5.24.2010

bonsai rose experiment no. 1

The rosebush in front of my house (which you may have heard about before) is especially vigorous this year. I, of course, credit my judicious regimen of trial-and-error deadheading and pruning which began last year. I'm forced to curate this plant semi-clandestinely, as my landlords' parents feel the rosebush is theirs. For my part, I feel I'm the one who's pushed it to produce so well this season and as such I have certain rights of my own.

Like taking cuttings, for example.

I've decided to see if it's possible to train a rosebush into something approximating a bonsai-like size. I picked a cutting which had an abundance of branches while still being small enough to start in a pot. Internet research led me to believe that the success rate of rooting new cuttings is fairly high, so I got myself a pot and bag of organic potting soil and went to work.

This cutting, my first experiment, has a dab of honey on the cut end to stimulate root production (apparently this is a thing?), and I'm hitting it with 700 lumens of artificial daylight from a compact fluorescent bulb at least until it shows some evidence of new growth. Let the experiment begin.


Bonsai Rose Experiment 1

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