Rain Tree

This teeny-tiny, lanky-curvy, Brazilian Rain tree

is one of the Mame Bonsai's from my Personal Collection.

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For More Info on the Rain Tree click on the Link : http://www.bonsai-bci.com/species/raintree.htm

Tree Talk by Ever Green Tree

North Indian Summers isn’t exactly ‘my-kind-of’ a season......rather it never has been. The fiery glare of the sun burns my tender delicate leaves & desiccates the new set of shoots which are usually formed at the onset of spring. My hardy bark appears shriveled up, while the roots remain parched & thirsty, craving for water. Yet, I survive......battling the odds; because I am an Evergreen Tree.

We plants anxiously await the onset of spring, followed by sunny summers.... but definitely not the scalding, simmering summers wherein the day temperatures vacillate between 44 - 48 degree Celsius, scorching and blistering our leaves.

Merely complaining and voicing my annoyance & my concern about something as trivial as the hot, hotter, hottest, seething summers proffers a rather cooling, refreshing, breezy respite.

Most people do have an option to stay indoors probably in their air conditioned offices and homes when the afternoon sun is directly overhead casting its strongest glare.

But what about us plants?

What about the school children who have to beat the heat probably cycling back on their way home at 2:00 o’clock in the afternoon?

What about the rickshaw puller with beady sweat trickling down his brows, pedaling as he ferries people to and fro?

What about the college goers & others like us who have little option but to brave the torturous hot temperature outdoors?

N. Indian Summer weather is fairly UNPREDICTABLE. One moment it could be bright and sunny and the very next moment, a tempestuous gale could rage, turning the sky from bright blue to a blurry pallid golden yellow.

Moreover, A Mid Summer Nightmare lurks, waiting to come alive and haunt city dwellers.... ........What with locality wise power cuts imposed by the electricity board or a major grid break down, ever so often, whenever such a Herculean dust storm hits the city.

Some of my own aged frail green friends face repeated threats of being uprooted by these strong bellowing winds while still others suffer irreparable damages / scars on their bodice. Absolutely Torturous!

I admit, in spite of the freezing cold, I still have a special preference for winters, because of the embellished, ornate feeling of being encircled by a rainbow of colors. The vibrant flush of seasonal FLOWERS, which encircle the evergreens beautifying every speck of the earth, the gardens, the roadside, the wilderness alike.

On the contrary, summers to me, appears Blanched, with Green’s looking more like discolored, scorched, patchy yellows, browns n grey. A rather disheartening sight!

However, one look at the bright yellow flush of the AMALTAS and the resplendent fiery reddish orange blooms of a GULMOHAR is enough to brighten any bland summer day.

Friends, let’s do our bit, and ensure that we all get treated to Bright Colourful Days, all the year round.

I don't want to stray and broach on the dire consequence of rapidly diminishing Green Cover, a major cause for 'Global Warming' , but instead lets make this miniscule effort together to...

‘Plant a Tree’
Plant a Hope.

Here's....

Wishing all Friends a Kool n Breezy Summer Vacations ahead.....

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PS: Article published in HT City, 13th May, 2009

Heliconia

Couldn't resist but capture

the vibrant Reds, Yellows n Greens of the Heliconia......

thru my lenses, when out in the garden two days back.

Suihan Penjing

The Chinese refer to Bonsai (where a plant Sai) is grown in a shallow Pot (Bon) as Penjing…...

Sui Han Penjing…. (where Sui : Land & Han : Water) is the art of planting a group of small trees interwoven with rocks or stones and soil contouring on a marble slate. You can see distinct land and water areas well-demarcated on the slate….hence the name Sui – han Bonsai / Penjing.

This is an advanced form of Bonsai technique….. rather it’s a Living Miniature Landscape, changing & growing with you & your family….. within the premises of your own living abode. Bonsai needs constant care and attn, very much like your own child, for it to BLOOM and BLOSSOM, filling your life with unconditional love for Nature……

Material Required:

Lots of Love and adoration for these plants & Nature….

~ A set of Bonsai Tools & accessories… like wire, mud scoops, dusting cloth etc
~ Turn table
~ Marble Slate…. oval, rectangular, or uneven design.
~ Rocks or Stones…. in varying sizes.
~ Plants….Depending on the artist’s choice….
Same variety for a forest arrangement….
Different varieties for a mixed landscape….
~ Filler plants: Mondo Grass, Lal Bhaaji, Euphorbia milli

~ Medium Soil (Both dry and wet)
~ Peat moss (slightly wet) & Finely chopped Spagnum Moss (kept in water)
~ Water Sprayer
~ Cement

Method
First and foremost, visualize the arrangement in your mind and then once the picture you want to create is clear in your minds eye begin to give shape to it, in reality…… using your vision and skills, in accordance to the Bonsai rules, related to creation of a Sui han Penjing.

~ Place the slate on the turn table, so that you can turn it around and observe it from all possible angles…….

