Blog – Page 5 – The Art of Bonsai

Fusion

Many of us do not have easy access to larger materials and must use small plants or cuttings to develop their bonsai. One way to utilize smaller material is to cultivate cuttings from a desirable plant. In this case it is a Ficus concinna with lovely new foliage that is quite red in color. I…

November 10, 2019

Ficus burkei ‘puberula’

Ficus burkei ‘puberula’ can grow roots up from the soil and into the air and then back into the soil. Why they do this is a mystery to me but it also occurs with other Ficus species. In this case I removed the two roots and they sprouted foliage from the cut end. They will…

June 28, 2019

Root-over-rock Ficus

Ficus are easy to develop into root-over-rock designs as they have aggressive roots that tolerate gradual exposture to air and the roots really do well growing over rocks. The photo is of a Ficus burkei ‘puberula’ cutting that was placed on the rock, roots wraped to keep them tight on the rock and then planted…

June 19, 2019

My new book is here, The World of Ficus Bonsai

You can purchase it on: Amazon – https://www.amazon.com/World-Ficus-Bonsai-Jerry-Meislik/dp/152553288X/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=The+World+of+Ficus+bonsai&qid=1555519664&s=gateway&sr=8-1 Apple – https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-world-of-ficus-bonsai/id1460062986 Friesens – https://books.friesenpress.com/store/title/119734000056702445/Jerry-Meislik-The-World-of-Ficus-Bonsai

April 17, 2019

Ficus tremula

One of favorite species for bonsai is Ficus tremula. I have only recently been able to find the species and started growing it. I originally saw the species in South Africa in the collection of Hennie Nel, a great bonsai artist and grower. The species grows easily from seed, cuttings and root cuttings. Leaves reduce…

April 9, 2019

Why won’t my Ficus cutting grow?

Some 6 months I have been waiting for a cutting of Ficus burkei ‘puberula’ to show some signs of rooting. This is a long time for this Ficus species to show no evidence of rooting. I did see some foliage poking out of the soil in the corner of the pot. So, I unpotted the…

March 30, 2019

Nearly 40 years

This is a Ficus rubiginosa grown from seed collected by a friend while traveling in Australia. I bought the young tree from him about 40 years ago. The photo shows how the tree has evolved from the left side photo taken in 1985 to the right photo taken in 2019. Rubginosa is one of the…

February 18, 2019

Creating a new branch with fusion

In this Ficus microcarpa ‘melon seed’ I needed a left side branch. As you can see in image 1 there is no branch. Fortunately, several small branches sprouted in the right spot and to speed the development of the branch three of the sprouts were tied together with cable ties, image 2. Two of the…

January 11, 2019

Tilting the bonsai

Sometimes a bonsai creation works well and sometimes a gentle adjustment in one factor can result in a great improvement. In this case a seed grown Ficus natalensis in the exposed root style appears to work quite well. Making a simple adjustment and tilting the tree to the right improves the design immensely. The left…

May 14, 2018

Ficus rumphii

A very worthwhile fig to grow is Ficus rumphii. It is used extensively in southeast Asia for bonsai. The pictures show two rumphii that I grew from seed and that are now 12 years old. The bark on this species is light in color as contrasted to religiosa which has a darker grey bark. Religiosa…

May 1, 2018