The Art of Bonsai

Tag: literati

  • How to create bonsai figs

    We all learn to appreciate thick trunked, massively tapered trunks in our first years in bonsai. I remember well trying to achieve this look with my trees and failing. I could neither afford nor find material that worked well for this style of bonsai. In the last number of years I have come to appreciate…

  • Playing with images to design your tree

    One thing that I find very useful is to photograph my trees on a regular basis. This allows me to see how the trees progress over time and lets me photographically change the images to see if a better design emerges from the image manipulations. A series of pictures to illustrate how the design might…

  • How to work with a large leaf bonsai

    Utilizing large leaf plants for bonsai is difficult. There are various techniques to deal with plants that have large leaves, like Ficus benghalensis. The first shot shows the tree with its various sized leaves. These are large but already reduced just by being grown in a small container. The second shot shows the tree in…

  • 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…

  • Twisting and turning design

    This is an exercise in bonsai creation that is just for fun. The plant is a Ficus salicaria, Willow Leaf fig,  grown from a root cutting. This was a very long root, perhaps 2 feet in length. Foliage has sprouted at the cut end but how to design a tree out of it? One possibility is…