How to Make a "Proud Guest in the Mountains" Themed Bonsai

  In the season when late autumn transitions into early winter, Purple Mountain is dyed through by the season, as plants of every color vie to display their beauty, each donning its own colorful garment. The mountain breeze brushes gently past, and the mountain forest dances elegantly. Standing atop Linggu Pagoda and looking around at the surrounding forest, one feels as if standing amid the fantastical colorful forests of Jiuzhaigou. The glossy green Masson pine, the golden sawtooth oak and cork oak, the scarlet daimyo oak……, and the most dazzling of all are the sweetgums of every color spread across the mountains and fields.

  The first to show themselves, the zelkova and Chinese tallow tree, along with a small amount of ginkgo, have already dropped their leaves and quietly hold their ground, while the sweetgum begins to blaze red in great numbers; at this moment, it is their most flamboyant season. If the autumn leaves of the Chinese tallow tree are gentle and soft and beautiful, the beauty of the zelkova is honest and plain, and the autumn state of the ginkgo is silent and detached, then the beauty of the sweetgum is passionate, intense and flamboyant; I always feel that the sweetgum of autumn days is a dancer heavily made up on the stage. The Chinese tallow tree has shed its leaves, yet its gnarled and vigorous branches and trunk reveal another aspect of life that matters even more than outward brilliance, aloofness and tenacity, which are all the more the most important inner qualities indispensable to life……

  Choosing an evergreen shrub or small tree as a bonsai is undoubtedly a better choice; then spread on moss, and facing this patch of greenery, sip a cup of green tea, restoring a moment of calm and clarity.

  Materials:

  Yunnan pistache (Pistacia weinmannifolia), moss

  Steps:

  First spread a layer of ceramic stone on the bottom of the pot to allow air to reach the plant's roots, then add soil, plant the Yunnan pistache and secure it, and finally spread on the moss and scatter on small stones and rocks.