Page 55 - BSAM 2016 Q3

Facing page; The inspiration for this article and the way Taiwanese bonsai artist style Ficus bonsai is the famous tree on the National Cheng Kung University campus, the Ficus microcarpa that started it all.
Top left; The process started with a few stock Ficus microcarpa, var. ‘kimen’, binding them with wire and growing them as one unit. The group of trees on the right are added or fused to the group on the left to create a new fused group with stronger taper.
The Creation Process:
In the beginning, I had only my observations from my Taiwan trip, some internet pictures of magni cent Taiwanese cus, and pictures of trees by Master Lo Min Hsuan to go by. In sum, the creation process was quite solitary, based on observation, combined with trial and error. As you know, cus is a strong species, capable of fusing trunks and branches. I embarked of the task of gathering a few stock Ficus microcarpa, var. ‘kimen,’ arrange them accordingly, binding them with wire and growing them out as one unit.
e rst year of creation was slow and was mainly focused on observation. A er the initial year, I no- ticed that the plants had indeed fused together. Un- fortunately, the resulting lack of taper was ages away from my desired results. On a horticultural note, the unexpected outcome is a product of cus’ natu- ral growing conditions, as lower branches are much stronger that upper limbs. is fact served as a con- stant reminder throughout the creation process, as my projected result was to achieve a strong looking tree with good taper. Not giving up, I decided it was time to remove some branches and plant another tree to the upper portion of the stock. By doing this, I could solve the tree’s lack of taper and add some character to the composition with the aid of fusing roots to the understock. Remember, always t the tree tightly and combine and arrange the roots to a skintight t. To encourage growth, an extension to the original pot was added and additional coarse sand was placed to speed up the process.
Top right; Time to remove some branches and plant another tree to the upper portion of the stock. This solves the tree’s lack of taper and adds some character to the composition by fusing roots to the understock.
Middle left; The fused trees to be added to the top of the larger group of fused trees.
Middle right; The two fused groups are now one group.
Bottom; Remember, always t the tree tightly and combine and arrange the roots to a skintight t. To encourage growth, an extension to
the original pot was added and additional coarse sand was placed to speed up the process.
July/August/September 2016 | BCI | 53