Beautiful Bonsai
As a kid I truly believed that Bonsai were special because they were miniature trees and had to be tended by an expert hand because only special people could grow Bonsai making them really expensive.
Now as an adult I realize how special they are but not because they’re mini trees, they’re special because they require care and skill to grow and shape them, and growing Bonsai is an art all on its own.
A Bonsai is a regular tree which is grown in miniature to resemble an aged one. As the Bonsai grows and matures the more valuable it becomes. When growing a Bonsai, the grower needs to have vision and skill to train the tree and guide the shape.
The roots need to be pruned, the branches wired and various other techniques applied to creating a Beautiful Bonsai.
All of this takes time, skill and most of all patience and many who grow Bonsai are considered artists and their trees their Art.
For more information about Bonsai go to www.bonsaitree.co.za
Raising Bonsai is an Art:
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A good root system is essential in training a Bonsai. A nebari ( surface root structure) needs to be of good quality.
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the trunk, being the most appealing part of the design needs a good taper(kokejun), rise and curves.
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Wiring the trunk and branches helps to achieve beautiful shapes. Starting while the plant is young bending the trunk into a basic shape of a tree and then moving on to the first branch and then second and so on, until the final shape. This can be done in a few attempts.
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The final shaping of the plant is done by pruning, branches, buds and leaves. Pruning reduces the volume of the tree helping to achieve the goal of “Keisho-Sodai”- small size, great similarity.
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Bonsai also require very little water and should never have ‘wet feet’ so special Bonsai soil which dries out quickly should be used. You will need to water your Bonsai regularly but with little bits at a time.
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