The Art of Bonsai

Tag: Ficus natalensis

  • Taper for your bonsai

    One aspect that is critical to a bonsai’s design is the proper taper of the trunk and secondarily the branches should mirror the taper as determined by the trunk and the base of the tree. Not all bonsai need dramatic taper. Some bonsai are wonderfully designed with a long slim trunk that has little or no taper. Bunjin…

  • 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…

  • Root cuttings

    Root cuttings are one of the easiest ways to develop a good bonsai from throw away materials. Repotting a fig bonsai is needed every year to 5 years depending upon growth, species, size of pot etc. On removing some of the larger and more shapely roots the root is potted up with the root hairs…

  • Taking a tree apart to improve it

    This is a young rooted cutting of Ficus natalensis but the two roots as indicated did not look right to my eyes. So I split the tree and allowed it to sprout back. I like the two new pieces and with more growth I think each may work out to be a reasonable bonsai tree.

  • Slave branches

    Slave branches are used to thicken a bonsai trunk or even branch. By allowing wild and untrimmed growth of these branches the trunk or branch can be thickened. Once the thickening is done the slave branch can be removed or trimmed back.   The branch thus thickened, as in this case, now has a proper…

  • 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.…

  • Ficus natalensis exposed root style

    Ficus natalensis is one of my favorite species for bonsai. It has many characteristics making it suitable for bonsai. One, of these is how easily it is grown from root cuttings. The images show one of mine that is only 2 years from a root cutting.

  • 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…

  • Splitting a fig into two future bonsai trees

    Sometimes splitting a fig into several parts is the way to go with initial styling to maximize the material’s potential. The pant is a Ficus natalensis grown from a root cutting and perhaps two years old. The only exciting thing about it is the twisting lower trunk which should make a nice tree using that as…