Bonsai tree: From Ordinary To Sublime

Robert Steven’s digital simulation of a tree that was submitted by Josua.

The eye of a master

Sometimes Robert Steven’s simulations are strikingly radical and completely unexpected. In this case, what Robert has presented isn’t so radical. You might even say, his improvements are fairly obvious. Still, obvious or not, Robert’s expert eye and touch always seem to elevate the trees from ordinary to sublime.

The tree on the left was submitted by Anthony. The one on the right was submitted by Josua. Both are ficus.

Robert’s Critique

I put these two bonsai together for my critique and as they are both Ficus. My simulation is for Josua’s tree, but I believe Anthony will also learn from it.

Anthony’s tree is still immature; the ramification (branching) needs to be developed. No matter how old or well developed the trunk appears, if the ramification is not ideal, it will never look like a mature tree in nature. From the initial form, I can also tell the “textbook mind set” with the 1-2-3 branching rule and apical crown which does not portray the character of ficus (or a deciduous tree) which should be wide spread. The aerial roots are also messy.

For Josua’s tree, the basic features of the trunk and aerial roots are nice, they show the character of an old ficus, but the crown is too small, too round and too neat. This creates an artificial look. The pot is also too deep which distracts the tree from the overall composition.

In order to portray a large old ficus in nature, the crown should be much wider: with uneven foliage edges. This will give the tree more natural look. The ramification still looks rather messy and too dense, it should be further refined and simplified. This especially applies to the twigs. If you do this, your bonsai will look neat and clean with sufficient spaces which also good for the lights to get through. A shallow pot will improve the tree’s presentation as you can see in the simulation.

General comments

There is more than one way to design any bonsai and my critiques and recommended solutions might not always fit your taste and personal preferences, but I always try to give my opinion based on artistic and horticultural principles.

To understand my concepts better, please read my books Vision of My Soul and Mission of Transformation which are available at Stone Lantern.

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Bonsai tree: Bonsai maintenance

Source: Bonsai Tonight
Bonsai maintenance

I find mid-summer to late fall to be an interesting time of year in bonsai. It’s a good time for the little tasks – the maintenance work. In cooler seasons, I can bring one or two trees to a workshop that will keep me busy all day. This time of year, I tend to load up many trees and spend just a few minutes with each. This month was no exception. My winterberry, for example, has been growing vigorously, but big cutback isn’t scheduled until the end of the growing season. For now, I’m content to remove a few unnecessary branches and wire the new shoots.

Winterberry

Late spring is a good time to work on satsuki. My small azalea has grown dense since spring so I thinned out the new shoots.

Satsuki azalea

My Yaupon holly has budded back wonderfully this year. Like I did for the winterberry, I removed a few unnecessary branches and wired the new shoots. Major cutback will come later.

Yaupon holly

Not everyone in the workshop busied themselves with such mundane tasks. Here is one of the three ficus that received a basic styling while I was busy with my trees. What a fun project!

Ficus

I also had a chance to partially defoliate my trident maple. I’d hoped to do this work a month ago, but August has been cool and my trees have been growing slowly. Instead of removing all of the tree’s leaves this late in the season, I removed a lot of the growth at the ends of the branches and all of the big leaves.

Trident maple

New leaves revealed after removing the large leaves

Half-way done

Partial defoliation complete

Watching the interior shoots make slow progress has made me wonder about taking a more radical approach next year. Although I have plenty of time to consider what I’ll do with the tree next spring, I’m already looking forward to seeing what will happen.

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Bonsai tree: Power, Color & A Too Little Forest

Bougainvillea, Wigert’s Bonsai. I originally captured this impressive monster on facebook. I took the liberty of photoshopping to soften the background a bit. In the process, the flowers brightened some (a result of limited photoshop skills, no doubt). Still, even without my help, this tree exhibits a striking combination of power and color. You can visit Wigert’s Bonsai Gallery to see another shot in a different setting.

Too Little Ficus Forest. This one was lifted straight from Wigert’s Gallery. It’s cropped a little tight to eliminate some background text, but even so, its balance and beauty are obvious. I like the choice of trees, the arrangement, the sense of depth, and almost everything else about this planting (it would have been better to remove the distracting white tag), including the remarkable pot with its coral/pink blush.

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Bonsai tree: ficus microcarpa

This tree isn’t exactly eccentric, but it's just powerful, handsome and unique. It’s by Budi Sulistyo and graces the cover of his excellent tropical bonsai gallery book.
I think this next tree falls into the eccentric category.

This ficus microcarpa by Budi Sulisyo from an album entitled ‘Stone Pot’.
This tree falls short of some of Budi’s other trees. I imagine that he posted it to show trees in stone pots. Or just to break with convention or maybe to encourage those of us who aren’t big time bonsai artists to not be afraid to show our trees.
First, it is eccentric and that’s what this series is about. Second, the trunk is heavy and has some movement and character. Third, the leaves are well developed, fairly small and healthy looking. Fourth, there looks to be a pretty good nebari, but it’s hard to tell in the photo.
The comments above are just a few quick impressions. I have too much respect for Budi to simply dismiss anything he does, let alone file criminal charges.

It features some of best tropical bonsai anywhere by some serious bonsai heavy weights from Asia and beyond. Read more!

Famous bonsai and Famous People

How many times have you seen a bonsai that is big enough to sit its shade? And no, I don’t think it’s a plastic tree at Disney World. More like a real live ficus in Thailand.
Have you ever wanted to travel the world and visit all the famous bonsai places and hang out with all the famous bonsai people? If their website is any indication that’s what Chase and Solita Rosade have been up to.
Chase and Solita also fall into that dubious category. But it’s well earned and couldn’t happen to nicer people. If you don’t believe me, visit them at Rosade Bonsai Studio sometime.

