Until then I am going to occupy myself with another yard-related hobby inspired by a present given to me by a family member at Christmas time - bonsai tree growing.
I have no idea why I was given a bonsai tree as a gift, I mean it's not as if I have ever been a keen gardener or an enthusiastic houseplant grower. So my first reaction on opening the festive wrapper was 'Oh f##k, how am I going to look after this thing? I've just been given a living thing worth £100 and it'll be dead before the end of January. Don't you know that a bonsai is not just for Christmas!' When I had stopped freaking out I went straight onto the net to see if the poor tree had any chance of survival. A bonsai certificate that came with the tree told me that it was a serissa foetida, or Tree of a Thousand Stars and that it was 17 years old (I'm not sure how you pinpoint a tree's birthday but that's a question for another day). The tree's Latin name derives from an unpleasant smell given off when its leaves or bark is crushed - I tried this and it smells like mouldy cheese. Its more poetic name comes from its display of numerous white flowers during summer.
Any online references to serissas I came across all warned that the tree does not like to be moved around so my first priority was to find a suitable place and hope that the tree saw fit to like it. The house I live in is a small two-up two-down affair in the middle of the city and light is poor and scarce. Online information advised strongly against placing the tree above radiators so this ruled out a number of bright windowsills next to heat sources. I settled on a place in the bathroom below a relatively bright north-facing window and far enough away from the room's radiator. Serissas also like humidity and I figured that the warm, balmy environment of the bathroom might be agreeable to the tree.
So far, the decision to place the tree in the bathroom seems to have paid off. With the exception of it gaining a few yellowing leaves in its first weeks next to the bath the tree seems to be doing well. I have even grown confident enough to cultivate a layer of moss around the tree's base.
Flushed with this month-long success (and I am hoping this good luck isn't shortlived), I have armed myself with a number of books on the art of bonsai and am now planning to propagate my own mini trees. I hope to record my progress (or lack of) with regular posts on this site.
