A new obsession

About 20 years ago I first became interested in bonsai. I was just so fascinated with these cute little trees and wanted my own, but never actually did anything about it. I never really read any books or talked to anybody doing it or anything like that and sort of just stopped thinking about it. I can't even really remember who had a bonsai at the time (maybe my grandfather).

And that's the thing about hindsight because if only I picked up a book and started my very first bonsai when I first thought about it around 20 years ago, I would have had something decent to show today. But instead, here I am in my 30's and I can't even remember what I was looking for on the internet but I suddenly found myself reading whatever I can about bonsai, looking at pictures, I joined a forum, I'm asking questions and I borrowed all 8 books I could find at our local libraries. I know, I know I'm nuts :-).

Today I took a walk at a few of the local nurseries. The first one I went to was terrible, it looked in a really bad state. A lot of plants were lying down where the wind blew it down, the plants all looked dry and there were many weeds around, so we left pretty quickly. The next two were way better. And there I was walking and looking at the different trees trying to figure out if it would make a nice bonsai or not. It is pretty daunting and I have a lot to learn. But this time I am determined to get my very own bonsai started. Fair enough it will be a long time before it will be worth showing off, but I'm only doing this for myself and really? I don't care how long that might take.

I am particularly interested in making a bonsai from a Japanese Maple like this one:

Image refer: http://www.why-bonsai.com/bonsai_history_maple1.html

I just absolutely love the vibrant colours! And I think I would also like to make one from one of our natives like the pohutukawa.

Nothing like a new year to get a new hobby, now if somebody has some spare time lying around, I would greatly appreciate it :-)