I guess it all started when some friends gave me a Yucca Tip as a house plant which over a number of years not only lived but expanded until it either had to be given away or a hole cut in the ceiling! This proved that I could keep potted plants and so I became the guardian of our houseplants.

 

On holiday in Vancouver, Canada, we went to a Chinese garden and there were trees in trays as well as styled ground-planted trees. These caught my attention and a while after I got home I found a copy of Bonsai Today in the Bromage Bonsai Nursery near Guildford. A trip to Ken Norman’s display in Sussex kept the pot simmering.

 

A few years passed and one or two Garden Centre plants were bought which one day could be trained.

 

In 1994 on holiday in Toronto we walked round the Chinese District and in some shop fronts were styled trees on display. To my wife’s dismay one shop had some tools and a couple of those found their way into our suitcases. Once home a number of seedlings were purchased and the twigs in pots were going to become Bonsai, I was sure I had the patience but when I found the Solent Bonsai Society and had been around for a while the impatience started. A few larger trees were purchased and before long there were about 30 of them.

 

So here we arrive at current times, the twigs in pots are still twig-ish but some are getting there and now I am learning about styling, ramification etc.

 

Our club has provided me with a means of learning about the art of bonsai as well as the horticultural necessities and in time I hope that I can produce the eye catching trees first seen in Canada. There have also been a few days in the forest in the rain collecting trees but the less said about that the better.

 

My wife, Virginia still cannot really understand my fascination but can see some results so the hobby goes on. At least Bonsai allows her to tell people that some of my hobbies are different