How to create a zen sand garden with bonsai

Introduction

I was walking around Crate & Barrel years ago and saw that black metal tray in their store and loved it.  My coworkers then got it for me as a wedding gift later that year.  At first, I created this with cacti:

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Two years later

Eventually this happened after a year.  I think the issue is that most of the plants I bought needed direct sunlight, and the tray was only getting partial sun (if that.)  So I knew I needed to start over.

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Bonsai Garden

That picture above has been in my kitchen for a year now btw.  That’s how lazy I was to clean it up.  Then one day last week, my coworker brought in her bonsai plant.  That’s when I decided I’ll turn it into a bonsai garden.  I went on Yelp and found this place http://www.asiapacificgarden.com/  I spent nearly 2 hours there with a private 1-1 conversation with the owner who helped me decide on which  bonsai I could buy for a partial shade.  Initially I was thinking of putting a big rock on one side and then a bonsai on the other side.  Due to the lack of a drain hole in the metal tray, I’d have to put the bonsai directly in the tray and let it drain into the tray, which he said would be a bit of maintenance.

After playing with the configuration, I just didn’t like the 1 bonsai and 1 rock configuration.  I was walking around looking at bonsai trees until the owner told me he had another idea – making a sand zen garden.  I thought that was brilliant.  He then helped me design the layout for the next hour and what you’ll see below is the final product.

[Update] – Both bonsai trees are 4 years old.  One is a serissa tree and the other is a mini bamboo tree.

Getting things ready

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Peanuts

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Super fine sand

Not like the sand you buy from a bag at Home Depot or even on the beaches of Bora Bora.  Super, super fine sand.

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Putting things in place

I decided to put the cardboard border because I’ll need to remove the bonsai trees to clean up the plastic tray underneath.

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Adding the rocks

By the way, the dinosaur was bought from a glass shop in Murano.

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Maintenance

The owner told me I’d need to remove the bonsai trees each month to clean out the trays.  As you can see, that’ll be very hard to do.  I’ll probably do it every 3 months…more likely every 6 months or until one of them dies.  Haha.  Let’s see how long this will last before things get ugly.

7 comments on “How to create a zen sand garden with bonsai

    1. One is a mini bamboo and the other one… I’ll look up when I get home for you Jason. I chose them because they were both very small. There was one that was 6 inches taller that had flowers which I would have liked, but it was too big for the scene I was going for.

    2. Jason, the other tree is a serissa tree. You can Google image it. Both trees are 4 years old.

  1. Vinh, love your before and after picture – I found that pretty amusing. Can’t wait to see the “after” picture for your bonsai garden – hope it works out!

    1. You mean a year from now? My guess is the bamboo survives but the little palm tree will die..

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