Page 38 - Tạp chí bonsai cây cảnh BCI 2016Q1

Photographed in September
2014. The pot is 6 inches deep,
22 inches wide, and 17 inches
from front to back. Internal
depth is about 5 1/4 inches.
The tree blooms beautifully
but has never set berries, even
using fertilizer with a relatively
high phosphorus content.

The photo in the oval on
facing page was taken late
September 2015. The pot is
slightly smaller than the pot
used in 2014.

This tip of a branch shows 180-degree angle from one another. The berries on
both berries and compound
leaves. The leaves are four- this tree fall on the sidewalk, get stuck in the treads
and-three-quarters inches of shoes and get tracked into the house. To avoid this
long, have five to six sets of takes a conscious strategy suitable to the situation but
horizontally opposed leaflets it makes extra work. However, the trees are dioecious.
with the longest about The male (no berries) is available for people who like
two-and-a-quarter inches,
and grow out at about a the tree but not the berries.
180-degree angle from one The Brazilian pepper bonsai shown above took
another. about 30-35 years and two people to develop. Steve
got it from B J Patterson, who planted the tree in a
deep (15-gallon) plastic pot to develop the trunk first.
How does one develop a bonsai like this? With a lot
of pinching back while balancing trunk and branch
development. Using a tree that already has the correct
trunk size means cutting the top off the tree to reduce
its height. That results in either a stub that requires
California, the landscapes are slowly being converted years to grow a new top or must be shaped to look as
into xeriscapes. Many of the succulents being planted if it had been killed naturally, perhaps by lightning.
can survive on no more than a sprinkling of water Bald cypresses lend themselves to the latter treatment.
on the soil. Some accommodation is made for yards Why would one want to develop a bonsai like this?
that have trees–enough water is provided to keep the It’s sort of like the comment Sir Edmund Hillary made
trees alive. The trees are kept for good reasons: they about climbing Mt. Everest. Politely expressed, it be-
provide enough shade to change the temperatures in came “Because it was there.” What Hillary actually
yards, they collect dust, take in carbon dioxide, throw said was “Well, George, we knocked the bastard off.”
off oxygen and provide seasonal beauty with flowers Steve is a gifted bonsai artist with an unusual ability
and berries. to grow and design and this tree provided a real chal-
This tip of a branch, above, shows both berries lenge. So when he got the plant from B J, he set about
and compound leaves. The leaves are four-and- climbing his own Everest. Steve doesn’t curse so he
three-quarters inches long, have five to six sets of would not have repeated Hillary’s comment.
horizontally opposed leaflets with the longest about The usual requirements for bonsai are a tree, a pot,
two-and-a-quarter inches, and grow out at about a sun, soil, water, fertilizer, regular trimming (regularly

36 | BCI | January/February/March 2016