Lingnan bonsai: production methods and price introduction
Lingnan bonsai, this is a bonsai association, that is, one specializing in this area of bonsai, and many people like it. What are the production methods of Lingnan bonsai? What is the price of Lingnan bonsai:
Production methods of Lingnan bonsai:
(1) Identify the quality of the tree shape: The tree form is naturally tapering gradually from bottom to top, and the base, roots and trunk shape must be well matched. The greatest taboo is a swollen middle, which loses natural proportion. The roots should grow exposed outside the soil on three or four sides, with the size kept at about 1 cm.
(2) Artistic conception: This is the key to setting the form of the whole bonsai. Process it according to its natural form, and strive for simplicity rather than forced alteration. First conceive according to the tree shape or draw a sketch, then prune, preserving the tree's style and unique charm.
(3) Selecting the trunk: The height and thickness of the trunk should also match the proportions of the whole bonsai, achieving harmony and naturalness. On a smooth trunk, bark can be carved with a knife to form classical scars; when pruning branches, leave about one cun so that branch claws form more quickly.
(4) Adjusting the roots: When pruning the roots, retain the original fibrous roots and shorten the thick roots. If it is in the original round pot, the thick roots should be correspondingly shortened; if it is in a square pot, the thick roots can extend slightly to the left and right, exposed above the soil, forming a sense of rugged strength.
(5) Adjusting the branches: Branches located at one third of the trunk must be carefully pruned. Their density, thickness, length, and the distance between branches must be well balanced. If a branch does not meet these requirements, it can all be cut away, leaving only the trunk to let it sprout and grow again.
(6) Cultivation: For a newly pruned and shaped tree stump, cultivation must be carried out promptly before it sprouts, and work such as promoting rooting, shortening the time the stump is out of the soil, sealing cuts, water transport and fertilizing must be done well.
Lingnan bonsai prices:
(1) Lingnan-style premium Sageretia thea stump bonsai, large indoor and courtyard green plant potted plant, reference price: 48000 yuan/pot.
(2) Small-leaf red sandalwood tree stump bonsai, Lingnan style, reference price: 488 yuan/pot.
(3) Shange wood precious tree bonsai, Lingnan style, reference price: 1088 yuan/pot.
The production methods and prices of Lingnan bonsai are introduced here. This has broadened your knowledge, hasn't it!
On the innovation of Lingnan bonsai
After nearly a hundred years, through the efforts of several generations of Lingnan bonsai artists, Lingnan bonsai has gone from an early form to gradual maturity and finally developed a school of its own. To this day, Lingnan-style bonsai has been recognized by people around the world, and its influence at home and abroad is growing. It has become the most dynamic, most distinctive, most promising and most influential bonsai in the domestic bonsai world. Many foreign bonsai enthusiasts speak ever more highly of Lingnan bonsai.
▲Yu Jingtu work "A Hundred Birds Return to the Nest" (Sageretia thea, 120×70×80cm)
▲Yu Jingtu work (black pine)
Lingnan is located in the subtropics, with high temperatures year-round, high humidity, abundant sunshine and ample rainfall, making it suitable for the growth of various plants. Especially shrubs and trees can grow all year round, such as Buddhist pine, orange jasmine, Fujian tea, Sageretia thea, elm, kapok, banyan, mountain mandarin, acacia, crape myrtle, five-leaf maple, bougainvillea, red loropetalum, red cattle, boxwood, masson pine, mountain pine, black pine, Chinese swamp cypress, water horizontal branch, red fruit, tang pear, black-bone fragrant, Bolan, fragrant nanmu, red poplar, spring flower, Shange wood, crab-claw fragrant, baby's breath, pomegranate, pepperwood, bird's nest thorn, shiny-leaved prickly ash and so on. These are all good materials for Lingnan bonsai.
▲Yu Jingtu work (elm)
▲Yu Jingtu work (Fujian tea, height 70cm)
Therefore, Lingnan bonsai is mainly based on broadleaf trees, with pines and cypresses as a supplement. Broadleaf bonsai have a long annual growth period and basically no winter dormancy. Although a small number have a winter retreat period, it is short, only about one month, so they are very suitable for the Lingnan bonsai production methods of accumulating branches and trunk chopping, and stripping leaves to change brocade. Pines and cypresses grow slowly, especially cypress trees. Their branches are soft, not easy to produce horizontal angled branches, and they grow especially slowly, so they are not very suitable for making Lingnan bonsai.
