Dwarf Schefflera is Fuku-Bonsai's specialty because it's a proven, durable
houseplant, is a relatively fast grower; but most importantly, because it has the best
potential to develop into tropical banyan forms. The term "banyan"
confuses people. It describes a tree structure that has aerial or pillar roots. Most
banyans are from the Ficus or Fig family of plants; but not all ficus are banyans and not
all banyans are ficus! Most of the top bonsai in Japan began as collected, naturally
shaped trees that were skillfully trained. Most bonsai magazine articles that show
the creation of good bonsai start with exceptional bonsai stock that is difficult or
impossible for beginners to obtain.
There's no secret; to create
a bonsai masterpiece, start with masterpiece potential stock, develop an exciting
design, and apply professional skills and techniques!
This tree began as a seedling about 1977 and about 25 years in training. Even when
it was young, it stood out as a potentially exceptional tree. It first went into a
4" nursery pot and was pruned often to develop a good banyan-like trunk base.
It was later rock-planted and trained in a shallow 25" x 15" x 2' deep
rectangular pot. Once the basic styling was completed about 12 years ago, it was
placed into a larger, deeper tub to create heavier growth, pruned back hard every few
years, and repotted every five years or so. At each repotting, the roots were selected and
straightened. This session brings it back into controlled growth.
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DECEMBER
4, 2001
Photo 1: The tree is
shown in front of a photo backdrop (measuring about 7 1/2' high x about 9' wide) that is a
double bed blanket stretched across a wood frame. The bonsai had been heavily fertilized
and most parts of the tree had not been pruned for about 4 years. |
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Photo 2: After pruning. Note a full wheelbarrow full of foliage that has been
removed. The tree had been allowed to grow to about 7' tall and was pruned back to about
27" tall. Seedlings are not all the same. When only a few years old, it was obvious
that this plant was exceptional. It was placed into the "private collection area not
for sale." It threw out a huge number of very desirable aerial roots and this allowed
us to select only those in choice areas and to prune out lower quality or crooked
roots. |
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Photo 3: "VIEW #1." The future design would be created by removing all
sections of the tree that are marked with pink ribbons. This restyling strategy would
feature the two major trunks. Even if a tree is trained before it goes into accelerated
growth, when being brought back into controlled growth, there's an opportunity to do
a major restyling. Our best bonsai have been restyled in this manner several times.
It is very rare for the training of a plant to be "locked-in" during the initial
training session. The objective of the early sessions should be to retain all usable
branches to preserve all possible future training strategies! |
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Photo 4: "VIEW #2" (looking at the left side of view #1). This view
shows the mature roots grasping and covering most of the original rock. Accelerated
growth produced good lower lateral branches. Most of the new growth was developed on the
other side of the tree by pruning this side more often and facing the desirable growth
area to the strongest light direction. As this photo shows, it is very possible to
allow vigorous growth only where you want it. In that sense when a plant is growing
rapidly, it is still in "controlled growth!" |
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Photo 5: "VIEW #3" (facing into the strongest growth area or looking from
the right side of view#1). By removing most of the branches in the center, we can
create another good viewing angle. Highest quality bonsai have at least three good viewing
angles. |
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- DECEMBER 18, 2001
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This photo series was being done in the midst of our
busiest Christmas shipping season so it was not possible to prune back and refine in the
same training session. When we're working with highest quality trees, we prefer not
to rush. We use ribbons to help format a training strategy and there's consultation
amongst our top trainers when a major restyling strategy is created.
We also used the opportunity to have a class with all of our staff to review basic
training principles to demonstrate that these same principles apply to both young and
older bonsai. The difference is that older bonsai have more complexity,
requires knowledge of the unique training strategy developed for that specific
bonsai, and that it will take a lot longer to correct if you make a mistake.
So two weeks went by between photos 1-5 and photos 6-9.
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Photo 6: "VIEW #1" (See photo 3). With a large section removed, the
two original trunks are interesting and some of the original rock is slightly
visible. Banyan bonsai formed out of rock-planted bonsai have exciting aerial root
structures. From this angle, the tree has a nice directional force. It is now
in a 30" diameter by 1" deep training saucer. Transplanting from an 8" deep
container to a 1" deep saucer is possible because our professional techniques give us
very strong root control. |
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Photo 7: "VIEW #2 (See photo 4). Only a few smaller branches from this side were
removed but there was extensive work to select only good aerial roots in the best
locations. Excess aerial roots were removed and when viewing the tree from this
angle, there is a very different feeling from View #1. Removing roots is only possible
because of our ability to create an abundance of aerial roots! It would be difficult to
create aerial roots in dry or poorly lit growing environments. |
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Photo 8: "VIEW #3" (See photo 5). Several large branches were removed and
this third angle is now also interesting. It is different in feeling from the other
two views. Our best bonsai have this multiple-view quality and this tree is
destined to become a part of the Fuku-Bonsai Exhibit Collection. The width of the tree is
about 40" with a height of about 27". |
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Photo 9: A closer look at View #3 showing the positioning of the aerial roots using
paper covered "twist-ties." In traditional temperate climate bonsai, collected
trees are roughly equivalent to this stage of training and may be 200-300 years old or
more. We've brought the tree to this stage in just 25 years. It's not necessary to
be a bonsai master to create an outstanding bonsai if you start with stock of this
quality, can keep the tree growing healthily, and can complete the relatively simple
refinement training. This is a major difference between temperate climate bonsai and
tropical bonsai! |
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- JANUARY 8, 2002
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Just 18 days after photos 6-9 were taken and 35 days
after photos 1-5 were taken, the new growth points are already well established.
This is due to our optimum growing conditions and professional techniques. Tropical
bonsai can and must be severely pruned to develop exciting styling. If the plants
are continually and conservatively pruned and never allowed to grow freely, they
will become more refined but will not appreciably thicken.
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This tree is one of
our better Dwarf Schefflera bonsai to date. As we complete nursery recovery,
many more of our older trees are entering this training stages and in several years, more
of our older trees will be offered as Custom Collection items. These are only
appropriate for those who have mastered maintenance and training of our younger
plants. I hope that more people will continue into the more difficult training
stages of mature trees. But even if you don't, I hope you enjoyed learning how
our trees were trained.
