Let's make a few refreshing bonsai together during the summer farming slack season

(Reporter He Bin) Under the scorching summer sun, farm work gradually decreases, summer-ripening vegetables have reached harvest season, and many flowers have entered their dormant period. During this “slack farming” season, if you still want to grow something for fun, then making a few refreshing bonsai is a good choice.

“Bonsai is one of China's excellent traditional arts. It is generally made from plants, rocks, soil, water and other materials through artistic creation and horticultural cultivation, and is known as 'three-dimensional painting' and 'silent poetry.'” a horticulturist told the reporter. It is understood that bonsai falls into two major categories: tree-stump bonsai and landscape bonsai. The former uses trees as the main material, appreciating branches, leaves, fruit and flowers; the latter mostly uses rocks, water and soil as materials to create a miniature version of natural scenery. Tree-stump bonsai is easier for beginners to get started with.

Fresh and delicate moss balls

Kokedama is a type of Japanese bonsai that originated in the Edo period of Japan. It mainly refers to a small bonsai made from a sheet of moss, a small plant, soil and hemp rope, paired with a container or with the moss directly securing the roots. “A moss ball can be said to be both a plant, because its main material is moss, and a planting method. It is simple to make, can be hung in the air, or placed on a table as decoration. It is very fresh and stylish,” the horticulturist said.

Materials: small tropical plant, peat, akadama soil, moss, fine hemp rope

Steps:

1. Choose a tropical plant, clean the soil off its roots, and rinse with clean water.

2. Mix the peat and akadama soil, wrap it around the plant roots, and press firmly into a ball with your hands.

3. Wrap a layer of moss around the outside of the formed soil ball, and wrap the moss tightly with hemp rope.

4. After it is finished, you can hang it up or place it in a container.

Tips：

1. Regarding plant selection, the advantage of using a tropical plant is that it likes humid environments, which matches the moisture-retaining effect of moss. However, you can also make a moss ball with other plants or without any plant at all.

2. Regarding daily maintenance, you need to spray water several times a day to keep it moist, then provide ventilation and appropriate light. When humidity is insufficient, it will enter a dormant state, but as soon as there is water, it will recover.

Elegant little bamboo grove

“I would rather eat without meat than live without bamboo. Without meat one becomes thin; without bamboo one becomes vulgar.” Since ancient times, literati and refined scholars have all loved bamboo, considering it to have the bearing of a graceful gentleman. However, its characteristics of being strong and upright, handsome and elegant, unyielding to frost and snow, and evergreen through the four seasons are indeed extraordinary.

If you also love bamboo but do not have the advantage of a rural bamboo grove surrounding you, then you can also make it into a bonsai and invite it into your home. “If you want to make a bamboo bonsai, Buddha belly bamboo is a good choice. This bamboo plant is relatively short, with young culms green and older culms orange-yellow,” the horticulturist said. It is understood that what makes Buddha belly bamboo different from ordinary bamboo is that its nodes are relatively thin, and the internodes are short and swollen, resembling the belly of Maitreya Buddha, and also like stacked arhats. Therefore, it is also called arhat bamboo and dense-node bamboo.

Materials: Buddha belly bamboo, a mixture of humus soil and sandy soil (garden bamboo soil also works), container

Tools: scissors, small shovel, etc.

Steps:

1. Choose a relatively shallow rectangular or oval purple clay pot as the container; one made of glazed ceramic is also acceptable.

2. First fill the pot with some mixed soil of humus soil and sandy soil (garden bamboo soil can also be used).

3. Choose 5 Buddha belly bamboo plants of differing heights. When digging them out of the soil, try to keep as much of the original surrounding soil (the soil originally near the roots) as possible to improve the survival rate. At the same time, cut off the old roots, overly long roots and dead roots of the 5 bamboo plants, and also prune overly dense branches to reduce water evaporation from the plants and help them survive.

4. Divide the 5 Buddha belly bamboo plants of differing heights into two groups, with the 3 taller ones placed in the center of the container as the main body, and the 2 shorter ones placed on the two sides as a foil, then plant them into the pot. You can lay moss, small stones and so on on the soil as a landscape.

5. A newly planted bonsai needs to be watered thoroughly, then placed in a shaded place for about 10 days of care, then placed in a half-shade, half-sun location for 5 days, and then placed in a sunny, well-ventilated, warm and humid environment for careful maintenance.

Tips：

1. Buddha belly bamboo likes moisture, so it should be watered frequently to keep the soil moist, but water must not accumulate in the pot. Summer is its vigorous growth period, and the temperature is high, so it should be watered once in the morning and once in the evening.

2. Buddha belly bamboo grows relatively quickly, so branches not needed for the shape should be pruned in time to avoid consuming nutrients.

