Bonsai, Marriage, & Patience Tested: Entering a Decade Long Journey

Wisteria Watch: 5-10 Years of Hubby's Guidance and My Survival

Today is day zero. It's the day I start my journey. Let me first give you a little context. When it comes to plants...I. Kill. Everything. Not on purpose, of course! I don't know what it is. Maybe my impatience, my not paying attention, my forgetfulness--whatever it is, I could kill a fern. Well, something got into me and I bought what I thought were two plants, already grown. A wisteria bonsai and a wheeping willow-like bonsai. Well the willow is a root and the wisteria is a bag of five seeds. So we decide hubby will keep the willow (those are my favorite trees) and as he cares for it at home, he'll teach me--and I'll take care of mine at work.

I have some experience, as a helper, to him. He had several plants a couple years ago, and I helped him feed them and care for them. He had to go away for a few days and I even took care of them all by myself! Well, with Logan's help, but that a whole other story.

So today's my big day. Day 0. It's the first day of the rest of my life 🤣😬 My pot & grow light arrived from Amazon and all the little tools for pruning, and I ask hubby what's my first task? How do we get started? He's all, "babe, wet the seed. Wrap it in a paper towel. Also, you know it's not a PLANT, it's a TREE." I got kinda mad--it felt like he was randomly nitpicking my words. "No, babe, I'm not nit picking I'm saying it's a TREE and like all TREES, it has to grow a long time before it flowers." Whaaaattttt?! I was expecting a purple bloomed plant. Now I have a seed in a paper towel and knowledge that it'll be 3-5 YEARS before I see purple!!! Logan at least had my back. He interjects like, "that's a lie. It has a 50/50 chance to bloom now." I don't know where this kid gets this stuff.

So I want to share with you my looooonggg slooooooow journey with my new wisteria. I should name it, and y'all should help me! Meanwhile, I'm going to (sort of) include hubby in this blog series within the blog. Let's talk about hubby's tip of the week: 

• You have to prune the roots every so often to keep it from becoming rootbound. I found some instructions for those of you that are curious: https://www.bonsaitreegardener.net/techniques/indoor-bonsai-root-pruning-techniques. It's a good web page--it discusses the importance, frequency, technique, tools, and takeaways of root pruning.

And here's my little "no name wisteria" on day 0 of life. Let's take a vote. Should her name be:

1. Petalia (Latin for petal)
2. Waity (on account of the super long wait, obvi)
3. Janessa (named after my husband, since he's the one who made it have a wait, lol)
4. Luna Bloom (dreamy, since it blooms rarely)
5. Something else (and if you pick this option, email me at eliza@mamas-gnome-shop.net to let me know what that something else is)