Bonsai update

Our bonsai are flourishing in all of the late spring rain we've been getting here in LA.  Here's an update on our pomegranate bonsai that we posted a couple of months ago. What a difference a few months makes!

Spring is Near!

Our pomegranate bonsai is sprouting leaves!  Spring is so close...

SR Cutsheet Project 01: Planting Table

We are excited to announce the first of the SR Cutsheet Projects, a series of free instruction sheets created to help people build simple projects for their home.

The first of these projects is the SR Planting Table, which you may have seen in our blog post a few weeks ago about our growing collection of bonsai.  This outdoor plant stand is easy to build, requiring just a few tools and some inexpensive materials.  This table is great for all sorts of potted plants and we've found it to be invaluable in our garden.

We hope that the SR Cutsheet Project will help connect people to the design process and how things are made.  The Cutsheet Project is a way to bring well designed, functional objects to the home in an inexpensive way that allows you to build things for yourself.

You can download the cutsheet for the Planting Table for free on our website, or click on the link below. More projects will be added in the future, so stay tuned.

SR Planting Table

Bonsai Inspiration

In addition to growing an edible garden, we are constantly working on our collection of bonsai.  Tending to bonsai is a skill that is honed over years of experience, but it's also something that is pretty accessible to anybody who is interested in cultivating miniature trees. We've amassed a small collection of bonsai including (from left) an Elm, Long Needle Juniper, Pomegranate, and a Trident Maple.  It's pretty amazing to see and tend to miniature versions of huge tree species.

Our miniature trees are resting on a bonsai table that we made from redwood a couple of years ago.  We love the way redwood ages into a beautiful grey patina.  You can also see the natural aging of redwood on our SR Outdoor Table Set that we have in our home office backyard.

For those interested in bonsai, a great place to start is Chikogu-en Bonsai Nursery in Gardena, CA.  The family run shop also has bonsai classes once a month and a really great selection of pots and tools.  Another great resource is Yamaguchi Bonsai Nursery in West Los Angeles, which has a big selection of bonsai alongside other plants as well.