IT WILL BE A CHALLENGE

GIFT BONSAI

IT'S  A CAMELLIA

Tuesday, 10:00 AM.  63 degrees, both thermometers.  Wind NNW, quite strong.  The sky is clear, the humidity 69%. The barometer is rising fast, now at 30.9".  It is a very windy, clear day.  A joy to be out in, if one does not get blown away.
    I have received a number of cards and telephone calls to encourage my recovery, and a nice gift from relatives; a Camellia bonsai plant.  They have a rather great anticipation of my horticultural abilities, but I will try to live up to their expectations and keep it alive.
   Camellias are zone 7 plants, but aren't tropicals.  Bonsai are typically cold hardy plants that need to be overwintered naturally so that they go through a period of dormancy.  That would be their natural conditions of growth in Japan.
  I have seen elaborate wooden overwintering devices, half shelving and half shed, which catch the snow but provide some shelter from the wind.  Camellias are too tender for that, and this one will have to be kept in a cold garage or enclosed shed, and watered periodically during dormancy. True Bonsai fanatics may tend dozens or more of ancient plants, each a treasured old friend.  It is akin to keeping a herd of milk cows, which is the reason there are not more bonsai hobbyists or, for that matter, dairy farmers.
   It will be a challenge.