intro post/FAQ
Who am I?
My name is Artemis or art (please note the lack of capitalization in "art;" it's intentional). I'm a trans woman living in the southwestern US, near the US-Mexico border. I've been on tumblr since (very) late 2017, I've been on HRT since August '23, and I've been trying to get into bonsai since I was a little kid but I've only gotten serious about it since... lemme check real quick.... July this year (2024). My first serious experiences with plants was helping maintain my dad's vegetable garden and the trees around the family home for a few years when I was a teenager and a couple mall bonsai that died because I didn't know what I was doing or how to learn what to do. I'm not counting the mall bonsai honestly.
What is this blog?
This is where I talk about plants! Mostly my experiments with unconventional bonsai techniques and maybe also conventional bonsai techniques. Also maybe if they actually propagate, my succulents. Also if I decide to go for it in the Spring, my vegetables.
more FAQ below the cut.
What is "bonsai?"
"Bonsai" is the romanization of the Japanese word 盆栽. Bonsai is an arboriculture technique developed in China (where it's called 盆景, romanized as "penjing") over 1300 years ago and later exported and further developed in Japan roughly 700 years ago. It has since been popularized worldwide, maybe (probably?) thanks to weird racist Orientalism type shit but also just good and natural cultural exchange. "Bonsai" is NOT a species of tree, or a subtype of trees in general, it is NOT some sort of secret magic. It's the process of 1) growing a perennial woody plant in a pot and 2) sculpting it. It's generally forced dwarfism of a large shrub or tree species, and then trimming it to look cool. Traditionally, it's a showcase of nature's beauty and harshness but practically you can do whatever you want no one's gonna stop you, the tree seeds at the park are free you can get 50,000 tree seeds it's fine it's ok it's not illegal you can do whatever you want forever.
How do I get started?
DON'T buy those "bOnSaI sTaRtEr KiTs" you can find at like supermarkets and shit. Those are ripoffs. Even if they say they guarantee germination they could be lying, who the hell starts a fight over a $10 product? They'll just say you didn't follow the instructions perfectly enough if you raise a fuss. Don't buy tree seed starting kits. Just don't. And don't buy "bonsai" from the back of someone's car, or from anything besides a mom n pop garden center or somesuch. Real bonsai are kinda expensive; they generally will not be sold for less than $50USD, and $50 is on the cheap side. Maybe $40ish at the lowest. The cheap ones (<$50) might already be dead by the time you get them. Waste of money, don't do it. Instead, collect seeds from ornamental trees that grow well in your town and immediate region, and from wild trees that grow in your region. Buy seeds from well-regarded sellers like Sheffield's.* Collect cuttings from wherever and propagate them. Buy actual bonsai from mom n pop shops if you trust them. Buy nursery stock trees, little saplings. Go out in nature and collect saplings and little adult trees you think look cool (if it's legal and you feel confident you won't kill the tree. DO NOT POACH ENDANGERED PLANT SPECIES BECAUSE A WEIRD TRANSSEXUAL ON TUMBLR SAID YOU CAN; I DIDN'T SAY THAT)(bonsai collected from nature are called yamadori (I think the kana is "やまどり" but I'm not sure; idk the etymology or translation)).
*I haven't bought from them and they're not paying me for a sponsorship or some shit, I just know a lot of people have gotten what they paid for from them. They seem reputable. Fact check me before you give them money.
Once you have live plants, plant them in the regular old ground if you can and in the biggest pots you can if you can't put 'em in the ground. And then wait. You want the trunks to be on the thicker side, the results are generally better with thicker trunks. Once it's good and healthy and has a trunk you like, then you can start doing things like trimming it and wiring it; I personally haven't gotten to that part yet so I'm not gonna give advice beyond: look for advice from better sources than me. This doesn't apply if you bought a bonsai that was already started, though. Then just keep it alive and appreciate it. If it's tropical, keep it indoors at least in winter, maybe year-round. If it can survive your climate, keep it outdoors year-round. In Winter, protect the roots from the worst of the cold and the branches from the worst of the wind. Look up guides on how often to fertilize your species, generally you'll fertilize in Spring through early Autumn. Generally you'll re-pot and trim in Spring. The reality is that this hobby involves a lot of waiting. Be patient. And don't take my word as gospel, I'm only getting started. And I'm stubbornly growing unpopular species in unconventional ways, with vague ambitions to pursue unconventional styling techniques.
