Suggestion to anyone else with hand arthritis & a yard garden

I've lived with a yard garden for well over 25 years but when I developed rapidly worsening hand arthritis found I couldn't manage my containers well at all. Small ones weren't too bad but my love of medium sized shrubs was proving tough to maintain.

Just when I thought I'd have to give up entirely I discovered the joy of bonsai. Having long also thought that would be something tedious or overly slow/time consuming etc I started reading up a bit more on it. I'd had a single Elm bonsai that a friend had given to me but which I'd endlessly neglected so it just looked awful, and figured I'd make a start with that one. Thankfully I then discovered a local bonsai expert who took both me & the Elm on to rescue it and teach me more about the art. That was 4 years ago - since then I've downsized pretty much all of my shrubs from Spirea to Maple and while many are still "in progress" i.e. in pots rather than containers at least some like the Maple look stunning after only a year in a bonsai pot.

I discovered you can create a decent looking bonsai far faster than many might expect using garden centre trees if desired and there's not that much work involved - certainly little more than any other plant anyway, plus now I can easily lift, move and more importantly repot the bonsai so much easier.

Downsizing has enabled me to continue enjoying the beauty of plant life and colour in my yard for longer than I might otherwise be able to and I'd definitely suggest that anyone with a similar problem check out their local bonsai club and seek information/advice etc on how to take it up themselves.

(I did try to upload a photo but for some reason it wouldn't work - kept getting an error :( )

 

Hi, I'm afraid I can't advise re the photo upload problem, but I'm sure someone will help there soon.

I just wanted to say what a great and practical idea it is! I would never have thought of turning my plants into bonsai versions. Well done! Hope you get your photos uploaded soon so we can see them

 

Yeh - I'm pretty sure I uploaded pics before & I've resized these as far down as I can. Didn't see any msg regarding size - just get the following:
The following error occurred
There was a problem uploading your file.

DSCF9299 (Medium) (Small).JPG

Hopefully someone might have some ideas on it

 

How frustrating and soul destroying it must be to find that. Hey! my hands no longer do as i direct them to. Or Yes my brains sends out the messages but sadly my hands, fingers etc have over time become deformed. The joints no longer seem to work. Some afficted persons experience this lack of mobility. Others sadly experience constant pain and therefore develop a feeling of uselessnes.

Always feel free to let others know of your problems. Please feel free to email me.