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Serious Noobie
Join Date: May-2008
Country: South Africa
Posts: 3
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Begginer needs help to start (Mom told me to ;-) )
Hey guys, I appreciate you reading this post. Im a complete newbie at this and I need alot of help, lol. The day I joined this group I was browsing and found the chat and I spoke to irene_b and she calls herself Mom :-). She said this was the best way to start.
I told her that I wanted to start with Bonsai art but here in South Africa nobody knows about it. Its quite foreign :-). I also told her bout my own personal garden that I grow outside. I've never been to a nursery to actually purchase plants and replant them in my garden, I just find neglected plants with potential and give them a chance to grow.
Although it really isn't hard to grow plants around these parts. Ages ago the place where my litle town is build now used to be a mass of water and so the soil is VERY fertile, and deep underground is loads of coal.
So Mom told me I should get on my knees and look at my garden and see what I think would make a good bonsai. And I should pay particular attention to the size of the plants leaves and whether they grow bark on them.
So I did just that. Its entering winter now and unfortunately my garden is a bit faded. But Pic1 is a picture of the garden in summer.. hehe
So I went looking and I took picures of the plants I thought would make a decent bonsai... and what I liked about each. Moneys a little tight to mention lol.. so I cant buy from the nursery... :-(
I dont know the names of these plants AT ALL, so if you could please help me identify them it would be HIGHLY appreciated.
Pic1 - My garden in summer... notice how dark and fertile the soil is.
Pic2 - I like this tree alot. The branches dont sproud out too low and I LOVE the way barks forms on the tree. It also tends to grow slowly and the leaves are quite appealing. Around here we call it a pepper tree?? dunno why... lol.. On the left how the leaves of the tree look, and on the right is the bark formation.
Pic3 - Top left:This tree I LOVE, I wish I'd taken a picture in summer. This trees leaves are small and compact but they have the most FANTASIC fragrence!!! its amazing, they have a sweet.. sort of minty smell... but not really. I cant describe it but its pretty potent and after the rain the whole area smels like it. I love it. I Dont like the fact of how low the branches start sprouting though... the branches tend to only grow bark after a very long time aswell. This plant also takes a very long time to grow.
Top right: This is a plum bush... In summer it tends to be full and vibrant!!! but its one hell of a pest because ot pops up EVERYWHERE. lol... so thats why I think it'll make a decent bonsai... It adapts easily.
Bottom left: Around here we call it a christmas rose and in the middle of summer every year its just one huge pink mass... Its to beautiful... If I were to bonsai a bush THIS would definately be it, no doubts. The colour of the flowers depends on how acidic the soid is. Range between pink and blue.
Bottom right: My beloved peach tree.. lol.. I really do love my peace tree!!! Its seriously awesome and grows fantastic peaches by the hundreds. I like the bark formation but I'm not sure if it'll be easy to bonsai?
Thanx guys, I'd really appreciate comments and please help me identify any of these... I dont think the christmas rose is named correctly... On Google all the christmas roses look nothing like mine, lol. And i appologise for the bad pictures, Its basically just entered winter and it rained last night so the weather is miserable.
About this place, the weather can get pretty cold from time to time but also quite warm. lol... It tends to range from between 3 - 15 degrees C in winter and between 10 - 30 degrees C in summer. Its hardly every humid as we are far far far above sea level.
I would like my bonsai (if a tree) to have a basic tire swing effect. A tree with a random branch out the side.. lol... simple i know but I think it would look cool!... Also, Im not TOO worried about it being very miniature, but I want it to look very realistic. Ive noticed that some bonsais have VERY thick trunks... this spoils the effect for me.
Thank you for reading, I appreciate it very much.
Kyle :-)
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