First step: Placement of the Rocks on the Slate

The largest & sturdiest rock, has to be placed first, & at an off centre position of the slate.
The second largest rock has to be placed second, followed by other pieces of rock, in varying sizes.
Once the final arrangement is in place…. we need to draw an outline around the rock arrangement and then one at a time, stick these rocks on the marble slate with the help of cement.

These rocks help in demarcation of land & Water areas on the slate and also help to hold the soil in place & at the same time give a natural undulating Contouring effect to the overall landscape.

Second Step: Erect a Boundary wall
Erect a Peat moss Boundary Wall (about an inch tall) around the slate, to demarcate the land area, on the slate

This is needed to keep the soil from being washed away with each watering….

Third Step: Preparing the Slate
Cover the slate with wet mud, (area which has already been demarcated by the boundary wall) giving a mud base for the placement of the plants.

Fourth Step: Placement of the Plants

Main Plant, (tallest & sturdiest) to be placed first…. @ off centre position on the slate…. near the vicinity of the main Rock. Add some dry soil to hold the plant in place

In this case the main tree used was an impressive twin-trunk small leaved Ficus.

This has to be well co-coordinated by the secondary tree (second tallest) and then a number of small leaved, individually wired, MULTI TRUNK plants (Multi trunk plants are single trees with multiple trunks thereby, giving an impression of a number of individual trees growing together in a group)

Placement of Plants should give an overall triangular effect ……to the landscape.

Add a lot of Soil to hold each plant in place….. giving a natural undulating contour to the landscape.

Spray some water with the help of the spray on the soil and later give final touches to the Penjing by placing a few filler plants where ever required, and covering the mud with sphagnum moss.

VOILA!!
Your own self made Miniature Landscape is ready to be displayed in your very own House….. be it indoors or outdoors….. These plants, breathe a new lease of life into your own mundane existence……. just by being there for you…. smiling & blooming, just for you, & ur family, …….for all times to come….

The awe-inspiring Penjing, showing the trees bent over the rivulet, forming an interminable groove over it, appears as natural as any man-made creation can be.

Last but not the Least: Upkeep Of this Penjing:

Can be kept indoors or outdoors….
First one week …. Keep it indoors, away from the sun. Gradually expose the plants to the sun.

Watering:
Preferably once everyday, or as n when the soil gets dry.

Trimming:
Trim the new shoots back in place as and when needed…..more often during the peak growing season.

Care:
Make sure you say hello….. to your plant every now and then and shower it with all your Love .

PS: A compliation : As demonstarted by Bonsai Masters Jyoti n Nikunj Parekh to members of ABA... Lko, April 2007.

IF

Out of the Blue a Poem by Rudyard Kipling.... If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

****

Photograph: White Easter Lily

Selection of Bonsai Material

Almost any ordinary garden plant can be trained, according to the rule set for designing of a good bonsai plant; however, selecting the right plant material from amongst the choices available at a nursery is very important.

A lot of time and effort can be wasted while trying to train a wrong plant, into a potentially & commercially viable designer Bonsai. To avoid such a situation, one needs to bear in mind the following point while selecting a Plant.

First and foremost, the inherent qualities of a given nursery / garden plant should uncompromisingly mimic the Plant / Tree of the same genus commonly found in nature.

Elucidating the same with the help of an example:-

The plant in this photograph below is called Poplar.
(Populus fastigiata)
Visible Characteristic Features of the Plant:
As one can see, this plant has a mature, short & bent main trunk line, which abruptly ends and then branches out into four almost straight and parallel branches of the same length, girth and one eye poking branch pointing towards the viewer. Some aerial roots are growing as extended stubble from the tree’s bent main trunk line, which accentuates the beauty of this plant. The leaves are gradually diminishing in size, healthy, bright green, heart shaped with alternate branching pattern.

Characteristic Features of Poplar Trees Found in Nature:
In Nature, these broad-leaved deciduous trees have rounded contours, whilst some conifers, at least when young, present a conical, or rather pyramidal, outline. They usually have a remarkably erect or fastigiate habit of growth of its branches, to which it owes its specific name “fastigiata.”

Critiques Point:
The under training Bonsai plant, bears ‘no inherent similarity’ nor does it ‘mimic’ the other plants of its genre found in nature, therefore, under no circumstances, it can be considered as a suitable Plant Material, to be trained into a futuristic Bonsai.

Concluding Point:
The plant has been wrongly shaped / trained by the Nursery Grower and unfortunately wrongly hand picked / selected by a naïve Bonsai collector / beginner.

However, the plant is healthy and presentable, and therefore, can be used only as a ‘decorative plant’ but not as a good BONSAI.

Point To Ponder:
It is of utmost importance to study and then SELECT the RIGHT Plant Material to be trained into a good Bonsai, which, in essence is merely a ‘Miniaturized Representation’ of commonly found Trees of the same Genre, growing ordinarily in there natural habitats.