INDOOR BONSAI, HARDY OR SEMIHARDY
The real Japanese bonsai is an outdoor inhabitant, usually one of a collection that is brought indoors for display purposes and for only a few days at a time. But by using tender plants that want more warmth, growers are beginning to create bonsai that can be used decoratively indoors the year round. In a shadow box, on a coffee table or special stand, even as a table centerpiece they should always be alone and with no accessories to detract from their unique style.
Last winter I thoroughly enjoyed starting a collection of indoor miniatures, frank copies of Japanese name bonsai, and even the wee fingertip shinto type. These are a special challenge because to preserve proper proportion, leaves and needles must be extra small, and pruning and training are particularly crucial. Water is applied with an eyedropper; fertilizer is administered in microscopic amounts. To provide protective humidity and warmth, and to help keep the small amount of soil in tiny containers from drying out, we rigged up plastic-covered quarters on a window sill, with a layer of moist vermiculite. Our tray was also improvised from a double layer of heavyweight aluminum foil. Now, all but the youngest, and the very smallest, miniatures are strong enough to grow on glass shelves outside the plastic tent.
Indoor plants, bonsai-style, are more than just tender seedlings, or cuttings, kept small in small containers. They are patterned after true bonsai, with interesting character, artistic lines, and perfect proportion. The mechanics of pruning and training are very much the same. But because they are not hardy outdoor growers that resent the hot dry air of a house, and because they don’t need annual dormancy, they are fascinating indoor ornaments to be lived with and enjoyed the year round.
Different types of bonsai trees and containers
Bonsai in citrus
Once we became intrigued with the concept of “indoor bonsai” we found so many house and greenhouse plants with picturesque prospects that I fear we will never get to try them all. I have seedlings and cuttings of all sorts, even including those from a breakfast orange and a pomegranate out of the fruit bowl. And, of course, small plants sold by mail-order suppliers are just the right size to begin the process of dwarfing and shaping.
(In the list at the end of Chapter 6, plants suitable for indoor bonsai use are indicated.)