Friday, October 2, 2009 10:25 PM CDT
Bonsai: A living art
The horticultural art form found around the world
BY DAWN SCHABBING, Features Writer
dschabbing@jg-tc.com
The art of growing a bonsai tree goes beyond a typical hobby in horticulture.
Bonsai (pronounced ‘bone sigh’) in Japanese and Chinese languages means “tree in a pot.”
The trees are carefully cut, pruned and shaped to keep their small size, and to achieve the look of an old tree.
“Essentially, bonsai is a tree that is grown with a constricted root system,” said Phil Nixon, an entomologist with the University of Illinois Extension at Urbana.
“It is a unique blend of horticulture and art, so essentially, it is a living art,” said Nixon, 57, who has grown bonsai as a hobby since 1973, and has studied a variety of trees, as well.
According to Bonsai Clubs International at www.bonsai-bci.com, the practice was developed in The Orient about 2,000 years ago, but the art today is common throughout the world.
The technique around growing a bonsai comes in its pruning, proper watering and fertilizing, and amount of sunlight. The trees are grown in a small stature on purpose, as the desire is to shape and control its growth over time.
“A tree planted in a small pot is not a bonsai until it has been pruned, shaped and trained into the desired shape. Only branches important to the bonsai’s overall design are allowed to remain, and the unwanted growth is pruned away,” according to the Web site.
The bonsai isn’t a special small-sized tree, but could be created from any woody species, such as junipers, maples, elms, pines, ginkgos or even flowering crab apples. Any woody plant, tree or shrub can be used for bonsai. Those with the smaller leaf size work best.
While the size of these trees in a pot varies greatly, Nixon said a bonsai tree could be grown in a pot as small as a thimble, but nothing too large.
Typically, these trees are grown in North America in pots about 2 by 3 inches, to 6 by 8 inches. The average height of an adult bonsai tree will be between 12 to 18 inches tall.
The plant and pot should be easily carried. It’s OK if it is big enough for two people to carry it, Nixon said.
“I like to say that if growing and keeping plants is no longer a challenge, bonsai will provide an eternal challenge,” he said. “I’ve heard some horticulturalists refer to it as plant torture, because its roots are restricted.
“Small mistakes can result in a dead plant. There is less leeway for error in bonsai plants, but they can live as long as any other tree when it is done right,” Nixon said.
Nixon suggested that anyone wanting to try bonsai should research the topic through books and classes.
Some bonsai represent Japanese art; some represent natural Japanese trees.
“You should really appreciate the fact that this is a combination of horticulture and art, so you really should have an appreciation for the theory behind it and learn what is so esoteric about it,” he said.
Also, learning about artistic features is important. The idea of bonsai includes that the tree should look old, offer certain curves to its trunk, and one very strong feature is that the bonsai should have an odd number of sides, Nixon said.
Those starting out working with this art form don’t need to invest in expensive tools, he said. Basic tools used include aluminum wire to help shape the trunk and branches; a tool used for safely pruning branches and roots; sharpened chop stick used for loosening soil from roots; a pot; soil; and water.
“For many years, the first decade or more, my main tool was a wire cutter. But you can spend thousands of dollars in specialized tools,” Nixon said. “You are essentially just pruning a tree, so any tool that would safely prune a smaller tree can be used.”
One of the more common basic tools is a sharpened chop stick, to loosen the soil around the roots when repotting, he said.
The trees aren’t pruned frequently to achieve the effect. The tops may be pruned several times, before the roots are ever pruned, Nixon said. Generally, the tops are pruned about every two or three months, and the roots, about every two or three years.
Bonsai trees should be grown in the same climate as is natural for the tree. Temperate trees should be grown outdoors as bonsai; tropical trees should be grown indoors or in a greenhouse as bonsai.
Contact Dawn Schabbing at dschabbing@jg-tc.com or 238-6864.
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