Page 47 - Tạp chí bonsai cây cảnh BCI 2017Q2

Sweet Fragrance

The Charm of Flowering Wisteria Bonsai

By Danilo Scursatone, Italy

Translation by Danilo Scursatone and Joe Grande
variety, the color of the flowers is always less intense than those of the medium
and short spike, and flowers are more sparse, softer and elegant in appearance.
Wisteria for starter bonsai can be found in nurseries where it is important to
choose grafted plants. Plants that grow from seed always have reduced flowering
and sometimes can take many years before they produce flowering buds.
To create a wisteria bonsai in a reduced amount of time and get good results, it
is possible to resort to the technique of air layering. The air layering must be made
on a perennial branch that has been pruned for many years. The layering made in
May is ready in August of the same year to be detached from the mother plant and
placed in a bonsai pot. It is best for the first winter to protect it from frost, placing
it in a cold frame. The following spring, you can already enjoy a flowering bonsai,
Although not yet perfect in its bonsai pot, with its first flowering it rewards us
of the work done.
After the drastic pruning of the late winter, applied to stimulate flowering, the
Wisteria blooms and then emits leaves and growth spurts. There are two types
of growth: short internodes that correspond to the locations where next season’s
flower buds are formed and elongation governed by its growth habit which is
a vine. As the plant elongates, it should be allowed to grow while pinching
branch tips. In July or alternatively at the end of August, the branch generated
by the regrowth will be pruned, leaving on it one or two leaves. This action will
strengthen the plant and will facilitate the issuance of new flower buds.
It is important to use a rich fertilizer (be careful not to provide too much
nitrogen that would result in reduced flowering) and plentiful watering during
its growth period. The Wisteria does not tolerate being dry and needs a lot of
water. In periods of intense heat, place the Wisteria in partial shade on a saucer
that holds excess water from regular watering so as to facilitate hydration.
Regarding repotting, it is recommended to partially replace the soil every 2 or
3 years, avoiding soils that are too calcareous. Repotting can be done in the fall
or immediately after flowering, removing only the large and little-divided roots
that form a tangle in the bottom of the pot.
Before flowering, if there are many branches with flower buds, some of these
buds can be eliminated. This operation of thinning out the flowering mass, results
in more elegance and color rendering in the remaining flowers. If there are too many flowers, not only does the bonsai shape disappear but
branches can dry out from the excessive effort of flowering.
Each wisteria bonsai is unique and the style in which it is shaped is not so critical, as long as you respects the nature of the species. During
the shaping, it is good to organize the overall appearance of the bonsai favoring the floriferous mass to be predominant, but with its mass
optically balanced with the bonsai tree.
Choose a pot shape that will complement the intended bonsai style or be in harmony with the structure of the plant. As for the color of
the bonsai pot, you will have to take into account the flowering and the resulting type of flower. Is good remember that the pot should not
prevail in bonsai and in the specific case of Wisteria, the flowers are always the center of attention. Because wisteria is a unique species, from
a bonsai point of view, it is possible to break the traditional rules and experiment with unusual pots decorated with landscapes or animals
to give us lightness and poetry that blends in well with this species.
Surely, styling a Wisteria will not disappoint. The species’ adaptability to the bonsai pot and therefore of its future development, both
from the point of view of creativity, giving the bonsai artist space to free his or her spirit to achieve a bonsai form, which in time will always
reward us with new emotions.

April/May/June 2017 | BCI | 45