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I got this little schefflara from a souvenir store in Hawaii. It was planted on a lava rock & I was told to sit that on a tray of water. About a year & a half ago I set the planting on top some potting soil in the pot below because I read somewhere that it would grow better. I didn't even think of it as a bonsai until I joined this forum!
[img]https://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n563/kickgirl001/2011-04-16_16-18-54_218.jpg[/img]

I placed the little guy outside with his new elm buddy because he's been looking a little droopy lately.


[img]https://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n563/kickgirl001/2011-04-16_16-19-08_721.jpg[/img]

In this pic you can see that I've added a drip irrigation line to the elm for regular watering. That was my project for today!

I have the same plant that is shown in your first photo and it is a tree not a bonsai.It comes in two types one is like you have and other is yellow and green colour leaves which is beautiful.

whether something is a "tree" or a "bonsai" just depends on what you do with it. Pretty much all bonsai start as trees (or at least woody plants, there are bonsai made from things like azalea and there are even occasional novelty bonsai from things like ivy). Various miniaturization techniques are used on the tree to make it a bonsai, that is an artistically miniaturized tree maintained in a small pot.

If for some reason you got tired of the art of bonsai, you could plant your bonsai back in the ground and given good conditions, it would likely eventually recover and become a tree again...

Yes the term Bonsai in Japanese and Chinese mean pot planting or alternatively the Chinese Penjing, meaning potted senary. The art isn't limited to certain species of trees only although certain ones are used more often since their tendency to grow more twiggy or can be reduced or miniturized easier.

senary?

scenery. I can't spell

Here's the google translation of what Jing means in Pen-Jing.

https://translate.google.com/translate_t?hl=en&sugexp=ldymls&pq=%E6%99%AF%E7%94%9C&xhr=t&q=%E6%99%AF%E7%94%9C&cp=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&biw=1007&bih=537&bs=1&wrapid=tljp130840830648600&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wT#zh-CN|en|%E6%99%AF