Sunday Dinner: The Work

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“True freedom is impossible

without a mind made free by discipline.”

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Mortimer J. Adler

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“We must do our work for its own sake,

not for fortune or attention or applause.”

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Steven Pressfield

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“Always listen to experts.

They’ll tell you what can’t be done, and why.

Then do it.”

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Robert A. Heinlein

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“Everything has boundaries.

The same holds true with thought.

You shouldn’t fear boundaries,

but you should not be afraid of destroying them.

That’s what is most important

if you want to be free:

respect for and exasperation with boundaries.”

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Haruki Murakami

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“Life always bursts the boundaries of formulas.

Defeat may prove to have been the only path to resurrection,

despite its ugliness.

I take it for granted that to create a tree I condemn a seed to rot.

If the first act of resistance comes too late

it is doomed to defeat.

But it is, nevertheless, the awakening of resistance.

Life may grow from it as from a seed.”

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Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

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“Believe me, for I know,

you will find something far greater in the woods

than in books. Stones and trees will teach you

that which you cannot learn from the masters.”

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Bernard of Clairvaux

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Photos by Woodland Gnome 2019

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Trees styled by members of the Richmond Bonsai Society

and displayed at The Great Big Greenhouse, Richmond Virginia 9.14-15.2019

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“And the forest perfume —

trees and earth —

it’s like incense in a shrine.

You fall into a state of… prayer.”
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Keiichi Sigsawa

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Japanese Maple

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Japanese Maples are such graceful, lovely trees.  I’ve admired them for a long time, but have not, until now, purchased one.

Although Bonsai culture remains beyond my reach, when the opportunity to purchase two little Acer palmatum ‘Peaches and Cream’ arose yesterday, I decided on the spot to grow them.

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These are very young grafted trees, purchased in 3″ pots from a local garden center’s seasonal grand opening sale.

Synchronistically, some might say, I had just spent an hour exploring several interlinked sites on growing Bonsai earlier this week. 

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I’m now following Ben at Scratch Bonsai and Adam’s Art and Bonsai Blog.  I love studying these trees growing in pots or simply on slabs of stone.  Their will to live and determination to carry on in difficult circumstances inspires me.

And so when it came time to pot up my two little Acer trees yesterday, I had read enough to know to add a large amount of perlite to my good quality potting soil mix, and to add a little extra fertilizer.  There are stones in the bottom of the two pots, and I planted the trees at precisely the same level they were already growing.

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And that was it…. nothing fancy here- just a standard ‘potting up.’  I am going to just let these guys grow this season, in partial shade. to see what they will do on their own.

I don’t know Acer palmatum personally yet.  I need to watch them for a while, and learn a whole lot more about Bonsai before offering them more than water, light and air.  (Ben just sent me this link to Bonsai4Me, and I’m looking forward to exploring this site for useful tips and information.)

Are you growing anything new this season?  Have you been tempted by the glossy winter garden catalogs to branch out  into any new gardening projects?

Winter remains a time of rest and renewal; a fertile time to make plans for the growing season ahead.  Now that it is officially spring, and March has nearly passed, the time has come to muddy one’s hands and brings those plans to life.

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Woodland Gnome 2015