Bonsai Trees
Aspen should only be planted in very large gardens. For most people, owning your own aspen is therefore a dream they may never fulfill.
Until Now! Yes now you can grow your very own aspen tree on a window sill or in a small backyard. Bonsai aspens are now available. Sales income will go towards our aspen conservation work.
You can purchase a 3 year old Aspen Starter Bonsai Tree which comes in an authentic plastic bonsai pot to grow on and develop or you may want to choose a Friendship Bonsai.
Please note that these are OUTDOOR bonsais or at least would need to be placed outside during the winter months.
The “Friendship Bonsai”
Eadha Enterprises has developed the unique concept of the Friendship Bonsai – a perfect gift for all occasions!
Maintaining a bonsai tree involves a number of standard techniques, one of which is root pruning. This is important to prevent the trees becoming pot bound and is used to promote dwarfing. This process is perfect for aspen because the root cuttings can then be used to generate new trees.
The principle behind the Friendship Bonsai is therefore that the root cuttings from your tree are propagated to create new trees which can then be passed on to friends or family. Effectively this means that your tree can almost indefinitely replicate itself with its offspring distributed far and wide.
Aspen is predominantly a clonal organism whereby rather than producing seed, it replicates in the wild by suckering to produce genetically identical offspring or clones. In Scotland, there are only a little over 600 clones left in the wild typically comprising small stands of trees so there is a small finite genetic base. For this reason Eadha Enterprises has developed the National Clone Collection, to conserve this genetic range.
In the same way, the vegetative propagation of your bonsai cuttings creates offspring trees which are clones of the parent tree. Given that your parent bonsai will belong to a specific clone which you can select if you choose, then this clone can then multiplied many times over thereby conserving its genetic lineage.
We would like if possible to keep a tab on all these trees, so that we can track down particular clones. This also has the potential to create a social network of like minded aspen enthusiasts which will help us promote the tree’s wider conservation.
To Purchase
A basic Aspen Starter Bonsai Tree costs £16.00 excl P&P.
Alternatively, you can order a Friendship Bonsai which comes with a Clone Provenance Certificate and an additional pot. You can choose a specific clone from the Clone List. Perhaps the clone is from a place you know well or somewhere with interesting historical connections.
The Friendship Bonsai costs £22.00 excl P&P.
Clone Certificate
To place an order please contact us.
The Tradition of Bonsai
Bonsai is a Japanese art form dating back thousands of years. The primary purpose of bonsai trees is contemplation, coupled with the craft of creating and nurturing the trees over many years. In Scotland, given aspen’s rarity and its tendency to be found in remote and inaccessible locations, creating an authentic aspen stand in miniature allows the observer to ponder the beauty and magic of aspen at home. At the same time it provides satisfaction that you are contributing to the conservation of the aspen genome.
Styles
There are many different established styles of bonsai, usually appropriate to different species. Given that aspen usually grows in dense stands due to its tendency to sucker, it is suggested that the forest group or “yose ue” style is adopted to mimic an aspen stand in the wild. The images below shows a typical scene and an example of a mature aspen bonsai in this style.
For help and advice we suggest subscribing to the website of the Scottish Bonsai Association.