Making a few refreshing bonsai at home in your spare time is a good choice

Moss ball bonsai

Under the scorching summer sun, farm work gradually decreases, summer-ripening vegetables have reached harvest season, and many flowers have entered their dormant period. During this “slack farming” season, if you still want to grow something for fun, then making a few refreshing bonsai is a good choice.

“Bonsai is one of China's excellent traditional arts. It is generally made from plants, rocks, soil, water and other materials through artistic creation and horticultural cultivation, and is known as 'three-dimensional painting' and 'silent poetry.'” a horticulturist told the reporter. It is understood that bonsai falls into two major categories: tree-stump bonsai and landscape bonsai. The former uses trees as the main material, appreciating branches, leaves, fruit and flowers; the latter mostly uses rocks, water and soil as materials to create a miniature version of natural scenery. Tree-stump bonsai is easier for beginners to get started with.

Fresh and delicate moss balls

Kokedama is a type of Japanese bonsai that originated in the Edo period of Japan. It mainly refers to a small bonsai made from a sheet of moss, a small plant, soil and hemp rope, paired with a container or with the moss directly securing the roots. “A moss ball can be said to be both a plant, because its main material is moss, and a planting method. It is simple to make, can be hung in the air, or placed on a table as decoration. It is very fresh and stylish,” the horticulturist said.

Materials: small tropical plant, peat, akadama soil, moss, fine hemp rope

Steps:

1. Choose a tropical plant, clean the soil off its roots, and rinse with clean water.

2. Mix the peat and akadama soil, wrap it around the plant roots, and press firmly into a ball with your hands.

3. Wrap a layer of moss around the outside of the formed soil ball, and wrap the moss tightly with hemp rope.

4. After it is finished, you can hang it up or place it in a container.

Notes:

1. Regarding plant selection, the advantage of using a tropical plant is that it likes humid environments, which matches the moisture-retaining effect of moss. However, you can also make a moss ball with other plants or without any plant at all.

2. Regarding daily maintenance, you need to spray water several times a day to keep it moist, then provide ventilation and appropriate light. When humidity is insufficient, it will enter a dormant state, but as soon as there is water, it will recover.

Elegant little bamboo grove

“I would rather eat without meat than live without bamboo. Without meat one becomes thin; without bamboo one becomes vulgar.” Since ancient times, literati and refined scholars have all loved bamboo, considering it to have the bearing of a graceful gentleman. However, its characteristics of being strong and upright, handsome and elegant, unyielding to frost and snow, and evergreen through the four seasons are indeed extraordinary.

If you also love bamboo but do not have the advantage of a rural bamboo grove surrounding you, then you can also make it into a bonsai and invite it into your home. “If you want to make a bamboo bonsai, Buddha belly bamboo is a good choice. This bamboo plant is relatively short, with young culms green and older culms orange-yellow,” the horticulturist said. It is understood that what makes Buddha belly bamboo different from ordinary bamboo is that its nodes are relatively thin, and the internodes are short and swollen, resembling the belly of Maitreya Buddha, and also like stacked arhats. Therefore, it is also called arhat bamboo and dense-node bamboo.

Materials: Buddha belly bamboo, a mixture of humus soil and sandy soil (garden bamboo soil also works), container

Tools: scissors, small shovel, etc.

Steps:

1. Choose a relatively shallow rectangular or oval purple clay pot as the container; one made of glazed ceramic is also acceptable.

2. First fill the pot with some mixed soil of humus soil and sandy soil (garden bamboo soil can also be used).

3. Choose 5 Buddha belly bamboo plants of differing heights. When digging them out of the soil, try to keep as much of the original surrounding soil (the soil originally near the roots) as possible to improve the survival rate. At the same time, cut off the old roots, overly long roots and dead roots of the 5 bamboo plants, and also prune overly dense branches to reduce water evaporation from the plants and help them survive.

4. Divide the 5 Buddha belly bamboo plants of differing heights into two groups, with the 3 taller ones placed in the center of the container as the main body, and the 2 shorter ones placed on the two sides as a foil, then plant them into the pot. You can lay moss, small stones and so on on the soil as a landscape.

5. A newly planted bonsai needs to be watered thoroughly, then placed in a shaded place for about 10 days of care, then placed in a half-shade, half-sun location for 5 days, and then placed in a sunny, well-ventilated, warm and humid environment for careful maintenance.

Notes:

1. Buddha belly bamboo likes moisture, so it should be watered frequently to keep the soil moist, but water must not accumulate in the pot. Summer is its vigorous growth period, and the temperature is high, so it should be watered once in the morning and once in the evening.

2. Buddha belly bamboo grows relatively quickly, so branches not needed for the shape should be pruned in time to avoid consuming nutrients.