The Art of Bonsai

Category: Twists and Turns, shaping trunks

  • The “Too Heavy” root

    In dealing with a fig that has too heavy a root there are several ways to handle the situation. One, is to simply use soil and moss to partially or completely cover the thick root. Another solution is to cut the large root completely off. After removing the root seal the cut with cut paste…

  • Ficus burtt-davyi cutting after 5 years

    Ficus burtt-davyi is a very useful plant for bonsai. It can form nice bonsai in even small size due to its leaves that can become quite small under proper cultivation. There are also several clones that vary from normal to very small leaves. The photos below show a larger BD fig that was cut into pieces…

  • Some recent bonsai work

    Spending a few hours in the growing room and changed and updated a few of my figs. Ficus natalensis grown from a root cutting. Aluminum foil was used to protect the new root cutting from dehydration. Soon it will be removed.    

  • How to thicken a branch

    On this bonsai Ficus natalensis the lowest branch on the right side is not thick enough. Most often the lowest branch should be the thickest on the tree. In order to achieve proper thickness the branch is allowed to grow longer than the style dictates. Note the leaves are also larger than the rest of…

  • Slave branches

    Slave branches are used to thicken a part of the trunk or branch that needs to be heavier. Slave branches are allowed to grow wildly without trimming and when the thickening has been achieved they are removed. This Ficus natalensis has a slim trunk that would be improved by thickening it to introduce some more taper.…

  • Aerial roots

    This clump of Ficus virens/infectoria is seed grown and by being kept in a small container the individual trees now are fused and live on a common root system and lower trunk. Of interest is the somewhat peculiar formation seen in the red outline. It is an aerial root that has existed for quite a…

  • Moving an aerial root

    Aerial roots are one of the very useful and impressive features of some fig trees. As with other design elements of a bonsai the aerials must augment the overall design scheme. In this Ficus virens the aerial root crosses across the trunk and in addition it gives the appearance of a reverse taper to the…

  • Ficus cuttings, a great way to get more trees

    Over the years I have taken many hundreds of cuttings. Most Ficus can be started easily from cuttings and even large size cuttings can be rooted with success. This is a Ficus microcarpa cutting taken from one of my very large bonsai. It was allowed to grow without trimming to recover strength and over time branches were…

  • Working with bonsai artist Hank Miller

    I had the great pleasure of spending a few days with Hank Miller. He is a bonsai grower, artist and bonsai teacher. Hank grows mainly species in his greenhouse but he loves working with Ficus natalensis and Ficus burtt-davyi. These clones of Ficus were selected by him for strong growth, small leaf size and responding really…

  • Demonstration and lecture – Exposed Root Style

    At the recent American Bonsai Society learning symposium in Grand Rapids Michigan I presented a number of programs. One program was a lecture demonstration of the exposed root style bonsai. This happens to be one of my favorite bonsai styles and is little used and discussed. In this style the exposed roots are the focal…