[DO NOT PUBLISH] [Secret content calendar]
The gist of what's on the back burner. [INTERNAL USE ONLY]
I’ve been making a conscious effort in my writing about bonsai to avoid mistakes I made writing about ice cream or tea. Let the trees’ needs take the lead. Don’t do something just because it’d make good content. So I keep a running list of story ideas but don’t stick to a schedule.
At the moment, everything on that list can be categorized as “haven’t had the time for it yet” or “still in progress.” It’s a hazard and a blessing of keeping a critical mass of trees that I can now leave some on the back burner while distracting myself with more pressing issues.
Where I do think about scheduling, it’s about waiting to tell a more complete story. I have projects in various stages of development with varying levels of my confidence in their success. You can’t rush horticulture, and I can’t predict how well an accent planting will take to its new pot. In the past I was often eager to jump the gun. Get the newly acquired knowledge out there, get paid, figure out the full story later. That’s what the internet rewarded. But it won’t make good bonsai.
All of this is a long way of saying that I don’t have an entry ready for this week. Instead let’s try something different: Here’s a list of my ongoing projects and future plans for posts. Maybe this will give some view into the bonsai process, maybe it’s just a publicly visible to-do list. Either is fine!
In progress
New citrus tree design. [Waiting for tree to flush after pruning]
Peat.
Aerial roots on ficus. [Roots still growing]
Hanging ficus thing. [Still learning how to hang.]
New fancy bonsai pots and accent planting. [Plant needs to recover from repotting and grow out.]
Olive update. [Waiting to see how the trees respond to recent trims and wiring.]
Scenting tea with citrus blossoms.
Upcoming
Foraging for kusamono. [It’s been too damn hot!]
Something with Young Choe?
Ornamental plants I hate for no good reason.
Something with Wei Tchou about her fern book?
Redwood pruning.
Boxwood trim—and defoliation?
What the hell am I going to do with this pine.
Update on the indoor grow rooms.
Ficus forest.
The fate of my other redwood, in crisis.
Should I go to the National Bonsai Museum?
Well, should I?
Tree reading
“I only fell five feet. My grandmother was five feet exactly, the tallest in her family, taller even than her father who had been born without hands. To plant the kumquat trees at the farm, he’d loaded his cheeks with seeds and spat them out in rows, an orchard sprung from his spit.” [Asian American Writers’ Workshop]
Maybe the climate cause can pick up some Christians when they find out drought is killing their Christmas trees. [WJAR]