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Cutiepie Bonsai and Penjing

Month: November 2023

  • Foraging for Seeds

    Foraging for Seeds

    Roaming my neighborhood to look for the rocks and moss was one of the most enjoyable experiences of the first penjing project I made, so this time I wanted to step up my game and do a proper fall foraging! I took a stroll around my neighborhood, armed with a plastic bin and a putty knife, with the goal of finding maple seeds, chestnuts, pine cones, and lots of moss. With the coming cold temperatures, this would likely be one of the last chances I will get this year to enjoy a long, languid foraging walk.

    Near my home, there is a graveyard that is also a park and arboretum. It’s a beautiful place, full of trees everywhere you look, where many prominent people from my city’s past lay buried, not to mention some victims of its shameful racist past. I’ve considered having my ashes entombed in the ossuary here as well, when my time comes. Until then, though, I have a lot of projects I want to accomplish! 

    While this would be a completely improper place to collect moss, I knew that I would be able to find many lovely seeds here, and I was not disappointed! I found plenty of chestnuts, pinecones, and other what I believe to be seeds in the park. What can I say, I’m new at this?! On my walk back home, I came across several Japanese maples where I found handfuls of seeds from several varieties. People in the Pacific Northwest seem to love these trees, probably because they seem to do so well in our climate. Likewise, moss is never hard to find in our climate. Dark and damp days lead to moss growing in every area not directly exposed to the sun. I scooped up several piles and put them in the bin with my seed haul.

    Returning home with my prize led me to the question of “what do I do now?” Can I go right ahead and plant them in my pots and put them under a grow light? I knew that I should be patient and look for answers. After a bit of research, I found out about stratifying seeds. This is a process where seeds are artificially exposed to winter-like conditions to break their embryonic dormancy phase. This is required for the seeds of some trees in order to grow. Trees themselves also require a dormancy period during the winter so they can gather energy to grow in the spring, which could be a possible problem for me next year as I keep my penjing projects indoors this year. 

    To simulate the conditions of winter, I put the seeds into sealable plastic bags with top soil. I cut a few air holes in the bags, and placed them in my refrigerator. There they will stay for around 90 days, at which time I will soak them overnight before planting and placing them under my grow lights. I didn’t have any way to keep all of the seeds sorted while I was gathering them, so I will just plant all of them and see what grows from them! I intend to enjoy the process.

    I’ve been rooting several clones (and two walnut seeds!) under the lights this past season. I hope by the time the 90 days are over, they can return outside. I’ve been wanting to give them some time inside where they can be safe from squirrels and other varmints! I will then grow these seeds inside as well, to keep them safe from the same.

    Enjoy the journey, and patiently await the new growth!

  • My Very First Penjing

    My Very First Penjing

    My journey into this living art form began when I was at my local nursery and saw a display. A wide and shallow bowl contained a small scene; a miniature landscape, with rocks making stairs that lead down a path into the distant trees. A large rock gave the appearance of a mountain in the distance. The small trees reminded me of bonsai, which had been in my limited experience the only word I knew for these diminutive trees. I knew then that I wanted to try making one for myself.

    I remember seeing these little trees in the nurseries I was taken to when I was a child. I remember being captivated with them, at first not believing that they are in fact real, living trees. The cutesy, curvy, and curly shape of the branches, and the perfectly manicured leaves had an aesthetic that appealed to me.

    Penjings, however, differ from bonsai in a few key ways. Bonsai is more minimal in appearance, typically features just one tree, usually of a Japanese variety, and does so as to show what is in my opinion a perfect specimen. Beautiful and expertly trimmed, bonsai represent the very best of what a tree can be, in a miniature capacity.

    A penjing, on the other hand, is a display of one or many trees as well as other plants to create a miniature landscape, and like nature, often contains a few imperfections. Entire landscapes are sculpted, which can include tall mountains, rivers, and islands. Some penjings even feature waterfalls!

    When I decided to make one of my own, I thought that I would do something that would grow well in the pacific northwest: native pacific northwest varieties! I settled on two western red cedars and a solitary incense cedar as the two tree types. Yellow monkey flowers and Alaskan fern would round things out with a couple of non-tree plants. Miniature walls and crows would end up finishing the look.

    I snagged a saucer from a local pottery store’s discount rack. It had a small crack that is hardly noticeable once I put a few coats of black spray paint on it. There were four holes already drilled into the saucer that I could run wire through in order to tie down my trees, as well as provide the landscape with proper drainage. I covered the holes with a small piece of window screen so that the bonsai soil would be retained during watering.

    I wanted one tree to be placed on more of a ‘hill’ than the other two, so I made a mound and surrounded it with rocks. Finding the rocks was actually one of the most enjoyable parts of this whole process. I went on many walks throughout my neighborhood and nearby parks looking for suitable rocks to place in my penjing. With the trees tied down, I covered the roots with bonsai soil, then topped the whole thing off with moss I collected from around my backyard. Water was liberally applied from a spray bottle both before and after the moss was layered on.

    When everything was in the ground, so to speak, I decorated the landscape with some small wall miniatures I had found, as well as four crows that my dear sister Lydia bought for me on my birthday. Miniatures and figurines are another aspect that differentiate penjing from bonsai.All in all, the time spent during the building phase of the penjing took but a fraction of the time it took to gather the trees and planters. Everything didn’t even happen all at once; I planted the trees and the yellow monkey flower, then weeks later added the crows. I just finished adding the fern this past week. Throughout the whole process I have had to make minor repairs here and there, and I think I will start wire training the trees next.

    Enjoy the journey! Patiently await the new growth.

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