Turn broken tree stumps and cracked pots into bonsai: save money and still match premium specimens worth tens of thousands.

You should know that all very expensive bonsai come from nature. When a tree stump is growing in the soil, no one knows who it will meet or what it will be shaped into. Yet tree stumps can be found everywhere in rural areas; all you need is a pair of skilled hands and a pair of discerning eyes, and by using local materials, broken tree stumps and cracked pots can also be made into beautiful bonsai. They save money and stay down-to-earth, with no real difference from landscapes worth tens of thousands.

I wonder if you know what this plant is? Bonsai made from this plant are extremely popular. Don't be fooled by its ordinary look right now. It is called "Fujian tea" (Carmona retusa); once you say the name, many bonsai friends will recognize it. Fujian tea is one of the leading tree species for bonsai, so even a small one like this is well worth digging up.

Isn't this way of using local materials and pruning on site very down-to-earth? Once dug out, it can go straight into a pot, though it still takes plenty of time to train later on. A bonsai cultivated from a young age like this is more ornamental than a wild-collected bonsai, and its form will also be more graceful. The downside is that a bonsai cultivated artificially from a young age also lacks a bit of wild beauty, so each has its pros and cons.

Actually, when growing bonsai, you don't need to care whether it has a noble pedigree. With a bonsai made from a cracked pot and a broken tree stump, the process alone is enough to bring great enjoyment. A bonsai grown without spending money may look very ordinary at first, but as the years go by, these bonsai will also become more perfect. This is also a process of transformation for bonsai.