According to the engineer, bonsai art

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Julian Adams clearly remembers when he first saw a bonsai. When he was young, he was wandering in the botanical garden. Among the orchids, cacti and patches of vegetables, he stumbled upon a room full of small old trees. He said that Adams has always respected the old. Some things in the bonsai deeply touched his heartstrings. “They changed the way I look at things,” he said. Soon after that decisive visit, he received his first bonsai as a Christmas gift. This marked the beginning of his lifelong enthusiasm, from researching radar technology and selling cars to operating Adams bonsai, which he called “a crazy hobby” nursery.

Adams grew up in Virginia and then went to MIT to study engineering. His childhood was very different from what he found in Cambridge, where he tried pizza and Chinese food for the first time. Although many of his college classmates have studied differential equations in high school, he has never even studied calculus. He described the first year of study as “probably the most difficult thing I have ever done in my life.”

Adams said that what saved his academic career was the brotherhood brothers who helped him learn the skills and the time he spent leading the crew team as the helmsman. “I find that I like to work with people towards a goal,” he said. Although his courses are still difficult, Adams found them very attractive. He focuses on electronics, communications and radio technology, and after graduation he applies these skills to radar defense work. But he soon found that he missed Virginia and eventually moved to his home in Lynchburg and worked in his father’s car dealership. “This is not about solving technical problems, but about solving people problems,” he said.

After his bonsai Christmas gift, Adams spent 18 months practicing and experimenting, and then ventured into the strange world of the bonsai market. Bonsai is an art that has been researched and refined for hundreds of years. Its history can be traced back to Japan in the 6th century. It involves shaping and caring for a miniature tree that mimics a full-size plant in its natural environment.

He said that it “started with an absolutely trivial hobby, but like seeds, when you plant them, they will continue to grow.” He started to read as much as possible on the subject, and then looked for a mentor to teach him more about art The technology and science behind. His bonsai garden feels like his private biological laboratory, a place to experiment, test hypotheses, and observe what makes his tree the happiest. Soon, he began to attend conferences and fan gatherings. He became a source of advice for other novices, specializing in bonsai pine trees. “At some point, I realized that I had too many plants and it was impossible for me to take care of them,” he said. When he sold them, he was surprised to find the buyer was so fast, so Adams Bonsai was born.

Today, Adams prefers to plant his trees with seeds or cuttings, so that he can pay special attention to the taper of the trunk and the position of the branches, which is the key to achieving the “old” aesthetics of bonsai. He said that the goal is a living plant that can thrive despite the limitations of its potted plant, “representing an old tree that people think may exist somewhere in nature in a miniature way.” But achieving this goal requires time, patience and careful work. Every tree must be watered daily and fed weekly, and carefully observed for potential pests or diseases.

“I like to say that bonsai is 50% art, 50% gardening, and 50% philosophy,” he said. This practice may be based on the science of horticulture, but its focus is to apply the science to actual landscapes through experimentation and exploration—just like engineering applies mathematics, chemistry, or physics. “Our engineers need to do useful things,” he said. “My view of bonsai may be the view of most engineers in their field. There are basic skills, yes, but how can you use these skills in this world?”

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