[Hong Wu]

Anyone here have experience or commentary on bonsai, as in bonsai trees, or other forms of artistic gardening? I am thinking about getting started. I've read that a great tree can take 30 to 80 years to grow, so I probably won't live to see many of them mature, but I've been reading a book on the subject and have developed some thoughts on bonsai as an art form.

Mechanically, art is mostly useless, but I think even the most unromantic of people would agree that art says something about or can be symbolic of the artist. According to this view, bonsai might be one of the greatest of art forms because you are working with a living thing; also the amount of time spent on the tree could be taken as indicative or symbolic of a life well lived. Even after the tree is destroyed, the spirit that could cultivate such a thing continues to exist. I came to this idea after I had a dream about a Japanese man in a black robe, he cultivates a bonsai tree but his son accidentally destroys it. Looking at the ruined tree, he is at first mortified but then he has a realization about his own death. He "sees" that the spirit of the tree is still there and that it is his spirit. The essence of the tree then is not the physical plant but the spirit that can cultivate and form something so monumental. It is at the same time small, like us.

I've been getting a surprising amount of happiness out of a hydroponic garden I developed and so I think I'm up for taking things to the next level with some bonsai trees. It is not very time consuming since the trees grow slowly. Artistic elements include pruning and training the tree, how it is potted, juxtaposed with the challenge of keeping it alive and not over-pruning it. You can shape a tree but it also has its own intentions regarding how it will grow and so you can only shape it so much without killing it.