The World on your Palm

A Cutie Jade Lilliputian 🪴 on my Palm

   

Tamarind Tree

Every time I water this teeny-tiny Tamarind Tree it reminds me of my childhood days. As children we often spent our free afternoons, playing in our backyard, under the shade of THE TAMARIND TREE, collecting the fallen green and then later the ripe brown pods of IMLI (Tamarind). Decades later, the taste of that Khaati Meethi Imli is still so fresh in my palate, even today.

Now, I have had this Miniature version of a Tamarind Tree in Cascading style, Mame Bonsai, for a little over five years now.

Here’s a picture of the Tree as in Aug, 2005.

It’s been growing quite vigorously, this monsoon season and needed some pruning n shaping….so that the impressive curve in the trunk line is made visible again. While I indulged myself, I kept the Camera handy to take some before & after Pruning Pictures of the Plant and share the same here on EVERGREEN TREE.

Here are some before n after Pruning Pictures as in Aug, 2009

The plant looks good to me from both the front and the back, leaving me with a dilemma....

I just can’t decide which LOOK I like best.

i.e. which is the Front and which is the Back of this particular Tamarind Tree?

Hmmmm…..

PS: An important quality of any good Bonsai is that it should look presentable from either sides...ie both the front & the back. At the very onset, it is imperative for a Bonsai Artist to decide on the Front and the Back, keeping in mind, select Bonsai rules, the plant qualities and its natural flow, curve n bent et al.

SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST....

.... Acclimatization n Adaptability to Change!

Have you ever wondered why some plants seemingly take longer to adapt and get acclimatized to their new home environs, while some thrive and flourish from the start word ‘GO GREEN’? Still many others simply don’t adapt themselves and hence perish.

I guess Darwin might just have the answer to this particular wondering question at hand. It indeed is ‘SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST’ in terms of gradual Acclimatization and inherent qualities of Adaptability to Change.

From time to time, I like to visit the local Plant Mart here, for different n newer varieties of plants. Even when I travel, I almost always try and visit a local plant nursery and buy a plant or two to carry back home with me as souvenirs.

Elucidating with a few examples and my personal experience with plants :-

Few years back, I had brought four Mame Bonsai’s with me, all the way from China ~ a Ficus retusa; Chinese Elm; Pepper and Cypress. While I thought the Cypress wouldn’t survive the extreme climatic variations of N. India, it adapted and acclimatized itself well and lasted the longest.

Here’s a picture of the Pepper Tree :-


Notice the ‘S- Shape’ curved trunk line, which is quite typical in many of the Chinese styled Bonsai.
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Though a hardy plant, it didn’t survive long.
Too Bad! I really liked its teeny- tiny green leaves.

Then again, I brought Pre-Bonsai material….i.e. a Eucalyptus, an Indonesian Premna, and Boxwood from Mumbai last October. Somehow, I lost the Eucalyptus in less than a month’s time; however the Premna and boxwood are doing fairly well, in their new home with us.

More recently, my bro & sis-in-law bought back two plants from their visit to a hill station in N. India. These plants look like a bunch of beautiful GREEN COLOURED FLOWERS. It’s been a little over a month now, and I am afraid to loose this single one on the left hand side, as it is not doing too well, in spite of having kept them both under the shade with other healthy green plants ensuring adequate and timely watering.

From EverGreen Tree

A Cousin once presented us with some of the most Exotic Caladiums, with bright and colourful foliage in vivid garden shades. She had got them for us from Pune or maybe from a nursery in Bangalore. But again none of the 5-6 plants survived here..... Nonetheless, I would definitely like to buy a few Caladiums and give it another try, ensuring that they adapt well and get acclimatized to their changed environment.

From EverGreen Tree Here's a cute little plant (American Karunda)...

I added to my Collection few weeks back.....

It is doing well as off now, but keeps loosing a leaf or two n more - Enough to give me a scare. Keeping my Fingers Crossed n hoping it Survives n last me through the years.
Dear Readers, Looking forward to reading your similar experience n stories which you might like to share here with me.....

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

The World On your Palm

Art is a visual tangible depiction of an artist’s unique perception of the world. Thoughts, feelings, emotions and an individualistic persona come alive through this singular creation which has a conspicuous life and an expression of its own.

Unlike most art forms like painting, sculpting, photography etc wherein an artist’s creation remains eternally static after its final completion, framing & display, Bonsai is a Dynamic Art Form - Living, Growing, Ever-evolving.

The master creation i.e. the Miniature Plant, demands perpetual nurturing, trimming, root pruning and care, to maintain its harmony and balance, season after season, possibly changing hands from one generation down to the next. Hence, Bonsai is a continuous ‘Work-in-Progress’ Art Form integrated with basic horticulture techniques.

These miniature plants i.e. Bonsai come in various different sizes and styles. They can be classified as Finger/Bean Bonsai; Mame/Shohin Bonsai; Medium Bonsai, Large Bonsai etc based on their Sizes. Formal Upright, Informal Upright, Cascading, Semi-Cascading, Literati, etc based on their Design/Style.

A conventional Bonsai has an elegant, tapering trunk, culminating at the apex forming a triangular or umbrella shaped canopy. In case of triangular silhouette, the tree shows an alternate branching pattern with substantial inter branch spacing, with the lowest branches being the longest and most well developed. However, in case of an umbrella silhouette, all branches appear to arise from a single nodal point, spreading out to form a semi-circular apex. The foliage is usually flush, healthy and green. A prominent, exposed & well spread out anchoring footage adds considerably to the overall aesthetic beauty of these miniaturized trees.

Now, simply visualize shrinking a mammoth Fig Tree and depicting the same as ‘A Miniature world on your Palm’ (As can be seen in the above picture). It’s an allegorical prerogative exclusive to a MAME BONSAI.

These Mame’s emphasize on all the attributes of a full fledged, mature tree, commonly found outdoors in nature and represents the same in a diminutive package of less than 15 cm or 6 inches in size.

Small leaved, hardy plants with compact foliage which can withstand regular pruning employing ‘Clip & Grow’ method are ideally suited to be trained as Mame Bonsai. Eg: most Ficus variants, Jade, Wax malphigia, Duranta, Chinese Elm, Glabra malphigia etc.

Since these Mame’s have to thrive within a small confined bonsai pot, it’s pertinent, to mist the foliage at regular intervals & keep the soil compost well watered at all times. Moreover, it would be beneficial for the roots, if the soil used has a prolonged, adequate moisture retaining property. In addition to this, an additional protective moss layer or gravel can be applied over the soil surface during the summers to retain its water content.

An assorted mix of differently styled Mame’s can be displayed together on designer, multi-shelved wooden stands or angular wrought iron stands or well coordinated unevenly spaced cement slabs, adding to the ambience, both indoors and outdoors.

Working with a tiny Mame is slightly more arduous as compared to working with a medium or large sized Bonsai, due to its Lilliputian size, as one need’s to be extra careful while handling and trimming the plants. Moreover, it takes years of patient training to hone an ordinary garden plant into a classic Mame art piece.

Even after this pygmy plant acquires the desired shape and size, it’s an enduring challenge for a bonsai artist to preserve the aesthetic sanctity & balance of every exquisite plant. Nonetheless, the patience and effort is well worth the while, when the bonsai artist gets to hold & exhibit his magnificent creation as ‘the Miniature World on his Palm’


** Copy of my article published in Nichin Bonsai 02/2008