A Detailed Guide to the Cultivation and Planting Methods of Plants in Landscape Bonsai

Plants are an indispensable component of landscape bonsai. “Stones are inherently dull, but with living trees they become lively.” The flowers and trees in landscape bonsai serve to enhance momentum, balance the center of gravity and divide the layers, and can strengthen the sense of realism and beauty of landscape bonsai.

When planting flowers and trees on mountain stones, choose short-stemmed seedlings with well-developed root systems that are easy to keep alive, preferably with small leaves. The size of the seedlings must be in proportion to the mountain stones. The flowers and trees on the mountain stones should not be planted too densely; moss can only grow in low, concave places, and moss on protruding rocks should be removed. Only in this way can the steepness and ruggedness of the mountain stones be highlighted and the natural scenery be reflected.

The flowers and trees of landscape bonsai must be integrated with the mountain stones. Trees on the mountaintop should be short and compact with rounded crowns and gnarled, twisted branches; trees planted on the back of the mountain should be straight and expose their tops; trees planted on the mountain slope should avoid being straight and lacking in posture; trees planted on overhanging cliffs and steep walls are best when old and gnarled and twisted, and they must have a certain tolerance to drought. Trees planted at the foot of the mountain and by the water should be moisture-loving species. Planting in this way both conforms to the distribution of natural vegetation and is easy to manage.

Planting methods: If the stone material is porous, cavities for planting can be reserved when the stone is being worked; the cavities should as far as possible be on the side or back of the mountain stone, with a small opening and a large interior, so that soil is easily retained and plant growth is favored. If the stone material is hard, then make the cavities when gluing the stone material together. Cavities that reach all the way to the bottom are best, because they make it easy to draw up water. If they cannot reach the bottom, then a drainage outlet must be made at the bottom of the cavity, so that plants can be grown in the cavity. If conditions do not allow making a cavity, the plant's roots can be wrapped with the soil still attached in palm bark, tied to the back of the mountain stone, and the plant made to extend out from the side of the stone. Plants grown on mountain stones can mostly draw up water on their own, so it is not necessarily necessary to water them from above; if drawing up water is difficult, be sure to water frequently to prevent them from drying out. In addition, the plants in landscape bonsai must be arranged appropriately to achieve good results.

In the summer "slack farming season," let's make a few refreshing bonsai together

(Reporter He Bin) Under the blazing summer sun, farm work gradually decreases, summer-ripening vegetables reach their harvest season, and many flowers also enter their dormant period. In 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 outstanding traditional arts, generally made with plants, mountain stones, soil, water and so on as materials, through artistic creation and horticultural cultivation, and it 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 mainly uses trees as material, for viewing branches, leaves, fruit and flowers; the latter makes more use of mountain stones, water and soil as materials to shape a miniature version of natural scenery. Tree-stump bonsai are relatively easier for beginners to start with.

Fresh and delicate moss balls

Kokedama is a type of Japanese bonsai that began 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 made by fixing the roots directly with moss. "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, and can also be placed on a table as decoration. It is very fresh and stylish," the horticulturist said.

Materials: small tropical plants, peat, akadama soil, moss, thin hemp rope

Steps:

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

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

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

4. After it is made, it can be hung up, or simply placed in a vessel.

Tips：

1. Regarding the choice of plant, the advantage of using a tropical plant is that it likes a humid environment, which matches the moisture-retaining effect of the moss. However, other plants, or no plant at all, can also be used to make a moss ball.

2. Regarding daily maintenance, it needs to be misted several times a day to keep it moist, then just give it ventilation and appropriate light. When the 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 grows thin; without bamboo one grows vulgar." Since ancient times, scholars and refined gentlemen have all loved bamboo, considering it to have the bearing of an elegant gentleman. However, its characteristics of being strong and upright, handsome and quietly elegant, un-withering through 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 around you, then you can also make it into a bonsai and bring it into your home. "If you want to make a bamboo bonsai, Buddha belly bamboo is a good choice. This kind of bamboo is relatively short; the culms of young plants are green, and old bamboo turns orange-yellow," the horticulturist said. It is understood that what makes Buddha belly bamboo different from ordinary bamboo is that its nodes are thinner, and the internodes are short and swollen, like 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), a vessel

Tools: scissors, a small shovel, etc.

Steps:

1. Choose a relatively shallow rectangular or oval purple clay pot as the vessel; a glazed ceramic pot material also works.

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

3. Choose 5 Buddha belly bamboo plants of differing heights. When digging them out of the soil, bring along as much of the original soil as possible (the soil originally near the roots) 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 cut off overly dense branches to reduce the plant's water evaporation and help it survive.

4. Divide the 5 Buddha belly bamboo plants of differing heights into two groups, with the 3 taller ones in the center of the vessel as the main body and the 2 shorter ones on the two sides as a foil, then plant them into the pot. Moss, small stones and so on can be laid 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 place for 5 days of care, 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 each in the morning and evening.

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

The definition of bonsai

Bonsai is the creation of artistic beauty, and it has similarities with landscape painting and landscape gardens, placing great emphasis on expressing meaning and emotion. Although it takes nature as its teacher and uses nature as its model, it is not merely a simple imitation of natural scenery. In creation, it often adopts an artistic approach combining romanticism and realism, in order to achieve an aesthetic effect that originates from nature yet is higher than nature.

This is exactly why bonsai is different from potted cultivation: potted cultivation is merely a growing method, planting trees, flowers and plants in a pot without artistic processing. Bonsai, on the other hand, is the product of a high degree of integration between cultivation techniques and plastic arts, with distinctive local characteristics and a graceful modeling style. At the same time, the trees and mountain stones in bonsai must be matched with the pot and the stand, coordinating with and setting off one another, in order to constitute a truly complete bonsai art.

In the course of historical evolution, bonsai art has formed two major categories: tree bonsai and landscape bonsai. Tree bonsai mainly uses woody plants as material; it is a living organism, and its production techniques are relatively complex, roughly including the steps of digging, planting, shaping, binding, pruning, potting and maintenance. Artistically, it is required to have the effect of old trunks and gnarled branches, clear and strangely antique, full of vitality, and with profound meaning. Landscape bonsai, on the other hand, mainly uses mountain stones, water and soil as materials; these are non-living substances, and its production techniques emphasize the artistic realm. Whether it is layered peaks and ridges, or shimmering waves and island shadows, it should be able to express the splendid magnificence of mountains and rivers.