Every day, the bonsai enthusiast examine each of his trees. He touches the soil to know if it is wet enough, the leaves to test their strength. As soon as he thinks it is necessary, he waters, he trims and feed its bonsais. Sometimes, when he is sure to be alone, he says some compliments, a flattery. He caresses the trunk, a root creeping on the soil. He looks for some bugs on the tender shoots...

...Then, arrive the moment when the pot becomes too small, the soil too poor. The repotting is an important step in the life of the bonsai and it is something ritual. Dead roots are eliminated, the others are trimmed, and the tree is comfortably installed in its new pot. It seems to wait for a word, something like:

"Yes it fits you. You are even more beautiful! But how is it possible?"

In exchange for this solicitude, the tree gives its gardener some fleeting joys like flowers in the spring, shining colors in autumn or a splendid winter scene, when the dew lay dawn its crystal drops on the bare branches. During these moments, happiness is all the more exquisite as it is ephemeral.

So what?

Then, stays the placid pleasure to live together, day after day, a kind of married life.

Pierre VERGNES - excerpt of an article published in "Metal pensant" when la Monnaie de Paris coined a medal "BONSAI".