to stick with informal upright with this guy.

The final tree, and the most special to me, will be the Japanese Zelkova. It will have beautiful small leaves and I can choose to style it in many different ways. Now with trees I believe that it is very important to soak them in water for 24 hours and then put them in your freezer for 30-90 days.

I started them on October 1, 2012. I am going to update this blog every week with new photos and soon to get some video going as well.

Here are some photos of the seeds in there house 12 days in.

Any comments or suggestions, good or bad, let me have it.

Thanks a lot.