There’s A Lesson Learned

On the face of it growing old sucks. In my head i’m still the invincible twenty five year old version of me who could carry a Ford crossflow engine down the street, but that’s a whole other story. Back then I was doing a lot of collecting and it came in handy to be able to single handedly dig a 20′ yew tree out of the ground, cut off the top and then carry a 125kg stump half mile back to the van. Over 30 years later my main concern is getting out of my chair without straining something whilst wondering how much longer i’m going to be able to eat peanuts. Still plenty of time to mull that over as I rest my aching back on a hot water bottle in the middle of the day.

I’m a bit pissed really. How come nobody warned me? I just figured I would keep charging on like the proverbial bull in a china shop. Turns out that’s not what happens and I know a lot of you are smiling in recognition right now. BUT there is a positive, in fact there are a lot of positives to being at the far end of a lifetimes hard graft, i’m not broke for one. Another is the fact I no longer need to do so much of that hard graft since I can afford to pay a younger and stronger man to do it for me. But above any of these trite day to day concerns there is an overriding advantage to being older that is almost entirely overlooked amongst the cacophony of white noise that is society today and that is…

Experience. Yes folk it’s experience. Something we all have to a greater or lesser extent. In theory the more experience one has the better. Experience is a vast data base we can call upon to aid in making good choices. Not everyone seems to be able to do this, some folk manage to make some appalling choices and end up in a right mess. This may be excused to some extent if you’re a kid but not when you’re a grandad surely? In a bonsai context, back when i was a metaphorical bolshy teenager full of piss and wind I made some dreadful choices and either wrecked or fatally destroyed a fair number of trees but now i’m older There’s a Lesson Learned and those things no longer happen.

This week I have managed  to clear a few days to put together a new video. I’m on a roll this year so far, this is number two!

Looking back over the relatively brief bonsai history of this particular scots pine I realise I made some mistakes. For sure I got a lot right in it’s preparation but mid way through the process I lost faith in that process and succumbed to the noise, I got the tree styled prematurely. Over the years I have learned that the fastest way to make significant progress in bonsai is to take my time, to make time for nature to take it’s course.

There are a good number of special trees in my care these days, many have been developed from not a lot and some have come from very special and wild places. Bear in mind i’m a yamadori guy which is a very different process to that involved with working on more predictable sources of bonsai trees. This development of yamadori takes a long time, especially in the British climate and as far as I am concerned if I never put another tree on show for the rest of my life that’s okay. So long as those trees continue to develop and improve in quality i’m good.

Taking time to establish our tree in a bonsai context is the work of years. Careful preparation and development of a root and branch system capable of becoming a beautiful bonsai tree that can grow well for decades into the future is not easy. Mistakes made early on cost us dearly in terms of lost time or quality. Until that root and branch structure has been developed we have no business wiring and styling a tree since ultimately all that does is push the finishing line further into the distance. Knowing when to get involved with a tree, when to take a significant step. That’s about the most important thing in the development and long term maintenance of bonsai trees.

So how does one know when the time is right? Having been patient, resisted the urge to dive in, done all the right things which have resulted in a strong, healthy and vigorous tree brimming with vibrant health and possibilities, when is the right time to finally reveal that work and uncover the trees future form for the first time? There in, my friends is the value of experience, some of us have it and some don’t and thats’ all I have to say about that.

Enjoy the video and have a great weekend.

Graham.

P.S. Do let me know if there is a subject you would like to see in the future. I’m not promising anything but am curious what ya’ll might like to see.

P.P.S. Whilst emptying out my workshop last autumn i came across this old print. Amazing it survived really. That’s me (in the Kaizen Bonsai t-shirt) about 25 years ago when gardening royalty in the form of Charlie Dimmock came to visit.

Someone called Charlie meets bonsai leg end Graham Potter