I purchased this piece of driftwood for a few $ over eBay and it came mounted to this beautiful piece of slate. When it finally arrived, I filled the center depression with muck (a mix of clay, humus and shredded sphagnum moss all kneed up - It's a natural bonding agent and soil for poking into the sides of the cliffs where the plants will be placed) and then planted the main tree, a New Zealand Creeping Fuchsia which has very long trailing thin branches with tiny leaves and beautiful purple, green yellow and magenta blossoms each spring. To this I then added in some mini ferns and tiny leaf vine accent plants tucked into the edges of the cliff and then covered it in moss and finally, I added the Temple and fern at the base with the little crane figurine at the top.
It took several years to grow out the long trailing branches. The branch structure of the tree has been developed like a bonsai although it is difficult to see with all the new short branches covering most of the top (but I don't want to trim those because they're the next new long branches in time.
I took this as an entry into my local bonsai club exposition in March of 2016, but alas, they sent me home and told me there was "too much junk, and not enough tree to be considered a bonsai, and besides bonsai trees are not traditionally planted in driftwood either." Oh well...whatever. But I really like the way this ILLEGAL BONSAI looks
- it's getting better every year, so I thought I'd share it here with other avid miniature gardeners (since it's "not a proper bonsai." I like it thats what counts.
I welcome any questions suggestions and/or comments.
May you have many Zen Gardening Moments
