Page 42 - BSAM 2015 Q4

Bottom left; The plant as purchased from a nursery in Puerto Rico.
Bottom right: Budi asked for a saw and proceeded to cut o the top of the tree.
By Budi Sulistyo, Indonesia
Creating a bonsai from a raw material is something very enjoyable. You can enjoy every step of the pro- cess when the tree is formerly shaped, how it grows and your choices to make it a good bonsai in the future. You really can express your dream and your sense of beauty in creating the bonsai. Our sharp eyes are really needed to decide which plant to choose for our future bonsai. You can go to a nursery or a place where people collect plants from the wild. Here is one of my experiences with a Bucida spinosa. I was in Puerto Rico in 2009 a er visiting the BCI convention in New Orleans. Puerto Rico is a tropical island in Central America that has so much similarity in climate with my home town, Java, Indonesia. I went to a nursery to nd some small trees to bring home to be trained as bonsai. Fortunately among so many choices I found a tree of my dreams: a nice black olive or Bucida spinosa. I could not nd such species in my country.
Bucida spinosa is a shrub originating from tropical areas of the Americas. It has tiny, shiny leaves that make it nice to be a bonsai. e plant was about 50 cm in height with around 3 cm thick on the bottom. Here is the tree I got on August 9, 2009.
I chose the tree due to the curving shape of the bottom portion of the trunk. It had good potential to be a nice tree in the future. A er purchasing the tree, I asked for a saw and I cut the top o the tree.
e sales person was surprised to see me turn this tall plant into a 15-centimeter stump, or about half-a-foot high.
Budi’s Bucida
Creating a Black Olive From Nursery Material
40 | BCI | October/November/December 2015