Especially in winter, nothing brightens your home or office the way beautiful, healthy plants can!

One of my favorite gardening hobbies is growing bonsai. Did you know that most bonsai commonly available are not happy growing indoors. Retailers often fail to tell their customers that small but critical-to-sucess little bonsai growing detail. Not very nice of them! So if you have purchased one and watched it die in short order, it truly does not indicate a black thumb… hurray!

Most unsuspecting bonsai purchasers want to bring their cute little evergreen bonsai to their home or office for display. You might have found it at a vendor in the mall or at a garden show. Undoubtedly you brought it home and with the highest intentions and hopes of keeping it beautiful and happy only to have it begin to look very sad, and soon turn brown and crispy. Rather than giving it an untimely burial, spray paint might be an alternative!  I’ve never tried that but perhaps it’s a new fashion in bonsai aesthetic, haha! Or not.

Here are the facts:

INDOOR BONSAI (tropical)

• Contrasting to popular belief, many different types of plants, both tropical and non-tropical, can be grown as a bonsai. Non-tropical plants are trees and shrubs that grow in colder climates, and generally need a cold, dormant season as part of their cultivation.
• Only tropical bonsai do well inside for any length of time. Others, and probably the one you purchased, can be brought inside to display only for a few days at a time.
• Tropical bonsai include cultivars of such plants as serissa, schefflera, and ficus. There are many stunning blooming tropicals that can be grown inside as bonsai including gardenia, bougainvillaea, and powder puff (Calliandra haematocephala.)

OUTDOOR BONSAI (non-tropical)

• Outdoor bonsai are any plants, trees, or shrubs that would normally be grown outdoors. They need to live outside all year, even in the dead of winter.
• In the coldest period of winter, outdoor bonsai do need protection. I park mine in a makeshift cold frame to shelter them from wind and severe cold.
• In the winter, outdoor bonsai don’t need and should not receive much sunlight. It’s best if they stay dormant, and exposure to daily sunlight during mild weather may encourage them to start spring growth prematurely.

Next… how to succeed with indoor bonsai!