So what exactly are you growing?
I currently have... 10ish plants:
1 Norfolk Island Pine (Araucaria heterophylla) I picked up from the supermarket a few weeks ago. It was sold as a "Christmas tree." A. heterophylla is a tropical plant so it's going to stay indoors every Winter.
3 Chamaecyparis lawsoniana ellwoodii I picked up about a week ago that were also sold as "Christmas trees." C. lawsoniana can get to be pretty big but ellwoodii is a domesticated cultivar that doesn't grow as large as its undomesticated relatives or other C. lawsoniana cultivars. They can handle our Winters and probably also our Summers so these are going outside year-round. At least one of these is going to my mom so I'm just babysitting that one, really.
2 Kalanchoe tomentosa succulents ("Teddy bear" cultivar) that really don't count yet because they're literally just leaves that fell off my sister's plant that I'm trying to propagate. These aren't bonsai, they will never be bonsai, they're just liddle guys. They're indoor plants, forever.
4ish Desert Willow (Chilopsis linearis) seedlings that I started from seed in... September. I gathered the seeds from a tree in front of my apartment. I planted more but the rest died. It looks like there might be more than one in a couple of my planters but Idk if I should count those as individual plants because I have no idea how I could ever untangle them. They're an indigenous species here so they're going outdoors year-round after this Winter.
Approximately 100 Arizona Cypress (Hesperocyparis arizonica) seeds that I'm cold stratifying until Spring (half in the freezer, half in the refrigerator). I gathered them from my neighbor's tree. No idea if they'll sprout or if I'll keep any alive.
What are these "unconventional" techniques you mentioned?
Mostly self-watering Kratky Method Hydroponics with a bunch of recycled trash. The Norfolk Island Pine and Ellwoodii are currently in the soil they came with and I'm trying to decide whether I'll re-pot them in hydroponic planters. I don't think I have the materials to make that happen and even if I do, it might be a bad move. From what I'm seeing online, none of the trees I have are common as bonsai. They're all pretty unconventional. Commonly kept as ornamental plants, sure, but specifically as *bonsai?* not unheard of but definitely rare.
Plus, like I said in this post, I want to use bonsai for more creative art than just imitations of nature. "nature is neat innit" is a good message, I agree with it wholeheartedly. But we're using living things as a sculpting medium. We can, we should, be more original than that. Hell, there's a lot to be said about using living things as sculpting medium, and cultural exchange, and cultural appropriation, and so much of the rest of the world. A tree in a pot that's been forced to look a certain way can absolutely be used to say something more profound than "nature is pretty." And, if I can stick with this, I intend to say these things.
Ok wait a second. Hydroponics? Self-watering? What's the Kratky Method?
The Kratky hydroponic method is passive hydroponics. The gardener takes a net pot or other container that water can flow through freely, an inert growing medium with no nutrients of its own, and a reservoir with extremely diluted liquid fertilizer. A wick is also optional and I've decided to use said option. The plant is planted in the medium in the net pot, the net pot is suspended in or over the water, and if a wick is used it hangs into the water so it can, y'know, wick up water for the plant. It was originally developed and meant for annual crops by a guy named Kratky at the University of Hawaii but honestly it kinda reminds me of Mexica chinampas. Regardless, it's a way to grow plants without a lot of soil and without moving parts like water or air pumps, is my main point. It's easier and cheaper to turn a glass jar from the grocery store into a self-watering planter than it is to buy real planters and soil. It's easier to check a reservoir than it is to water the plants *just right* on a regular basis.
but y tho?
the intersection of autism and ADHD is a helluva drug. I saw a "self-watering succulent planter kit" at the supermarket once a few years ago, bought it, broke it by being exceptionally and hilariously stupid, and never let the idea leave my mind. I have ADHD so having something that's easy to visually inspect, something that I can forget to water for a few days and can visually see when it needs more water, might be the only way I can keep plants alive. Call it a disability aid if you need to. Plus I got tired of throwing glass jars away and idk where to recycle glass so I've chosen to reuse it instead.
So now what?
I start posting here weekly-ish and you like and reblog if you want. Or you scroll past this and ignore me because it's not your style, that's also ok.
Anyway, thanks for reading!
