Little bonsai tree waiting for Spring

Autumn is here, and Spring is near.
One brings the bees, the other brings leaves.
I've been putting this off thinking my fans would bray
for sharing a substandard bonsai of the day.
So today I present Forsythia, in less than all its glory
in anticipation for another season, and another story.

ID: 0016
Nickname: Daisy
Type: Forsythia
Age: 2 years
Grown: cutting
Last repotting: never
Wired: never

Some people love Forsythia, and some people hate it. For 95% of the year, the only thing impressive about this tree is its ability to grow leaves that turn green and remain that way for the entire rest of the year. This tree is one of the hardiest trees I have. Some people who have these growing on their property will complain that it is impossible to dig out the deep root system completely, or that it continues to grow back no matter how hard they prune it down. It grows lots of leaves that can shade out many other nearby plants, and for most of the year this tree has no desirable features to admire.

Forsythia tree with spring flowers (photo from pixabay)

In spring, this is the very first tree I am aware of that puts out flowers, and they are a sensation. Even when it is still frosting in the mornings, the Forsythia proudly announces the changing of the season by donning a multitude of honey yellow flowers along any exposed branch surfaces. In fact, a mature Forsythia will have so many flowers crowding its branches that a viewer may not even be able to see any green leaves on it, even though it is covered top to bottom with leaves. Farmers used to grow this tree to help them to determine when the ground is warm enough to start sowing seeds such as lettuce, peas, and onions. After a season of stale white sunlight through the clouds, and in a time where the frost lingers on, this tree exudes the full color of the vibrant golden summer that existed only in our fond memories.

That is why I grow this plant. I want a tree with vibrant flowers bringing life to enjoy in a part of the year that is normally nothing but gray and muck.

This particular tree started as a cutting from my neighbor's tree that was overhanging our fence. The mother tree was in bloom in late winter, which happened to be the same week my family was getting ready to move into a different house. I took cuttings from the mature tree, and the cuttings started to grow leaves almost immediately after I planted them in pots. Success.

Well, not really. After the first full year of growth I have not seen any flowers on either of my tree cuttings. That could be because I chose to prune them in the winter because I did not want them to form a tall trunk. While that did stop them growing taller, it encouraged them to bush out a whole bunch. Now I have tons of leaves, and none of the high whip branches that tend to bear flowers on a mature tree.

Although patience is one of my stronger virtues, this tree is really testing me. "Wait", it keeps telling me. It may take several years before any of these branches develop any serious bulk, and even longer for the roots to thicken up and grow bark on the ground surface. Clearly this tree does not want to be pruned, as it has maintained the same size all summer and it has not branched out at all. I can't take a chance and prune any branches for the rest of this year, as doing so might mean I will have to go another full year without any flowers.

Even though this tree has been a hands-off operation for this entire year, I do get to do one project. It needs to be put into a better pot. This pot has holes directly against the ground surface, and that is not good for me, because this tree will reach through those holes to form deep feeder roots into any surface it touches. I'll need to plant this tree in a proper bonsai pot, which will help separate the bottom roots up away from the ground level.

Normally I keep most of my bonsai on the deck, but soon I will need to move all of my bonsai trees onto a covered ground surface for the winter to help blanket the roots against the cold temperatures. I'll be making a post about how I winterize my trees as we get closer to the first day of frost.

---

Here is my photo of the day. I walked under this tree the other day and had to turn around again to reconfirm how massive this tree actually is. I would not be surprised if this is one of the oldest living trees growing in within a square mile of this housing district. The branches alone are easily more than a meter in diameter. I am pretty sure it is a Pine. Wouldn't this be a great tree to hang a swing from or to climb up and play on? I can just imagine this being the perfect location to build a tree-house with a rope ladder leading to the front entrance. There is something a bit menacing about this tree that I like too. Perhaps this guardian tree is a relative of Treebeard and the Ents of the Shire.