Tamarindus indica

Herden Pedrajas | Philippines

Designed by Herden Pedrajas

Style: Informal Upright  (Moyogi)
Height: 65 cm
Container: Japanese pot given as a gift by my godfather Vic Ceballos

 I call this tree "Norma", named after Madam Norma Varon, who painstakingly grew it from seed for about ten years before she gave it to me as a birthday gift in 2001. Ma'am Norma, or "Mother" as we used to call her, passed away several years ago, but she left us the legacy by initiating the Kidapawan Bonsai Club, which later became the Mindanao Bonsai Society (MBS) of today. The tree was originally designed in an upright angle before I restyled it to narrate the drama of its cuts and bends. It took me several attempts to make it bear fruit, until its first in 2015 (during the MBS Homecoming Exhibition) with only a single big pod of eight seeds. This tree was featured in Philippine Bonsai Society's souvenir book during its hosting of the BCI Regional Exhibition in 2016, at the Ayala Triangle in Makati City. This tree is symbolic for us, it represents the seed of the MBS.

Tree in 2003