Some time ago I wrote a story titled “The Big Gum Had to Go” and that was about a very large gum tree growing in our backyard, and the fear we had of the tree loosing branches, or even coming down all together. So to prevent damage to the yard and my bonsai the gum tree was removed.

A couple of days ago we had a short sharp storm move through this area overnight and to be honest I didn’t think anything about it. However the next morning when I did the daily inspection of the bonsai I was startled to see that a branch had come adrift from another tree in the yard and had crashed down onto one of the “bonsai rooms”.

Fortunately the damage was minimal with only two bonsai sustaining any damage, one with just a few branches knocked off and the other, well it appears that it was hit reasonably hard but as the bonsai was wired into the pot, the force caused the wire to cut the roots from the base of the bonsai.

One possible casualty from quite a few bonsai in that area is a sign that luck was on my side. Interestingly, the tip of the branch nestled between two bonsai, one of which is a bunjin, and how it didn’t knock either of these two bonsai off the bench is remarkable.

The following few photos of the area as I found it during the morning inspection:

The area outside the bonsai house. The first sign of trouble!

My first view of the bonsai house.

My second view of the bonsai house.

A look at the floor

And a look at the bench.

Then a look at the other bench.

A few branches off the bottlebrush, but it will be fine.

The little English Elm may not be so lucky?

This shows where the wire held the roots in place, but the tree moved quite a bit.

Some tender loving care for the elm over the next twelve months and it might recover, fingers crossed.