The Epcot Flower and Garden Show is only weeks away and I am doing my final last minute touches to my Ficus Nerifolia so that it is ready for the 10 week exhibit.
Here is the tree after adding petroleum jelly to the bonsai pot to darken and clean the pot. I also sprayed the bark with vegetable oil to bring out the purple color of the bark. Lastly I added moss to create contrast and tie the entire tree together. The following video show the process.
I’ve only had this tree for about a year now, but the changed are drastic. Even without the foliage this tree has great strength and presence. Additionally this type of ficus is so easy to work with, and it perfect for bonsai because of its small leaves. A rewarding tree at any level of experience.
I’ve had this clump forest for a long time, and have studied it for a while now. However I have never been thrilled by the trunk placement, or variation in trunk sizes. I have considered other fronts for the trees, but each time I found some flaws. I knew I had to get a second opinion.
Mike Rogers has been my teacher from the beginning and his eye for good bonsai is second to none. I knew he would know just what to do with this tree. After 12 years of doing bonsai I still consider myself a student and will be for life.
The first thing we addressed was to add an additional trunk to fill in an empty spot of the composition. That’s not exaclty easy since the entire base of the tree is one root. We had to remove a pie shape piece in order to insert one more tree.
The new tree’s roots were pruned to match the space that was carved out. It would be a perfect fit.
To make sure that the tree held it’s position and was able to fuse with the other trunks, a 2 inch screw was driven through the tree into the root mass of the main tree. The tree was very secure after this and the screw will be left in the tree which will cover over in time.
Lastly the tree was repotted into a smaller pot and a new angle. The newly added trunk is the second from the left. Notice how much more of a focal point the main tree is. This will be an outstanding planting in a very short time.
I have been looking for a clump style bonsai for a long time, but never have been able to find one that I really liked. However yesterday when I visited Jim Smith’s nursery I was able to track one down. This is a pretty large planting, and will take some work to get it right, but it is easy to see that this will be a great bonsai one day.
Raw clump pre-bonsai
Here it is as I bought it. It never fails to amaze me when I see the small amount of roots needed to support so much foliage.
Clump repotted
I wanted to do a few things by repotting this tree. First I will get a wider root base. So when I repot in to a more shallow pot in the future I will have more surface roots. Also I need to get more energy to the top of these trees so I can develop more branching. Also I want to add another trunk on the far right side to balance the tree. Right now I have 6 trunks and I need to get to an odd number and 7 is the goal.
