First attempt!!!

[Kevster]

So my step daughter has been reading some of my beginner bonsai books and watching me as long as I have been attempting this great hobby.
She has been asking me for her own tree to work on so I gave her a couple cutting from a ficus to keep alive and she has for a year or so. She recently has been asking to work her own tree. Knowing it's not the best time to do so I said ok lets go see what we can find on sale.
She went through a group of $2 junipers at Home Depot as she has seen me do several times and came back with one. So I bought it and we (meaning she did everything with some guidance) worked on it last night.

Here are some pics. It's a little messy and the guidance I gave her was to leave a few extra branches on there incase she wan't to use them in the future. It is very small as you can see and needs to fill out. The only thing I physically did was apply the lime sulfur.
Oh and she is 8 years old.She said this will be the front.

 

[Kevster]

Oh. I wasn't going to post any pictures because it is a bit of a mess. But I'm very proud of her and figured I could show her progression.

 

[jkd2572]

That's great! Thanks for the post.

 

[JudyB]

Wish I had started at that age, what a great hobby to share with your daughter!

 

[Kevster]

Thanks you two!
Judy I hope she sticks with it. She tends to get into things for a short time and lose interest. Problem might be is a child's patients. Having to wait to move forward. Lol and with the collection of trees I have it's not as if I can keep buying trees for her to practice on. But she loves watching me, always asks questions and probably knows more about bonsai then my wife lol.

For me bonsai isn't just a hobby. I really consider it meditation. It does wonders for me when I have a bad day at work or just in one of those moods. It allows me to zone out all the negative, focus on something soothing to me and relax. I know this works for me because occasionally I'm told to go play with my trees lol.

 

[Paradox]

Very nice and great family activity to get into. She might lose interest as she gets a bit older and other concerns/interests take up her time. However she may return to it some day when shes more established in her life and might appreciate having a tree she worked on now. For now keep up the good work!

 

[Kevster]

And as for those future concerns/interests I'll keep loaded gun by the front door lol.

 

[Paradox]

Haha! I was thinking more about college, first job, etc but ya those "other interests" will come along too!