Dig It: Bonsai - Sculpting in Time
BY MICHAEL COYLEPHOTOS BY JOEY CAGLE
Winter, for most gardeners, is a dormant period. The countryside becomes inhospitable. Cold winds and short days drive us indoors, where we must content ourselves with scouring seed catalogs and visualizing next spring’s flowers and summer’s vegetable crops. But there is one very specialized practice that can bring the landscape into our snug homes — bonsai. These exquisite container plantings, miniaturized versions of outdoor panoramas, provide a refuge for those who simply can’t wait for the seasons to change.Bonsai (pronounced bone-sigh) translates loosely to “a tree in a tray.” It is the art of constraining normal saplings by rigorously pruning the foliage to reduce the size of the leaves and maintain shape, cutting back and thinning the root system regularly and using copper wire to sculpt and adjust the limbs.
Elements of the plantings are placed or removed with intent until an individual interpretation of the natural world begins to form. As the plant grows it becomes an evolution of the human mind at work. This added aspect of the medium makes bonsai unique as an art form. Bonsai is an act of gardening, and also of sculpting in time.
These dimensions are a part of bonsai’s appeal, and its frustrations. Bonsai are not simple houseplants; they require specialized tending and even the experienced gardener may find that the delightfully dwarfed Juniper or Ficus they’ve brought home has dried out, succumbed to pests or somehow come to resemble a shaggy bush. Diligent care is the key to success; so giving a gift of bonsai is more akin to giving someone a pet than a plant.
Bonsai is a method, a hobby and ultimately a passion. Fortunately, our area offers some extraordinary resources for those who would like to explore this delicate discipline. The Blue Ridge Bonsai Society meets regularly at the Botanical Gardens at Asheville and the North Carolina Arboretum, also in Asheville, is home to a world-class collection of bonsai.
A recent visit to the Arboretum found Arthur Joura, curator of the bonsai exhibit, attending to a single seed Juniper, inspecting and plucking shoots from the writhing trunk. The specimen’s age is unknown, but it was perhaps five years old from seed when it was acquired, and has been in the collection for 14 years. It appears ancient — one of the characteristics of bonsai, Joura explains.
“With bonsai you mimic an old tree with a young tree, a tree with a shrub,” he says. For Arthur, hiking is one of the sources of inspiration for his own work. “Trees, always trees; I’m looking at them as they grow.” Nature provides countless examples of forms that can be emulated in containers as metaphorical representations.
A rhododendron clinging to soil in the crack of a rocky outcropping is reflected in the bonsai rhododendron in a slate colored ceramic pot, trained to appear as though swept with wind. A grove of maples seen in the distance from the top of a hill is suggested by a mass planting of dwarf shrubs.
For those who are intrigued enough to venture into the rarified world of bonsai, starting off with a trained specimen will offer insight into the practical and theoretical approaches involved, allowing you to learn maintenance of this microcosm before attempting to create your own. Arthur cautions that the two most challenging factors for indoor bonsai are lack of light and low humidity. Proper placement near a window or supplemental lighting can help with the former problem. Misting, proper watering and creating humid microclimates can help with the latter. If humidity stays too low, spider mites will invariably attack a bonsai specimen.
As you gain the confidence to sculpt your own specimen, reference materials will offer inspiration, but keep in mind that the vast majority of bonsai that grace the pages of coffee table books or inhabit collections such as the one at the Arboretum are exotic species. One must choose the right plant for the right environment.
To increase the odds for success, the novice should take a cue from the selection of indoor plants at a local garden center. Any plant that develops a woody trunk over time can make a good specimen: durable houseplants such as Aralia, Ficus and Schefflera are good choices.
“Creating a successful specimen takes both horticultural knowledge and aesthetic sense,”Arthur notes. He encourages people to approach bonsai with an open mind. “Each plant is a composition, and the person who practices bonsai brings their own experience to the art.”
His advice? Leave your preconceptions about bonsai aside, and express your own view of the natural world. Then, no matter how blustery and raw the weather is outside, you will have a little bit of paradise to get lost in every day.
