As my energy levels diminish and my passion for bonsai grows, meaning I devote more time to my potted trees, my gardens have been morphing from lots of perennial blooming plants and several dozen mixed containers I would put together annually, to more bones (trees/shrubs) which require less time to care for. I still have containerized trees, and a few herbaceous plants in smaller pots as accent plants, but no more mixed plantings. I've also removed 1 sun garden, one small shade garden, and a little over 250 sq ft of raised beds used primarily for growing on woody stuff for bonsai. I had to make at least some time for fishing. In all honesty, I'm not quite feeling overwhelmed, but I am feeling a kind of pressure that makes gardening more like work than fun, so I plan on reducing the number of trees and shrubs growing in pots as bonsai and potential bonsai to maybe 75-100 total, from the 250-300 I currently have. I should have learned to focus on quality rather than quantity a long time ago. I get a lot more satisfaction from 1 really evocative tree than from 10 still mediocre young trees.
That's the story from here as I look out the window at the birds feeding and the 4th inch of fresh snow/sleet falling from our current storm. By the radar, looks like they nailed the 5" prediction. We'll get that last inch by 4pm when it looks like it will have waned. Good news is, on the driveway it's melting as fast as it's falling, so it's not likely I'll have to shovel or blow the snow. Time to get started on the beef/barley/onion soup for today's dinner.
AL
