Attempt Number 2
Try as I may, sometimes I just can't live up to my word. I'll try to keep the posts coming, but this time, I'm going to start off a little slower. Today's post is about my new Ficus Benjamini (or is it Ficuses Benjamina, like Courts Marshal or Generals Surgeon?). Either way, I bought a fairly cheap starter plant today at Lowe's, which had five little shoots of ficus. and I'm going to transform them all into bonsai. I've already trimmed off their tops and some very, very minor pruning. I won't be doing any wiring or defoliation for this season, but hopefully next spring I'll be able to start shaping them a bit. As you can already see, though, I re-potted each individual plant and they've got great beginning form. The first two are going be a formal and an informal upright:
One of the five plants was significantly smaller than the others, so instead of 1) tossing it out or 2) having to wait many, many years before I could begin any semblance of shaping, I decided to attach it to a third informal upright, changing it into a twin trunk design:
In a year or two the little guy will grow into a more balanced size next to the main specimen and you'll see some definite bonding going at the base of those two trunks. Finally, we have my favorite shape of bonsai, the slanting:
This one is going to take on a lot of shaping next season. You can see there was a little natural slanting going on to begin with, but I'll be increasing the angle even more with the next re-potting. The sprig you see coming out on the bottom left is probably going to have to go, and I'm not sure if I can't get any regrowth on those two jins right in the middle; I might have the shape the main lower branch back in the direction of the slant to keep the wind blowing. Anyways...this is what I'm starting with. Again, all of these came in a single pot from Lowe's, but I think they show promise. We'll see how they stood up to my root raking and slight pruning, and I may do some slight defoliation to bring the leaves back down to a more appropriate bonsai size.
One of the five plants was significantly smaller than the others, so instead of 1) tossing it out or 2) having to wait many, many years before I could begin any semblance of shaping, I decided to attach it to a third informal upright, changing it into a twin trunk design:
In a year or two the little guy will grow into a more balanced size next to the main specimen and you'll see some definite bonding going at the base of those two trunks. Finally, we have my favorite shape of bonsai, the slanting:
This one is going to take on a lot of shaping next season. You can see there was a little natural slanting going on to begin with, but I'll be increasing the angle even more with the next re-potting. The sprig you see coming out on the bottom left is probably going to have to go, and I'm not sure if I can't get any regrowth on those two jins right in the middle; I might have the shape the main lower branch back in the direction of the slant to keep the wind blowing. Anyways...this is what I'm starting with. Again, all of these came in a single pot from Lowe's, but I think they show promise. We'll see how they stood up to my root raking and slight pruning, and I may do some slight defoliation to bring the leaves back down to a more appropriate bonsai size.
Labels: Bonsai
posted by J.B.P. at 4:40 PM
1 Comments:
how fancy! i love new plants! Now, just dont let relic eat them, and you'll have some pretty fancy lookin' bonsai trees in the future! :)
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