Parts of the Rosade Bonsai Studio display at the Philadelphia flower show.



More evidence of famous people and famous places. Read more!

Shohin exhibition

Shohin has a fun place in the bonsai world. One of the best events in shohin world that I know about is the biannual event held by the California Shohin Society in Santa Nella, CA. The next one is a week away – visit Shohin Seminar 2010 for details.
One of my favorite unproductive discussion topics focuses on the maintenance of large or small bonsai. Unfortunately I can not reproduce even the tenor of the greatest expounding on the topic I have witnessed, but if you’re curious, find Guy Guidry after dinner at your local bonsai convention and fire away.

Here are some photos of shohin on display at Bay Island Bonsai’s 11th annual exhibit.

Japanese Maple

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Bonsai contest

This is a Cape honeysuckle (Tecomaria capensis), by Ken T. I like the knob on the right that makes the tree unique and tells a little story. I can still see a few things that might improve it.

1. The soil line could be just a little higher so the base of the tree would have more anchored feel. Generally saying this is just to lower the tree in the pot.

2. Perhaps letting the crown grow up higher in the center and then rounding it off some would balance the tree a little better.

3. The roots from the surface should be more covered with soil.

4. If turning the tree counterclockwise, it the view could be better.

This is a flowering serissa by Brian and Jill. It is healthy, the flowers are great and the strong little trunk is a good start. A too large pot can work for growing on and encouraing development, so maybe that is their intention.

This is a little ficus by Susan Richards. I like the way the trunk is wired. It promises a good future for this sparse little tree. Right now the sparse leaves are way too big for the tree, as is the pot; at least for show purposes Read more!

Indoor Bonsai

Wintertime in the South is a time when my house fills with all the tropical plants from the bench. Growing indoor bonsai can be a very rewarding experience especailly if your new to bonsai and want to keep it close to you. Unfortunately, it can be the most frustrating start to your bonsai career. I started like many others have, with a juniper “mallsai”. I made the classic bonsai beginner mistake and kept it inside for a couple of weeks. After readng through many of the sites linked to on this site, I figured out that a juniper is for outdoors only. My second purchase was a Ficus Microcarpa and a much better choice for indoor growing. I have purchased several tropical bonsai that I have enjoyed taking care of.

Each year, I experiment with lighting conditions for these indoor bonsai and this year is not an exception. I am trying a 24-inch fluorescent grow light for my smaller bonsai that was actually pretty cheap at Wal-Mart ($9.95). My ficus gets it’s own 100-watt 6500K daylight CFL and my jade gets a 75 watt desk lamp that does a terrible job. This seems to keep them barely happy for the winter monhts. I really can’t wait for the summer months to put them back outside. They seem much happier in the sunligth. I fully intend to create a new setup before next year that would include 3 24-inch fluorescent of different color temperature. Apparently, when using florescent, you should try to vary the color temps to cover as much ground as possible. Here’s some articles that I run across while doing my research:
Seasonal bonsai;
Winter bonsai;
Freazing weather and watering; Read more!

Ficus Gallery

This powerfuly built gem is from Ficus, the Exotic Bonsai. It looks like to be a Benjamina cultivar.

Big ficus fan
If you want to grow bonsai indoors, you will be hard pressed to find subjects beter suited than ficus, though some varieties are better suited than others. I have also had some luck with the Willow Leaf ficus. If you have any experience with other varieties, let us know.


This is a large Willow leaf ficus with some impresive aerial roots.


This is a large Benjamina with a well developped nebari.


This is a simple Willow leaf planting. Though it is far from a masterpiece, it does have some charm and is the type of project that almost any beginner might attempt and that's for sure. Read more!

What is the best kind of bonsai tree should I get and why?

Looking to get a Bonsai tree. But what kind do i get and where should i get it? there are, Junipers, Ficus, Pines/Palms, and other Unique Trees.

Junipers cost less and won’t kill you if they die.

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can you grow a bonsai tree from another bonsai?

ok i have a bonsai tree but i would like to make a second one. its a ficus and i have had it for almost a year now so its about 4 years old but i dont know if it is possible to make a second tree with it. if you could help then please do. thanks!

You can propagate trees into bonsais either from standard or previously bonsaid trees, though you’ll likely have more vegetative growth from a plant like a Ficus that is not previously bonsaid. That said, many Ficus are fairly easy to propagate, usually I find the air layering technique to be the most succesful. Choose a reasonably mature piece of stem, either the previous year’s growth, or current years that’s a few months old. This involves making a cut an inch or so long on part of the stem, just lifting up some of the surface bark – it doesn’t need to be totally removed from the plant, though can be lifted, using something to keep it from sealing back up, like a little match stalk etc. You then start surrounding this part of the stem with something like sphagnum moss, and enclosing this by using some string tied around it. Adding some hormone rooting gel or powder will encourage rooting, before you cover it with moss.

Keep the sphagnum moist, enclosing within a tied down pieve of plastic, and you should start to see roots forming into it, from the Ficus stem. If the moss is too wet, it can cause some rotting, so beware of this.

When there is a good root system that’s formed, you can cut this piece of your plant away from the parent, using a sterilized knife, just below the area that is wanted, and immediately above your parent plant’s leaf buds, where it will subsequently grow shoots from.

Keep your new cutting enclosed in a polythene/plastic cover, to help preserve humidity levels, and plant into a well draining potting soil. Once more fully rooted, it can be fertilised, and managed as you would your other bonsai.

Otherwise you can propagate Ficus from seeds, produced by plants that flower and are pollinated – your current plant may not be at this stage at its current age. It doesn’t matter if the seed comes from a currently bonsaid plant or not, its genetic material will be the same, and it will grow according to the prevailing conditions.

Hope this helps.

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