Bonsai

NOTE: There is a free optional Bonsai update (v1.1.15s) located in a yellow box at the main store. The update provides a cosmetic swap to turn a 10-prim Bonsai into a lower land impact 3-prim Bonsai. Both versions are statistically identical. 

R A C I A L - T Y P E S (From most common, to most rare)
Fairy Bonsai
Bea -> Uti -> Ful -> Mar -> Vel -> Ous -> Bon -> Sai

And just what is the difference between all of these racial types, you ask?  Aside from a few simple cosmetic differences, the most important effect is their rarity bonuses.  Each racial type has a different innate bonus that stacks with the other bonus that they receive.    A rarer racial type will always have better overall bonuses than a more common racial type.  The most common begin with a +0 M+/L+, whereas the most rare have as high as +4 to +5 to their innate bonuses.

A Bon will always breed better than a Bea, for just that reason.  The difference may not be a large one, compared to tier-bonuses and your garden's effects, but the bonus is there none-the-less.

R A D I A N C E S
Common Radiances:  Normal, Dull, Pale, Soft
Uncommon Radiances:  Strong, Bright
Rare Radiances:  Intense, Radiant
Very Rare Radiances:  Dazzling, Luminous

A plant's radiance plays a strong role in its point-value for purposes of converting it into rewards points, and also plays a very important factor in vegetable and fruit nutritional value.

S I Z E S
Common Sizes: Diminutive, Tiny, Small
Uncommon Sizes:  Medium, Large
Rare Sizes: Giant, Enormous
Very Rare Sizes:  Grandiose, Colossal
Mutation-Only Sizes:  Dwarf
Full-Mutation only Sizes:  Titanic, Mondo, and Grand!

A plant's size category plays a small role in its point-value for purposes of converting it into rewards points, and also affects how many overall resources the plant can hold within it.  These resources can be used as food for your pets, and slowly regenerate over time if nothing is nibbling on them.  A very large plant will always have more resources than a small plant wound.

P U M P K I N -- M U T A T I O N S

BODY:
    Eternal
    Energized
            -> Unlocks:  Lunar and Solar
    Delicious
            -> Unlocks:  Healthy
    Glass (Tintable)
    Gemstone (Tintable)            
    
LEAVES:
    HueA through HueD
    RainbowA, RainbowB, Pastel
    Sunset, Dawn, Dusk, Midnight
    Sunflower, Rose, Lemon, Watermelon, Fruity
    Onyx, Diamond, Topaz, Ruby, Amethyst, Sapphire
    UnseelieA, UnseelieB

PARTICLES:
    There's a ton of them!  All of the particles from...well, everything else!

W H A T   DO THE BONSAI ACTUALLY DO?
The breedable fairy bonsai function just like the rest of the breedable veggies (fairy bonsai can be treated to pets as pure fairy dust, they love it!)  However, they also play an important role in your garden.  The larger the fairy bonsai is, the more powerful its mutagenic effect will be once the v17 updates are rolled out.  Each size category fills the air with magical fairy dust that will increase the mutation chance of pets around it, beginning with a very short range (10-meter) for the smallest, and going all the way up to sim-wide for the largest (Grand size category!).

This bonus will stack directly to the end-result of the mutation%, allowing it to easily exceed the base 20% cap.

The fairy bonsai also provide sim-wide food for your pets!  That's right even just one or two fairy bonsai will very likely feed all of the owner's pets on the same sim.  These fairy bonsai provide the following food-types:

        BEA = Rainbow Spur
        UTI = Rainbow Tongue
        FUL = Grass
        MAR = Snakegrass
        VEL = Roses
        OUS = Tulips
        BON = Orchids
        SAI = Anthuriums

I'm sure you're wondering, "Does this mean my breedable flowers aren't helping anymore?"  That's not the case at all!  Your breedable plants provide food based on their racial type.  For example, an Oom gives F+1 "Oom".  This means that in addition to the bonuses your pets are already getting, you'll be getting even more bonuses and better chances at mutations.

P L A N T - C A R E
Breedable plants need very regular weeding.  How often you ask?  Well, they get weeds every minute or so, and any amount of weeds can potentially cause harm -- the more weeds, the more chance of harm.  To combat this, you need workers and/or gardeners.  Workers and gardeners constantly pluck weeds all around them, making sure that the evil little weeds do as little damage as possible to your plants.

Unfortunately, even the tiny amount of weeds that workers and gardeners miss inevitably hurts your plants.  To help heal them and restore their health, you need Priests and/or Saints.  Priests wander around and help the injured and sick around them every minute, restoring the tiny amounts of damage those nasty weeds were able to do.

Plants also enjoy a source of light.  Light is food to plants, after all, and they need it just like other pets need actual food.  The SecondLife universe supplies a small amount of sunlight in its day-to-night cycle based on SL time.  In addition to natural light, plants can be basked in a more potent form of light from Motes of Light, Saints, and similar accessories that shed light as part of their process.

And most importantly...plants need pollen!  A plant can't reproduce without it.  Every pet in your garden naturally spreads pollen as a part of its day-to-day activities.  There are also bee hives if you happen to have a problem finding sources of pollen, and a very helpful helper that spreads pollen while it plucks weeds.

~

If your plant fails to grow up properly after roughly an hour, it is due to too much sim-load.  The plant will need to be re-rezzed in order for it to grow up fully.  Most plants grow up properly on their own.

Plants reproduce completely at random, once the 48-hour timer has expired after it has been rezzed.  A %/Day will be displayed in the pet's hovertext that tells you the likelihood of it reproducing.  For example, 24%/Day is roughly 1% per hour.  It checks every hour, and sees if it's ready to reproduce or not -- and if not, it checks again the next hour.  If it DOES reproduce, a seedling will spawn near the parent.

If a pet ever exceeds 80%/Day, chances are the sim's event queue has shut down one of its processes, and made it impossible to reproduce on its own.  The plant will need to be re-rezzed, which also resets the 48-hour minimum timer before it can reproduce.  On average, a plant gains about 10-15% chance of reproducing per day; the average plant reproduces after 3-4 days.  There is no real limit to the amount of times that a plant can reproduce, though the %/Day does reset back down to the plant's base chance after each time it produces a seedling.

T R E A T I N G - Y O U R - P E T S
The breedable veggies and fruits are able to use their seedlings as special treats for your pets.  The nutritional value of the seedling is displayed in its hovertext.  The main benefit from the treat is an increased chance of mutation that can exceed the base 20% cap, AND there is a small chance that the plant's mutations are added to the gene pool of your pets that nibble from it; obviously, only traits that they share in common are actually injected.  The chance of the plant genetics passing to other pets on-treat is roughly equal to grandparent genetics, ~3.3%.  It's a small percent, yes, but that's considerably better than nothing.  And 3.3% spread over ten or twenty pets nibbling from the same treat results in a much higher chance of it being passed on.

Once nibbled from, the treat will vanish, meaning that the seedling will be consumed in the process.

v15 and v16 pets are NOT able to benefit from the treat-process yet.  The little seedlings are offering it up to them, but they pets don't know what to do with it just yet.  So hang onto your seedlings for the time being until the v17 update injects the information that they need! =)