Bonsai Anyone?

Lately I've been blogging a lot about my wife's garden and funny, by doing so, I started appreciating the different selection of plants and flowers she has, some recently added or planted as in yesterday, but some since many years ago. When I say years ago I mean like in 29 years ago. This is a picture of the oldest plant (or should I say tree?) in her garden.

This is a tamarind tree which my wife planted from seedling before my second child, now 28 years old, was born.

Just to give you an idea of what a tamarind tree looks like, I added below a picture of a grown up tree courtesy of Pixabay.

Tamarind (Tamarindus indica L.) is an evergreen tree, slow growing, which can measure between 15 and 25 meters high. This is a very long-living tree, with thick trunk that can reach a circumference of 4.5 meters. It has a rough bark, dark gray.

Here's the second oldest plant in her garden. A 27-year old Balete tree.

And the third oldest at 20 years old is also another balete tree.

Balete tree (also called "balite" or "baliti" depending on which part of the country one comes from) are several species of trees in the Philippines from the genus Ficus. The balete tree is also known as the "banyan" in other parts of the world. A full grown balete tree is shown below courtesy of Pixabay.

The Balete trees are notorious in Philippine folklore as a place of abode of supernatural creatures and nature spirits called engkantos. These are kapres (tree ogres), diwatas (fairies) and tikbalangs (half-horse half-man creatures). When we were young, growing up in the province, we were often warned not to go near these trees or incur the wrath of these beings. Superstitious people would tell stories of kingdoms within these trees and how we would be abducted to live there either as grooms or brides of these kindred spirits. They are considered sacred trees in other cultures. They can grow as high as 25 meters tall.

Fourth oldest at 15 years old. A fire tree

The Fire Tree's scientific name is Delonix regia.It is a tropical tree species from the legume family which produces large, fiery red or golden flowers that blossom from spring through summer. The bark is greyish-brown, smooth on young trees and becomes rough with age. It can grow from 30 to 40 feet in height and grows in a natural umbrella shape. The leaves are delicate and fern-like, alternating slim leaflets along a main stem. In spring and summer the tree bursts into color.

A full grown fire tree.

A full grown fire tree in bloom.

There are a couple more that my wife has started to bonsai. One is a bougainvillea, not yet a year old but has began taking roots and has even flowered.

Bougainvillea spectabilis grows as a woody vine or shrub, reaching 15 to 40 feet (4.6 to 12.2 m) with heart-shaped leaves and thorny, pubescent stems, it's flowers vary in color, ranging from white, red, mauve, purple-red, or orange.

Full grown bougainvillea tree courtesy of Pixabay.

And the last one is just a baby. It's also a tamarind tree (to-be). It's just about 5 to 6 months old.

There you have it. My blog about my wife's bonsai trees and how I've come to appreciate them now. Hope you did too. Thanks for visiting. Till next time.