Pest battle with Chinese Elm Bonsai — and how I won

I had a serious problem with spider mite and scale in stressful growing conditions on my Chinese Elm Bonsai earlier this year. Caught it late and had to work hard to bring the plant back. The experience was frustrating but educational.

Now that it's healthy again I can fully appreciate seasonal change including blossom, foliage colour, and bare winter silhouette, which is remarkable. I've repositioned it in a Japanese-inspired garden display with gravel and stone and improved my attention to wiring branches during the growing season while wood is flexible. autumn colour on deciduous species before leaf fall was the proof that the plant had fully recovered — genuinely beautiful. Moral of the story: inspect regularly and catch problems early.