Bonsai Trees

I've always really loved bonsai trees. I've also always wanted one though I kept this notion to myself anytime there wasn't one around, giving me cause to announce heartily that I really really wanted one. Sometime in December, as we strolled through a sushi joint filled with plastic bonsais I mentioned to no one that I really wanted a bonsai tree and Chris caught it. That Chris is really on the ball.
He got me a bonsai tree for Christmas.

Meet Carman

She's a Fukien Tea tree (carmano mycrophylla, if I'm being snobby and scientific)(which is how I got her name). This means she'll make little white flowers on occasion and if I feed her properly, she'll also make tiny cherries. Carman is but a wee baby in the life and times of a bonsai tree. Carman has lots of growing to do before I can bend and shape her in such a way that makes me look like a wise master of sorts.

My first few weeks with the new gal were very stressful. Her leaves would fall off with just the faint breeze of my walking past her. All the research led to me mass confusion on wether she was a beginners dream or a task for a seasoned bonsai veteran. Make sure she gets water but too much will cause root rot. Make sure the soil is dry before you water again but don't let the soil dry out. Fukien Tea trees are sensitive to these tiny little bugs that poop acid, killing off leaves. Don't forget to fertilize! But not as often in winter. 

So I had a talk with ole Carman, told her she had to hang in there because she wasn't cheap and I couldn't let Chris down. And also, I'm a big fan her kind. I told her I'd do my best if she tried too.

So I decided I should mimic the climate of her homeland. I moved the gal into my bathroom and each time I shower I create an incubator for her, heating up her bright green leaves and keeping her soil damp how she likes it. Since this grand experiment, Carman got her first blooms.

As Carman grows into wise old lady, her trunk will quadruple in size and her leaves will become a dense forest of Chinese secrets. In the meantime, I've got to decide which haircut to train her for. I just don't know which one suits her.