Small and Simple is Un-American (Pt. 2 of 2)
My Minimalist Garden: Bonsais
Haiku (from Pt. 1) is a minimalist marvel for word-smiths and poets. The bonsai hobby is a minimalist marvel for gardeners and sculptors. No, No! I’m not referring to spending a bundle to buy a ready-made bonsai and just watering it once in a while.
That would be like having all your meals catered, and never cooking yourself. Nor do I mean sticking any small plant into a bonsai pot, and pretending its a bonsai; that’s like opening some sardines and calling them salmon or caviar.
I mean the hobby of creating and maintaining your own little tree in a pot: D.I.Y. Bonsais. I started about 30 years ago by taking a short course, bought a book now and then, joined a Bonsai Club for a while, all very useful. Bonsai means ‘tree in a tray’——- a miniature tree. When seen at eye level, it must have the right form and shape to produce an illusion of a real mature tree. Like real trees, bonsais, ideally belong outside.
The activity originated in China about 1500 years ago, and began in Japan about a thousand years ago, where it has reached a high level of sophistication. It is today a highly satisfying hobby part art, part science, part gardening; all minimalist. I do my weeding using tweezers, some of my pruning is done with cuticle cutters!
Many bonsai books and experts use the term ‘training’ for bonsai creation. Technically, that’s wrong: the little cutting or nursery stock isn’t learning anything; it is gradually being shaped or sculptured to resemble a mature tree.
Techniques include: strategic pruning, hanging weights onto selected branches, ‘wiring’ around selected branches with solid copper wire (electrical wire won’t work) so as to be able to bend those branches into a more suitable form and have them remain in that position.
Some rules if you want to give it a try:
Don’t start from seed, unless you’re less than 10; its a slow process. You’re better off starting with a sapling , or a cutting from a promising big tree, or partially started bonsai stock from a bonsai nursery.
Buy a printed bonsai book; consult it often; have your book at hand when you inspect your baby(ies). Learn the 5 basic styles of bonsai first: 1. Formal Upright, 2. Informal Upright, 3. Slanting, 4. Cascade, 5. Semi-Cascade.
Small bonsais never grow into big bonsais.
Start with a variety that grows easily in your area. Don’t be discouraged if you lose a baby, now and then. I’m sure it happens even to the masters; and I know, from the traumatic scar, that it’s happened to me.
Pick a specimen (from your garden or plant nursery) that has a stout trunk and a small leaf; that will help produce the illusion we’re after. Good choices for beginners in the USA are: Cotoneaster, Dwarf Hemlock, Juniper, and Firethorn (Pyracantha).
Decide early which will be the front and back of the tree; always display accordingly.
Techniques? Of those listed above, I like strategic pruning best; I think of it as sculpture of a living plant.
Wiring must be done sometimes, but I don’t like it; its like putting braces on kids’ teeth. Moreover, if you keep the wire on too long, it sometimes cuts into the branch.
Don’t invest in your first ceramic bonsai pot until you begin to see results. An ordinary plastic pot is fine at the beginning.
After you succeed with your first, prune new branch growth often, and roots when needed.
You will probably observe, as I did, that as you are ‘training’ it, the bonsai is really training you to be: more patient, more observant, more caring and more contemplative —— a wholly symbiotic affair!
Any questions? You can leave me a note if you like.
