When pruning the roots of most of my azalea bonsai, I use a sharp blast from the water hose to remove the soil from the roots. I discovered that baby fine roots don’t tolerate hardly any pruning. Before I discovered this technique I killed many beautiful azalea’s and other potentially nice specimens. And then finally success:
“Earth laughs in flowers” –Ralph Waldo Emerson
This is a good example of a “root over rock” bonsai. Ficus are really easy to grow and I love the look of them.
Here is a fun little bonsai that I made as a gift for a friend.
People seem to really like indoor bonsai. The ficus is a good choice.
I’ve killed quite a few bonsai in my day. I’ve learned that taking too much off the plant or repotting too fast and not giving time to adjust can kill your bonsai. This is a good example of rushing the plant.
As you can see this Juniper had lots of foliage to start with. I was in a hurry for a bonsai demonstration and I skipped several steps.
I cut too much off this plant all at once. This is the finished product, but it did not live very long. I have since repented and I’m much kinder to my bonsai.
House plants make great indoor bonsai. Here is a little leaf Schefflera plant of mine.
First I took cuttings from the mother plant and used rooting hormone to make new plants.
Then I put them in a very small training pot for a time to get them established.
Next I transferred them to a bonsai pot.
Add finishing touches like rocks and a little man and you have a great indoor bonsai.
