Bonsai Trompe l'oeil

.. used to grow climbing plants. bonsai: Bonsai is a Japanese word ...whole bonsai trees that are apparently precise trompe l'oeil renderings of nature. ...

Quote : http://britbonsaiblog.blogspot.com



We once had a prominent bonsai professional stay over during a workshop we were running during our club's Summer Show many years ago, and he did his utter best to persuade us to downsize on the number of trees we were growing. While he may have made many salient points, this past winter has also shown me that having a very wide selection of bonsai on hand means that pulling out a half-dozen or so for a winter display means neither headbanging nor panic.

So here is the line-up I dragged out of the garden for the Swindon Winter Image Show, warts and all. My first post on prepping a display for a show is here. The only thing that's changed for me in 2010 is that, due to the really hard winter, we still aren't able to say what trees (and accent plants particularly) will be likely candidates for future shows this year. So you could probably say that this is my 2010 starting line-up.


This shohin Kiyohime maple on rock has been shown previously on this blog and is in a shallow white Walsall pot; over time the white has faded to a very light grey, with a tinge reminiscent of celadon. The tree has come out of the winter without incident. The moss, on the other hand, is way more than manky. Prepping this type of composition is a real pain, as I try to use as much of the old, established moss as possible.

So I took 2 different types of moss, trimming off the back soil / leaves / crud to have as flat a moss 'sheet' as possible. Then I broke it all up into randomly sized patches, some of them maybe only 2 mm wide, others several centimetres in length. Then, using a toothpick, I 'patchworked' the pieces together onto the old moss. The effect I was looking for was an established planting rather than a freshly laid-on topping. The final result is this:
Work still needs to be done to this shohin to improve the trunk line and shorten some of the branches.

And in this post is this Chaenomeles japonica just after Swindon show last year. Fast forward to 2010 and just a few days before this year's show, the moss decided to give up the ghost and crumble off the pot, leaving this:

Again out with the toothpick and the mossy bitty bits. A whole evening spent in a crate indoors brought out a bit more colour in the flower buds. And just so you know, the plant cost a fiver about 4 years ago:


Here's a close-up of the moss 'weave'. You can clearly see the 3 different types of moss used:


This Ivy was dug out of our last garden over 15 years ago and is planted in what we call the dragon's egg (potter is unknown, unfortunately). In this post is what it looked like in the summer last year, and below is how it's come out of a winter in a cold greenhouse heated to 0 degrees Celsius.

Later in the spring I'll try a bit of defoliation on the Ivy so I get some nice spring colour (and possibly smaller leaves). Again, some patchwork retouching had to be done to the moss on this guy.

This Satsuki Azalea (damn if I didn't lose the bloody label somewhere so don't ask me what variety) lives outdoors all year long and had its head buried in snow like the rest of these guys. It's come out of that with tons of new growth as you can see from its back...

...and from its front. How do I tell the one from the other? It's hard to tell from these photos, but the tree actually does 'bow' pronouncedly to you from this angle.



This is one of TOH's earliest Japanese White Pines and it started life as a formal upright. Unfortunately the wrong instructions in a bonsai book led to the loss of both lower branches and it is now a literati. It has also been knocked out of its pot twice in the past year, so it is now slightly overpotted. And in what to me is one ugly, clunky drum pot.


This view is not the precise front of the tree, but IMO it illustrates best how the trunk line runs up and 'bows' toward the viewer.


I'll also have to say that my fave way of prepping a tree for display is straight akadama as it is dead simple. I've now gone off the half-akadama (or soil) / half-moss look as I find it can look rather contrived. So I either go whole hog and do a full moss weave thing or I do pure soil (like when I'm fed up of prepping trees and just want to get it over and done with). I tend to let myself be guided by what the tree looks like before the blackbirds get to it.

New to Bonsai? Dont Panic Its Not That Hard

..A new generation of indoor-plant enthusiasts can enjoy ...,General Care for your Bonsai Tools, how to clean and sharpen your bonsai tools...

Quote : http://www.articleslash.net/


O. K. you have got the idea that Bonsai is all about miniature trees, but you're clueless about “Shakan - Chokkan - Moyogi"? Don't panic, you don't need to know the proper names of styles or tree species, such as Bonsai Juniper or Bonsai Japanese Maple. All you need in the beginning is the desire to want to grow a bonsai plant and some basic knowledge.

To get started in the fascinating art of bonsai gardening, you will require some basic gardening skills, a few elementary tools and supplies, a healthy dose of common sense and a little artistic flair.

If you have grown some plants in pots before - and have managed to keep them alive, healthy and looking good, then you already have the pre-requisite skills for bonsai gardening. Apart from the actual techniques for keeping the plant compact, there really is not that much more to it!

Of course there have been volumes written about those techniques, so much so that you could fill a small library. But they are not ALL necessary to achieve an enviable result for your bonsai masterpiece.

When you first begin, the immediate challenge is just to keep your bonsai tree alive and still looking like a tree! In this you will probably have mixed success. But don't despair if you unintentionally murder a tree or two, you wont be the first and you wont be the last to have done that.

Over time and with trial and error you will get the hang of it. And along the way you will have great joy and satisfaction at being the co-creator of such an amazing and beautiful living thing. It really can at times make your heart sing!

Yes there are things you need to learn. But don't try and know everything all at once, just start with the basics and take one step at a time.

Begin with an easy to grow plant such as bonsai juniper. Then learn one or two things about bonsai care (watering would be preferable first up) and put those couple of things into practice until you feel comfortable that you know what to do, and then move on to the next one or two skills. . . . and so on.

Before you know it you will be the one others ask for advice on growing bonsai plants.