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Most bonsai artists are content with the more common deciduous, confierous, or fruit trees when creating their bonsai tree collection.  However, more exotic bonsai varieties are available that permit the bonsai gardener to expand his or her skills.

One superb alternative to the more frequent style bonsai is Wisteria, a native of Japan, Korea, and China.  In the wild, Wisteria can reach 30 feet or more in size.  However, since Wisteria doesn’t conform to any of the normal bonsai styles, forming them into a bonsai can be an interesting challenge.

The Wisteria flowers are both aromatic and beautiful and come in a variety of colors, including blue, pink, white, and purple.  Blooming in the Spring, they need lots of water with sufficient drainage and they do well in partial shade to full sun.  Just before they bloom in the spring, you should provide them with a good amount of fertilizer, and once again in late summer before they drop their leaves.

Another alternative is Orange Jasmine which will provide a delight to the nose and beauty to the eye.  Orange Jasmine bears a bright red fruit and fragrant, white blossoms.

Feed Orange Jasmine every three to four weeks starting in early spring and continuing through mid-autumn.  Only light watering is sufficient for most of the year, with slightly more required in the hotter summer season.

Because they generally grow better in moderate shade or filtered sun, Orange Jasmine is one of the few bonsai that can, and should be grown indoors.

The Mimosa tree, also sometimes known as silk trees due to their long silky filaments, offer another good alternative.  They are as fragrant as both of the two alternatives mentioned above and their puffy flowers and lacy foliage are also just as lovely.

The Mimosa’s flowers bloom in late April to early July and moderate water should be given during this period.  However, you should avoid getting water on the flowers because, much like a number of other flowering plants, the flowers will quickly deteriorate when wet.

If you choose to cultivate a Mimosa, it will be one of the larger bonsai in your collection since they have large leaves, grow rapidly, and are difficult to maintain at a very small size.  So be sure to give then adequate room in your display area.

Another non-traditional bonsai is the Desert Rose.  The Desert Rose can turn what would be an ordinary bonsai collection into one full of color and excitement.  It is a native of East Africa and in the wild can grow up to 10 feet tall, producing large, pink, trumpet-bowl flowers.

The Desert Rose should be kept outside most of the year as they need plenty of sunshine and lots of fresh air.  With their very bushy growing habit, they will make a good design complement to the many traditional bonsai in your collection.

However, the Desert Rose is sensitive to cold, so they should be brought indoors in cold climates or during periods of cold weather as they will not thrive in temperatures below 10C (50F).  With temperatures in the 10C-15C (50F-60F) range, they will lie dormant and healthy and during this period they will need very little water.

You should try your hand at some of these exotic beautiful and fragrant flowering plants to expand your horizon and further develop your bonsai gardening skills. They provide a nice contrast when placed among some of the more standard evergreens, such as, junipers, pines, and firs.  Additionally, as they drop their leaves in the fall and flower in the spring, you’ll have an interesting season-changing display.

George Dodge enjoys gardening and landscaping as a hobby.  Bonsai gardening offers hours of enjoyment producing exquisit miniture shrubs and trees as an art form. His Bonsai Tree Gardening site gives tips for the beginning bonsai gardener.  Experiment with exotic bonsai choices to extend your collection.

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Anyone with a sense for good looks who wants to improve his or her looks will try to get better defined abs.

Many people are trying every exercise they find to get a six pack abdominals (short: sixpack abs) and very often nothing is happening. But how can one know what really has the desired effect? How can you tell what are good six pack exercises and bad six pack exercises? There are 3 main things many people rely on that are not so effective at all:

First: An exercise you can forget is the standard sit up. It is harmful your lower back what really disqualifies it… and it only works a few of your abdominal muscles so to avoid it is a real no brainer.

Number two: Crunches. Some consider the crunch to be a minimized version of the sit up and it surely puts less strain on your lower back. Nevertheless I don’t consider it to be one of the best six pack training exercises. Why? Only your upper abs (mainly) are mainly properly trained, it does more or less nothing for the lower abs and what is missing, too, is a proper range of motion to really work your abs with effect. Third, it is still not totally harmless for your back and neck.

Number three: Don’t think about buying any of the useless stuff that you see on TV. Those guys are marketing geniuses who will say their product will put you in proper training positions if you just hand them enough bucks, but they are all junk. All you really need is a set of proven six pack exercises and the proper training + nutrition advice.

“The Truth About Six Pack Abs” is an abdominal fitness program by Mike Geary, Personal Trainer and certified Nutrition Specialist. The program has sixpack abs at its focus and includes effective full body routines, and a nutrition plan to get rid of fat around both your waist and your body in genearal. That being said, it’s not for you if you are looking for fitness short cuts. This program works, but it takes effort.

But up to now this product was only available in english language. Recently the ebook has been translated to german (”Die Wahrheit über Bauchmuskeln“)

If you speak german and want to learn more about muscles in general have a look at www.muskulatur.net There are sections for each of the big muscle groups (e.g. Bauchmuskeln). General topics are covered like how muscle grows and what function which type of muscle has.

http://www.eatwhatisonyourplate.com/

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