#BlackFriday poses a serious risk to all shoppers, irrespective of what you are buying, you are probably not giving much thought to what follows that religious hand movement you've developed over the years ever since getting your first credit card - it's instantaneous. It happens in a second, and then all hell breaks loose.
That was me this morning when I saw that my favorite online seed store was offering up to 20% off all of their seeds, including ones I've been waiting for to become available, and of course, they become available on Black Friday - for those unaware, Black Friday is an annual thing where most shops offer unbelievable discounts. Careful though, some will still try and screw you for your money.
Not Seeds for Africa though - best value for money I've ever seen when it comes to seeds, and they even give you free stuff with each order. I've managed to grow and entire veggie garden since I started ordering from them - unfortunately the monkeys keep getting into the veggies before I can.
OK, talk is cheap and I've got a lot of fessing up to do:
5 seeds of the African Baobab;
10 seeds of the Sugar Maple (acer saccharum);
15 seeds of the Red Swamp Maple (acer rubrum);
15 seeds of the Japanese Maple (acer palmatum atropurpereum - try and say this really fast);
10 seeds of the Chinese Redbud (cercis chinensis);
10 seeds of the Chinese Dogwood (cornus kousa chinensis); and,
20 seeds of the American Sweetgum (liquidambar styraciflua).
Forget pleading insanity, I should have been locked up in the darkest pit on earth, maybe the same hole Bane and Batman spent some time in, just to avoid the catastrophic consequences I've unleashed today.
I am quite literally out of every single type of growing medium that I need to try and make these seeds grow. Fortunately, I have the entire weekend ahead of me.
I have an appointment to photograph a local 'chief' along with members of the local water department today - this is a signing agreement between the two parties which will allow for the construction of a dam wall which is expected to cost some R2,894 - billion. That's about $41035096.78
Construction of the dam is only scheduled for 2020 and is expected to be completed by 2023.
Long story short, after I am done with that, I have planned to go to the nursery in Illovo to get some more stock in terms of river sand, perlite, vermiculite, sphagnum moss and Canadian peat moss. I'll probably get some more of the others and, if they have a Black Friday sale I'll probably buy a few trees as well. Please dear almighty whichever one will listen stop me from spending more money. Bonsai..........
So I already know how to grow most of these trees however, past experiences with both the chinese dogwood, chinese redbud and liquidambar styraciflua have gone awry. I failed miserably to germinate these seed so for once, I'm going to closely re-examine exactly where I went wrong and most probably, it was because I was too impatient.
This is the sin of most bonsai lovers, patience is not something most of us have.
Now, since I am a bit clued up, I wanted to share the guidance on germinating these seeds now, but since I know better ever since joining Steemit, I'll instead be documenting the entire process and once ready, will post an article on each on individually.
In the meantime, below are some of the images I managed to find resembling what each seed could look like as a bonsai in many, many years.
Liquidambar styraiflua:
Acer rubrum:
Japanese Red Maple:
Baobab:
Chinese Redbud:
Chinese Dogwood:
Sugar Maple:
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Happy Black Friday.
Yes, you are quite addicted, my friend. Either you are adding to the humor of it, you need some serious help, or maybe a bit of both. I've also felt the experience of seed shopping, and it feels a bit like collecting pokemon. Gotta catch'em all!
Maples, and some dogwoods, are native to where I live. They really need lots of icy cold every year, including to germinate. Maybe consider using stratification also on the dogwood. Do you have a frost season where you live? They need that to go into winter dormancy, to store sugars for the next growing season. The dogwoods have such a short lifespan and grow very slowly. Any sudden change to their climate, and they seem to die. I find them growing low in the forest under the shade of very tall conifers.
I think you are right - crazy has everything to do with it. We do not have frost of any kind where I live so I am hesitant but thought about just going for it. There are a few people who have managed to grow both maples and dogwoods where I live. Some of them have made it to the age of 10. Others not so lucky.
Stratification is indeed the plan. Most of the seeds will be spending around 3 to 6 months in the fridge while I try other methods for some of the leftover maple seeds. I got a lot extra to try and find out which ways work best. Luckily, I do have a very large densely shaded area that is about 13 degrees celsius lower than in the sun so that might be a good place for the maples and doogwoods one day. I've got a lot of canadian peat to help keep the ground cool as well. It works very well for insulation from what I understand.
Got all of the other necessities today unfortunately, we don't have that pumice you've been bragging about yet.
Here are two of the trees I got today. Lovely pricing thanks to the good old Black Friday madness. Up to 45% off all of the trees. I wanted to get the really old black monkeythorn but there was no way to transport it in my car.
I'm thinking that if I add enough peat moss to the surface of the pot and add crushed ice it may help keep them cool during winter. Not too sure though. You hear a new story about peat moss every day now. I may either way be relocating to a part of the country where it actually snows so that may end up becoming the solution.
For the life of me I can't recall the name of the one species above but the second one is a Virginia juniper - lots of potential with this one.
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