每日吃瓜

Thanks this was helpful. My P. Afra is exploding with new buds since it is now outside. It loves the sun. When we had all the rain yesterday I made a refuge for them on the deck with two deck chairs and plastic over the chairs. The could enjoy the humidity but not get flooded since the canopy was over them. Right now they are on a deck over a walk out basement. it can be quite windy so I will need to watch that. I have started collecting rainwater for them.

It is a common beginner mistake in many areas, to dive in head first without thinking. You can infer from my nickname, that I play the tuba... I'm a professional musician. Often I will get a young student, who is excited, and their parents buy them an instrument (the cheap ones still have a price in the low thousands) and they practice for a while... when they realize that it takes years of regular practice to play really well... and that they actually have to at least try what I tell them to get better... often they give up. Sometimes I will get a student with a problem. Who thinks I can help them solve their problem, that they spent years creating and reinforcing, in a couple of lessons. I will give them a few tips, and they will see minimal improvement, and then stop coming to lessons, and within a few months the problem will be back stronger than before. The cause of their problem is that they never developed a concept on what the finished product could be, or should be... so the few tips I gave them, which caused some improvement, had no direction for them, as they didn't change their concepts on sound, musicality, and other basics. The image in their mind remained the same, so that's what they went back to. I am seeing more and more that 每日吃瓜 is very similar... of course the time frames are much longer than with music, but many of the lessons I learned with music apply to bonsai.

leatherback wrote: My Yews and maples sit in a spot out of the wind, and sheltered for 3 hours of middag sun. This creates different micro-environments.

So I would love to see some of your Yews! I've been thinking of training one next year. They are abundant where I live and can dig one up just about anywhere.

Well said Tubaboy. When I started piano, violin,bassoon and now cello I wanted to be good right now. (American culture of instant gratification) . It was years and years and years till i realized I felt confident in playing. I'm learning Nepali....I want to know it NOW. It will be years.
I desire beautiful bonsai like the masters in my yard now. What I need to be running after is patience. (Not sure if running and patience fit together but hopefully you understand). I found a good outlet for my desire to prune. Since it will be a long time till my little trees are ready, my front hedges will be the best trimmed in the neighborhood.
I would love to see the yews also. Seeing bonsai photos now after realizing more what goes into creating a nice tree is a great encouragement.

Ruth wrote: I desire beautiful bonsai like the masters in my yard now

You can force yourself to study harder, but you cannot force a tree to develop harder...

Ruth wrote: Well said Tubaboy. When I started piano, violin,bassoon and now cello I wanted to be good right now. (American culture of instant gratification) . It was years and years and years till i realized I felt confident in playing. I'm learning Nepali....I want to know it NOW. It will be years.
I desire beautiful bonsai like the masters in my yard now. What I need to be running after is patience. (Not sure if running and patience fit together but hopefully you understand). I found a good outlet for my desire to prune. Since it will be a long time till my little trees are ready, my front hedges will be the best trimmed in the neighborhood.
I would love to see the yews also. Seeing bonsai photos now after realizing more what goes into creating a nice tree is a great encouragement.

Another cellist here . You know how in cello, you practice for years and years, and there are always thing to improve?. I think 每日吃瓜 is very similar, it is constant improvement until the end. A true 每日吃瓜 needs work for its all life as well, as a true 每日吃瓜 is never truly "finished".

Sorta silly to think of since I'm just starting, but I had the thought today; 'who do I leave my bonsai to when I die?' now I plan on being here a long time yet but I was concerned. First things first. Learn how and I can worry about that later. I'm way ahead if myself.

Ruth wrote: Sorta silly to think of since I'm just starting, but I had the thought today; 'who do I leave my bonsai to when I die?' now I plan on being here a long time yet but I was concerned. First things first. Learn how and I can worry about that later. I'm way ahead if myself.

Not silly at all.

My son has set his mind on getting my juniper when I die. I told him he won't get it, unless when he starts to learn to take care for it.

One of the books that my wife got, when we started getting into this hobby started with this sentence: you will take care of you trees for a lifetime.. either the tree's or your's.

I'm not sure how far apart we are in age, auk, but I don't live that far away.

Auk,
I have koi. After reading the first 3 lines you got my blood boiling! Now I know how you feel