Room to Grow

Three years ago, I planted my first bonsai, a Brazilian rain tree. Miraculously, it has survived (unlike my second bonsai, a juniper that I neglected to water often enough) and thrived. Thrived so much, in fact, that it needed a new, larger pot.

On Sunday I attended a re-potting class for tropical bonsai. Sure enough, when I extracted my little tree from its terracotta pot, its roots were dense and intertwined. The first step in re-potting a bonsai is to carefully tease out the remaining soil between the roots as well as loosen the roots themselves, which look like a tangle of pale hair. This I was able to do and, with help of my instructor, settle my bonsai in its new home, an oval, aqua-glazed pot.

By the time I was finished—having tapped in all of the potting mix with a chopstick to eliminate any air bubbles, re-wired the bonsai to secure it to the pot (my instructor did that part), wired some more branches to train them in an aesthetically pleasing shape, pruned excess leaves, and given the tree a thorough soaking—my bonsai was not looking very happy. Brazilian rain trees close up their leaves when sunlight diminishes or they are stressed.

But back home, on its bed of pebbles that trap moisture, spritzed with water, and out of the sun for a few days, it perked right up. By Monday morning, it was the beautiful bonsai you see in the photo, above.

It was sweltering at the bonsai workshop, and I was not feeling great, either, coming down with some kind of respiratory something (so far, still COVID negative, thank goodness), so I lay down for a nap just before 2:00 p.m.. Then my phone started beeping with the news of President Biden’s momentous decision to drop out of the race and endorse Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee for president.

What a tumultuous roller coaster of a week in our nation. I am deeply grateful for our President’s leadership and putting country first. And grateful that we have room to grow beyond this dark period to build a better future.

Evelyn Herwitz blogs weekly about living fully with chronic disease, the inside of baseballs, turtles and frogs, J.S. Bach, the meaning of life and whatever else she happens to be thinking about at livingwithscleroderma.com. Please view Privacy Policy here.