▲Yu Jingtu work (Chinese hackberry)
The biggest difference between Lingnan bonsai and domestic sibling schools and foreign bonsai is that Lingnan bonsai artists create Lingnan bonsai according to the principles of Chinese painting. They first conceive based on the hidden or exposed roots of the tree stump, the direction of the roots, and the shape of the trunk — what form of bonsai will it be created into in the future? Lingnan bonsai, like Chinese painting, emphasizes artistic conception. The author applies the expression of his creative ideas and emotions to the entire process of creating the bonsai. During creation, according to the direction and form of the roots, base and trunk, the position of the supports and the layout of the branches as well as the position of the top are selected to handle well the relationships of looking back and looking forward, gathering and scattering, and closing and releasing. When these relationships are handled well, a Lingnan bonsai has qi openings (called leaving blank space in Chinese painting), clear layers, strong three-dimensionality, and emotion placed within the scene, arousing reverie. This is a silent poem and a three-dimensional painting.
▲Yu Jingtu work (Sageretia thea)
Because Lingnan bonsai is created according to the principles of Chinese painting, the production process is very strict. One extra stroke (one branch support) or one missing stroke will affect the effect of the whole bonsai.
▲Yu Jingtu work (crape myrtle)
The main method of making Lingnan bonsai is accumulating branches and trunk chopping. If the trunk is not chopped, it is just a large tree and cannot be made into a bonsai from several tens of centimeters to more than one meter. Of course, accumulating branches and trunk chopping is not limited to Lingnan-style bonsai; other schools and foreign bonsai also use this method. But what makes Lingnan bonsai's accumulating branches and trunk chopping different from other schools is that the support branches and distributed branches are reduced from dragons into inches. In the words of old artisans in the past, it is one inch cut three times. Because the production methods of accumulating branches and reducing dragons into inches are used, from the selection of support positions to the distribution of branches and the layout of the whole bonsai, it is all made according to painting principles.
▲Yu Jingtu work "Within Reach" (Sageretia thea, trailing length 70cm)
Chopping is to control the proportion of branch supports, carried out section by section from thick to thin, like painting, where one section is one stroke. Reducing dragons is to arrange the direction of the branches, guiding them to reasonable positions according to the layout. Becoming inches is to be short, fast and powerful, making the branch supports appear rugged and strong, revealing the support positions and the direction of the branches, and making the layers clear. Lingnan bonsai reveals much and hides little, so creating a mature Lingnan bonsai takes considerable time and great skill.
Because Lingnan bonsai benefits from the unique climatic conditions of the Lingnan region and is created according to the principles of Chinese painting, using the production methods of accumulating branches and trunk chopping, and reducing dragons into inches, Lingnan bonsai can originate from nature yet surpass nature. Through the long and unremitting efforts of bonsai artists, the bonsai created are unrestrained by convention and varied in form.
From the early single forms of near-tree shaping and short-stump large-tree style, to the continuous creation of cliff style, waterside style, slanting-trail style, moon-embracing style, kapok style, cloud-head rain-feet style and so on. From single-trunk to multiple trunks and even forest style. Especially in the last twenty to thirty years, excellent bonsai with strong Lingnan characteristics such as high dropping branches, large spreading branches and turning-back branches have been created. Because these large branches do not grow at the top, do not grow upward, but grow downward or horizontally, they are especially difficult to cultivate. They grow slowly and must have a certain thickness and variation, so the cultivation time required is especially long. In cold regions, where plants have a short annual growth period, it is very difficult to create bonsai with large dropping branches, large trailing branches and large spreading branches. Only in the subtropical region of Lingnan is it easy to cultivate and create such bonsai.
