Page 60 - Tạp chí bonsai cây cảnh BCI 2015Q4

My Bonsai are

Getting Older

…and so am I

By Lew Buller, USA

The history of he story is told that when Justice Oliver to the next generation to take care of. I spent a week
Wendell Holmes was 90, he was walking volunteering at the National Bonsai Arboretum in
bonsai culture in down the street and saw the nice ankles of Washington, DC and had the opportunity to work on
a woman wearing a flared skirt. He com- a 300-year old pine. It was a gift from the people of
Japan has been Tmented “I wish I was 70 again.” While I’m Japan. Over three feet tall (it couldn’t be kept small
only 81, I understand how he felt. forever), it reflected the care bestowed on it by more
not to let the The expression “Old age is not for sissies” gives than 10 generations of bonsai artists.
only a general idea, not the specifics of the problem. Clearly, I had an obligation to pass my trees on to
trees die, but Old age brings not only infirmities, but also painful someone who could take care of them and continue
decisions. In my case, one of the decisions was what to their development. After considerable discussion with
rather to transfer do about the bonsai that were becoming increasingly my wife, she was in agreement that it was time to pass
difficult to care for. Mixing soil had become a problem; them on. I asked a long-time acquaintance who runs a
them to the next physically lifting a heavy bonsai out of the pot had nursery in the greater Los Angeles, California area to
become an impossibility, and I was faced with the take all but a few of my favorites. I expected him to sell
generation to question of whether I should let them die with me or them, but I also knew he would set a price that would
make some other arrangement. discourage beginners, and perhaps some intermediate
take care of. The history of bonsai culture in Japan has been hobbyists from bidding on them.
not to let the trees die, but rather to transfer them

Top left; I spent a week
volunteering at the National
Bonsai Arboretum in
Washington, DC and had the
opportunity to work on a 300-
year old pine.
Bottom left and right;
This Ficus benjamina ‘Little
Lucy’ clump that is 22 years
old, was already started in a
small round ceramic pot when
I bought it in 1993. When I got
around to photographing it in
1999, it had grown a bit.
The photo on the right shows
what it looked like in October,
2015, 29” tall and 23” wide.

58 | BCI | October/November/December 2015