Bonsai Potting and Rock Preparation - Garden Photos and Stories

A kowhai tree is put in a bonsai pot here, and a drill attempts to score a small hole in a rock. Keep reading for bonsai gardening photos and stories.

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The largest of the green bonsai pots given to me by my wife, suited for fruiting plants. The tree is a Sophora microphylla, known locally as kōwhai. Their flowers are a bright yellow, so if all goes well, the green pot should be appropriate enough.

The kōwhai from the top down. The visual line is not great, and I plan to put it against a wall or to use wire on it at some point to make it better in two dimensions.

You can see the marking in the bottom of the pot which suggests to me that it is of better-than-average quality. I use small plant fibre cups to cover the drainage hole.

The cup torn flat. The pot is ready for the tree. There should be more than enough soil in the pot where the tree is already. Also, they are shallow to root, so with luck it should be relatively easy.

The tree is in. I had hoped for shots in between these steps, but the soil was very crumbly and the roots extremely shallow. I needed to be quite gentle and quick.

Bird's eye view in the new pot. With luck there is not too much leaf damage. You can already see a little from bad conditions in the previous container if you look closely.

The spot where it will live for now. I may however take it to the other side of the house where there is more sun if I feel it is getting insufficient light. I have watered once.

My next project is to drill a hole in this rock. I have already soaked it in fresh water. I will put a wire in the drilled hole with some cement so that I can attach a tree into the cavity.

My budget drill and a drill bit I don't mind blunting. Not the right tool for the job, but let's see.

"Rock - one. Drill - zero." I said to my wife.

"But you didn't break your drill. Maybe it was more of a tie?"

"No." I said. "The drill doesn't win at drilling, but the rock wins at being a rock."

As you can tell from the below image, the tiny dimple in the rock is next to invisible.

I will try to use the rock for a root-over-rock style instead of clinging. That way the roots can go down into some soil. My next post will also include the rock featured here being put in soil in preparation for the root-over-rock.

I also have some late season fruit coming through that I want to talk about and show.

I hope you enjoyed. Follow for more.