Page 55 - Tạp chí bonsai cây cảnh BCI 2016Q3

Facing page; The inspiration for this article and the way Taiwanese bonsai artist style
Ficus bonsai is the famous tree on the National Cheng Kung University campus,
the Ficus microcarpa that started it all.

Top left; The process started with a few stock Ficus microcarpa, var. ‘kimen’, binding Top right; Time to remove some branches and plant another tree to the upper
them with wire and growing them as one unit. The group of trees on the right are portion of the stock. This solves the tree’s lack of taper and adds some character to
added or fused to the group on the left to create a new fused group with stronger the composition by fusing roots to the understock.
taper.

The Creation Process:
In the beginning, I had only my observations from
my Taiwan trip, some internet pictures of magnificent
Taiwanese ficus, and pictures of trees by Master Lo
Min Hsuan to go by. In sum, the creation process was
quite solitary, based on observation, combined with
trial and error. As you know, ficus is a strong species,
capable of fusing trunks and branches. I embarked of
the task of gathering a few stock Ficus microcarpa, var.
‘kimen,’ arrange them accordingly, binding them with
wire and growing them out as one unit.
The first year of creation was slow and was mainly
focused on observation. After the initial year, I no-
ticed that the plants had indeed fused together. Un-
fortunately, the resulting lack of taper was ages away
from my desired results. On a horticultural note,
the unexpected outcome is a product of ficus’ natu-
ral growing conditions, as lower branches are much
stronger that upper limbs. This fact served as a con- Middle left; The fused trees to
stant reminder throughout the creation process, as my be added to the top of the
projected result was to achieve a strong looking tree larger group of fused trees.
with good taper. Not giving up, I decided it was time Middle right; The two fused
to remove some branches and plant another tree to groups are now one group.
the upper portion of the stock. By doing this, I could Bottom; Remember, always fit
solve the tree’s lack of taper and add some character the tree tightly and combine
and arrange the roots to a
to the composition with the aid of fusing roots to the skintight fit. To encourage
understock. Remember, always fit the tree tightly and growth, an extension to
combine and arrange the roots to a skintight fit. To the original pot was added
encourage growth, an extension to the original pot and additional coarse sand
was added and additional coarse sand was placed to was placed to speed up the
process.
speed up the process.
July/August/September 2016 | BCI | 53