The Art of Bonsai

Tag: Ficus ‘Mystery’

  • How to create a bonsai form a long and thin plant

    It is not easy to create a bonsai from a long and thin piece of material. One way is to use some heavy wire and shape the limber material to your desires. Be creative and try many different shapes. Some will be exciting and some will be losers. In this case a root cutting of…

  • Root-over-rock style

    One of my favorite forms of bonsai is the root-over-rock design. It incorporates an attractive stone with nice texture and fissures and a bonsai tree growing over it. In this case it is a Ficus ‘Mystery’ that was planted on this rock about 15 years ago. The original plant was quite boring and frankly ugly…

  • Creating something from nothing

  • Twisting and Turning

    When presented with material that is young and lacks interesting features I will search for ones that have twists and turns. Great bonsai can be created from this rather unexciting material. Using wire to shape long and limber pieces is another way to introduce interesting shapes. Another way is to use root cuttings that often…

  • The tree with no taper

    There are many ways to handle a tree with little or no apparent taper. In this case a Ficus ‘Mystery’ was grown from a very straight and taperless cutting. Fortunately there were several existing aerial roots that were brought down along the trunk and rooted into the ground. The aerial roots provide a visual thickening…

  • Creating a bonsai from a cutting

    Taking cuttings is one of the best ways to start a bonsai tree. In this example a cutting of Ficus ‘Mystery’ was taken. It was a long straight piece of stem with several aerial roots. A cutting taken with aerial roots is almost guaranteed to root. In this case the cutting rooted successfully and several…

  • Root-over-rock design

    One of the most popular designs is the root-over-rock design where a tree or trees is growing draped over a stone. In this example a Ficus ‘Mystery’ was placed on a rock about 9-10 years ago. It was a piece of a larger plant see http://www.bonsaihunk.us/info/BreakingUpIsEasyToDo.html This section was frankly quite ugly and I almost discarded it. Rather…

  • Ficus ‘Mystery’, piece 4

    Ficus ‘Mystery’ is an unknown fig given to me in 2004 by friend David Fukumoto of Fuku-Bonsai. The first shot shows one of the pieces of the tree that was initially sectioned into 5 pieces. The second shot shows the piece #4 in 2014. This material is vigorous and aggressive and shapes up into beautiful…

  • Two of my Ficus ‘Mystery’, #1 and #2

    Ficus ‘Mystery” is so called because its exact scientific name is unclear. No matter what this fig is called it is one of the best figs for bonsai that I have cared for. You can see how these two figs were created from a tree given to me by David Fukumoto of www.fukubonsai.com by clicking…

  • Exposed root styles

    One of my favorite styles for tropical bonsai is the exposed root style. This may represent trees whose roots have been gradually exposed by a river washing the soil away from the roots or with trees growing on a hillside which is being eroded away. It also could be the end stages of a tree…