Stripping leaves to change brocade is another technique for making Lingnan bonsai. For tree species such as acacia, Sageretia thea, Fujian tea and orange jasmine, this method can be used two to three times a year. All the leaves are removed, and the branches are altered and pruned. This production method of stripping leaves to change brocade is for better accumulating branches, sprouting more buds to grow fine branches, accelerating the maturity of the bonsai, and shortening its cultivation time. After stripping leaves to change brocade, the bonsai changes again into another appearance. Although it is carried out in spring, summer and autumn, it makes people feel that it is winter, as if after snow has fallen and the plant has no leaves at all, like a winter scene. More importantly, because no leaves can be seen and only branches are visible, each branch is like each stroke in a painting. Even a slight disorder can be seen clearly. It is simply a fine brushwork painting.
Internationally, there are certain restrictions on the height of bonsai, stipulating that the height should be below one meter. But the people of Lingnan dare to innovate and advance with the times. With the improvement of people's living standards and changes in home environments, more and more people have spacious homes and set up courtyards. Short bonsai can no longer meet the needs of their spacious environments, so in the past ten-plus years, Lingnan bonsai artists have begun to create large bonsai. In Guangdong and other places, people have already created many large Lingnan bonsai over 1.5 meters. These large bonsai enter villa areas and large courtyards, are very favored, and sell at high prices, with good economic benefits. More and more people like large bonsai. Large bonsai are an important aspect of the future development of Lingnan bonsai.
How to shape Fujian tea bonsai and what is the price
Fujian tea bonsai, this kind of bonsai is liked and grown by many people. For this Fujian tea bonsai to grow into a fixed appearance, shaping is needed. How is Fujian tea bonsai shaped? What is the price of Fujian tea bonsai:
How to shape Fujian tea bonsai:
To make Fujian tea bonsai, in spring or the plum rain season, select robust one-year-old branches or current-year semi-lignified branches for cutting propagation; root cuttings can also be used from early summer to early autumn to obtain seedlings; in the south, you can also go into the woods to select and dig wild tree stumps or young trees, and after cultivating the blanks until they survive, process them and pot them.
Fujian tea has extremely strong growth power and is extremely tolerant of pruning. It is suitable for the "accumulating branches and trunk chopping method" used in Lingnan bonsai, using repeated pruning and processing to make the branches and trunk achieve a naturally twisting, rugged and powerful effect. Common tree forms include straight-trunk style, double-trunk style, slanting-trunk style, multi-trunk style, forest style, cliff style, stone-attached style and so on.
Fujian tea is an evergreen small shrub with dense branches. There are three types: large-leaf, medium-leaf and small-leaf. Among them, small-leaf Fujian tea grows slowly, with small, dark green, glossy and lovely leaves, developed roots, twisted and interlaced roots, and an antique and elegant posture, making it lovable.
Fujian tea has strong sprouting ability and is tolerant of pruning, and is often made into natural-style large-tree-form bonsai using the "accumulating branches and trunk chopping" method. That is, when the young tree used for bonsai grows to a certain thickness, carry out severe pruning (cut away most of the trunk), and at appropriate positions and angles retain 1 to 2 or 3 to 5 branches as first-level side branches. When the second-level branches on them grow to a certain thickness, retain one or two branches and cut them short to promote third-level branches; proceed in sequence, year after year, chopping the trunk and accumulating branches.
When branches and leaves are too dense, besides cutting off water sprouts at any time, prune once each in early summer and mid-autumn every year. When pruning, it should also be carried out according to the "accumulating branches and trunk chopping" method. After pruning in this way for several years, it will be cultivated into a bonsai with a rugged and antique trunk, graceful branches and leaves, and a beautiful tree shape.
Prices of Fujian tea bonsai:
If you do not want to make Fujian tea bonsai yourself, you can also choose to buy one. Fujian tea bonsai are not expensive, costing from several tens to over a hundred yuan per plant. Let's look at a few examples to get an idea.
(1) Wanglin Gardening's Fujian tea, height between 15cm-20cm, reference price 32 yuan.
(2) Jingruxuan 6-year Fujian tea bonsai, height between 40cm-50cm, reference price 129 yuan.
(3) Huayou Zhijia Fujian tea bonsai + rockery, height between 20cm-25cm, reference price 88 yuan.
The prices of Fujian tea bonsai vary, so choose according to the height and size you like.
The shaping methods and prices of Fujian tea bonsai are introduced here. Hurry and get one for your own home.