BONSAI

Bonsai originated in China but is now associated with Japan. The term Bonsai
was translated literally from Japanese, meaning ‘’a tree in a pot. ‘Bon’ means
shallow container and ‘sai’ means planting. Bonsai is the art and science of
growing miniature trees and shrubs in shallow pots. It expresses in miniature the
natural beauty of tree forms. Like any other visual art such as painting or
sculpturing, it has all the essential aesthetic elements of composition – balance,
colour, depth, texture, perspective and so on.

A bonsai is an attractive and artistic replica of a natural tree in miniature form.

Care, creation and control are the keynotes of bonsai. Creating a bonsai for a
beginer, needs patience, aesthetic sense and basic technical knowledge. The
training of a bonsai tree is like disciplining a child to help it grow into a perfect
human being. The grower has to give love, affection and care.

It is a common belief that a bonsai plant is undernourished and starved,

receiving only one hour of sunlight and few drops of water daily. It is also believed
that they are kept indoors with their roots kept tied and branches pruned just to
keep the plant small and beautiful. Therefore many think that practice of bonsai is
cruel to trees.

Actually bonsai are outdoor plants. Most bonsai are hardy forest trees that
thrive well in full sunlight. They need a minimum of four hours of sunlight daily
for profuse vegetative growth, flowering and fruiting. In a bonsai the trunk is tied
down through the drainage holes to safeguard the plant against wind and toppling.
The branches of the bonsai are pruned as they grow dense. Wiring of the plant can
be done to get the three dimensional form of the plant, with well spread branches.
Such a branching is necessary for a healthy tree to receive sunlight all over. If the
top is too bushy, then sunlight won’t reach down and the lower branches will get
weakened.

The first step in making a bonsai is the selection of the plant. Ficus, neem,
citrus, chikku, pome granate, mango, cherry, bougainvillea, china rose, etc are the
common plants selected for bonsai. Plants with small leaves are usually preferred.
Plants for bonsai can be collected from walls, rock crevices,or from nurseries. If
the plant is not much old, grow it carefully in a large pot or ground. After one year
they can be transferred to bonsai pots, made of plastic acrylic, glass, cement , clay
or ceramics. For a beautiful display ceramic pots are ideal as they last long. There
should be a hole at the bottom of the pot. Before filling the pot cover the hole with
a wire mesh. Bottom layer should be of gravel, top layer should be a mixture of
sand, soil, cowdung and brick powder. Training a bonsai involves pinching,
pruning, wiring, etc so as to obtain the desird shspe to the bonsai. Dwarfing is
achieved by pruning, tying, trailing, pinching, wiring, twisting, clipping, etc. There
are different styles for growing of bonsai as described below.

Formal upright style: In this style, the plant grows upright- straight with branches
on both sides. The roots and growing tip will be on a straight line (Fig. A).

Informal upright style: The plant grows up straight but with curves and twisting
of main branch. Twisting can be brought about by bracing and tieing at the proper
time (Fig. B).

Slanting style: Plants grow in a slanting position with the branches growing at 45
right or leftfrom the root. This can be brought about by proper training (Fig. C).

Wind swept style: The branches will grow in a slanting position with more than
45 angle.These plants will look like plants growing on mountain sides (Fig.D).

Cascade style: The plants will have the look of water falls. They will grow down
through the sides of the pot. The growing tip of the plants will be much below the
roots (Fig. E).

Rock planting style: The plants will be grown on rocks and appear very much like
plants growing on rocks naturally (Fig. F).

Group planting style: Here more than one plant is grown in a single pot and
together will have a look of a forest in miniature (Fig. G).

It is good to repot bonsai once in a year. Root pruning is essential to bring roots
with good shape above the soil that gives it a speacial look and appears to be old.
Nowadays bonsai has become a hobby of many people that has a unifying
influence in society. The feeling of love, peace and harmony will be promoted
through this art.