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What do you do when you live in a country with limited space but
want to exercise your green fingers or express your love, and
even your spiritual reverance, for nature? Well, you can always
do things in miniature - ikebana and bonsai
are your two main options. Though the word 'ikebana'
literally means 'living flowers', it is actually the visual presentation
of cut stems, flowers and other features to represent an aspect
of nature in miniature. Bonsai, on the other hand, means 'pot plant'
and the art form involves raising living trees, often over a
period of several years. While they are small, bonsai are not
actually different from the trees we see around us, they are not
miniature species. Rather they are small branches of a tree, carefully
chosen, pruned and cultivated so that they look like smaller versions
of their own species. They are also displayed in a way that shows
off their best features, usually in a simple, shallow pot. Bonsai
is about the combination of the plant and the pot. There are many
different styles of bonsai such as: broom style - a tapered trunk
topped by a symmetrical area of foliage; cascading style - the pot
is kept on a platform and the branches 'cascade' down
below it; windswept style - resembles a tree that has grown up in an area exposed to strong
winds. Saikei is similar to and often confused with bonsai, but is actually
closer to ikebana. Different species of small trees as well as
other plants, rocks and sand are used to create miniature landscapes.
Gardening in many forms has been enjoying something of a boom
in Japan in recent years and those with limited space have been
rediscovering the charms and challenges of this part of their
native culture. As I said, bonsai are real trees in miniature
and are not usually suitable as houseplants (some species have
been developed for indoors). Usually they are hardy and can handle
most weather. In fact, their growth may be adversely affected
by artificial (ie. indoor) light and heat conditions, depending
on your climate and the origin of the tree species. Even a small
city apartment balcony can be big enough to build up a collection,
something of an oasis for many urban dwellers. The smallest of
bonsai, called mame (bean) can be just a couple of inches tall and a collection may
also have trees a couple of feet high. The most popular are about
6 inches to a foot.
For the more serious gardener, it is possible to grow bonsai from
seeds, cuttings, a branch while it is still on a living tree or
even prune and adapt a tree from a garden center. But these are
long and laborious processes, taking several years before you
have any kind of 'finished product'. Indeed some of the most prized
bonsai have been around a lot longer than their owners. Some enthusiasts
go to great expense to buy bonsai from dealers but if you just
want to dabble or test the waters, it is possible to start off
with a good guide book and a domestic plant (cheaper than imports)
from a hobby or gardening shop for just a few thousand yen. I
watched a program on TV last night where bonsai amateurs had to
guess the values of various high-quality specimens. The most expensive
looked similar to the one in the photo above and was valued at
over 5.5 million yen (almost 50,000 dollars!). Special qualities
that made that particular specimen so valuable included the unusual
(for the species) thickness of its trunk and branches and its
old age.
What makes a bonsai? (courtesy of The Bonsai Primer website)
A bonsai may be developed from any woody plant (tree or shrub),
however you should bear in mind that:
- A bonsai is the tree and the pot.
- The trunk is what gives the tree its "stature", poor trunks make
poor bonsai. Ideally the trunk should have a good taper, with
a good root formation visible at soil level.
- Bonsai have larger branches at the bottom of the tree, the branches
decrease in size as they get nearer the top of the tree. The distance
between the branches decreases the nearer the top of the tree
they are.
- There should be "negative" (open) areas between the branches,
this gives the impression of a tree rather than a shrub.
- A bonsai may have areas of dead wood to give an impression of
age.
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