The Art of Bonsai

Tag: aerial root

  • Creating something from nothing

  • Aerial roots and growth

    Aerial roots are one of the most unique and wonderful features of figs. Aerial roots start out as small fine filaments from the trunk or branches and grow down to the soil. Once rooted into the soil they thicken and can become as thick or thicker than the trunk or branch from which they originated. Growth…

  • Aerial roots are fabulous but…

    Aerial roots are often a great feature for a Ficus bonsai. However, not all bonsai shapes will benefit from aerials. In addition aerials can be difficult or impossible to grow depending on the species of fig; some figs will not produce aerials and even ones that do produce aerials may need very high humidity that…

  • 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…

  • Reverse taper

    Trees ideally should have a wide root base that tapers up into the trunk. A bulge or lack of proper taper often ruins the visual flow from the rootline to the apex of the tree and is called reverse taper. In this case several root cuttings of Willow Leaf fig, Ficus salicaria, were bound togeter in…

  • 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…

  • 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…