Camellia bonsai wiring and shaping techniques that even beginners can learn

Among the many plants used in Sichuan-style stump bonsai, the camellia is one of the earliest tree species adopted.

The camellia is one of China's top ten famous flowers. With its characteristics of not withering through winter, braving frost and snow, and blooming in the cold, it adorns gardens in winter and early spring. When used for bonsai, its elegant and dignified plant form, glossy green leaves, and beautiful yet not gaudy flowers combine naturally to bring brilliance and vitality to indoor spaces.

I. The bonsai habits of the camellia

The camellia originates from the mountainous areas of China's Yangtze River basin and was a component tree species of ancient subtropical forests. Since its history of being taken from the forest for cultivation is only about a thousand years, it still retains pronounced subtropical forest plant habits, preferring slightly acidic, moist soil. Therefore, when potting, never use poorly draining dead yellow clay or old hardpan soil. Otherwise, the plant will fail to sprout or grow, appearing diseased, and the root system will turn black, rot, and die. It also dislikes direct sunlight and prefers a semi-shaded environment with high air humidity.

II. Potting and wiring

For camellias used in bonsai, seedlings should be selected from nurseries where the plants are spaced relatively far apart. The selected plants should be camellias with lower branching, more branches, uniform leaves, normal development, and no pests or diseases.

The flower bud differentiation period of the camellia is in May, and flower buds begin to form in June. The best potting seasons are the second and eighth lunar months in spring and autumn. At this time, the camellia's leaf buds have just sprouted or have sprouted only slightly, so after transplanting the young shoots and tender leaves will not wilt and affect growth. If potting at other times is desired, more soil should be retained around the roots, and after quick lifting and planting, the plant should be moved to a cool place for several days. Even so, growth will not be as vigorous as in the second and eighth months. The soil used for potting must be mountain humus soil or red sandy loam from hilly areas (soil from under Masson pine and oil tea forests).

The potting and shaping of camellias generally use the cliff-hanging style and the rolling-branch style. For the cliff-hanging style, Yixing tall-footed cylindrical pots or tall bucket pots can be used; for the rolling-branch style, well-proportioned round or square pots can be used.

Camellias used for bonsai wiring should all be planted at a slant when potted, so as to facilitate work on the trunk's form. Generally, the trunk is first bent into a form favorable for wiring the branches. Commonly used forms include the drop-crook and the rolling-dragon-embracing-pillar crook. When bending the trunk, the camellia's side branches, fine branches, and leaves should generally all be retained. After the trunk takes shape, the side branches are then worked on. The wiring method for side branches can be determined according to the characteristics of the surface area that branch should occupy, using upright bends, slanting bends, and irregular back-curves respectively, to the extent of filling the gaps on the surface of the crown. All the above wiring is done using coir fiber with double-strand tying. Wiring should be carried out after potting, once the new branches have hardened, that is, about one month after potting. Because the camellia's wood is relatively hard, like that of osmanthus and golden lantana, during each bend the branch should be carefully "kneaded" - that is, each small section of the branch segment involved in that bend should first be flexed, bending it in forward and reverse directions so that the bark and phloem stretch and compress, and the xylem adapts to the external force through compression and tension, before the coir fiber is tied to fix the shape. Otherwise, after shaping is completed, the plant's branches and trunk may break due to increased sap flow.

Finally, through wiring the small branches, each leaf's surface is turned outward. Because the tree species used for rolling-branch shaping are all flowering trees that bear flowers in the leaf axils (camellia, osmanthus, plum blossom, wintersweet, elm-leaved spirea, etc.), the effect after shaping is that flowers can bloom all over the surface of a spherical or obovoid plant crown, displaying opulence and nobility. Therefore, the process of wiring small branches and turning leaves should be carried out even more meticulously. In order to make the alternately arranged camellia leaves on the branch all turn their faces outward, when bending the small branches they should be carefully kneaded and twisted, so that they neither break nor fail to achieve the leaf-turning effect. After the operation is completed, only then can individual redundant branches and leaves that cannot be dealt with be pruned away. If some gaps in the wiring need to be filled in by young shoots, this can only be done after the young shoots have aged and hardened.