Yamadori is a Japanese word meaning “collecting plants in the mountain”, and unquestionably, one of the things that bonsai enthusiasts often get tempted to do but end up restraining himself/herself from doing due to law restrictions, as well as the awareness of the need to preserve our nature. For this reason, Teacher Wong and some senior members of the club – Institute of Lingnan Penjing, Hong Kong – have planted hundreds of trees years ago in the workshop for bonsai material in the future. And many thanks to them all, today many of these trees have grown into good bonsai materials for us to use in our bonsai.
Earlier in April, I have bought two trees in the bonsai workshop and with Yik’s help, transplanted the trees into my land. One of them is Fukien Tea (Carmona microphylla, 福建茶 in Chinese) and the other one is博楠 (I don’t know the botanical name or the common name of this tree but only the Chinese name).
Digging up my 博楠 (the tree that I don’t know its botanical name or common name)
LEFT: Here actually are two Fukien Tea growing closely together. It was a bit tricky to dig up mine without disturbing the other one.
My trees after pruning the branches and roots – LEFT: 博楠; RIGHT: Fukien Tea
Although the shape of my bonsai material may not be very interesting when I first got it, I will make it into an interesting one! For example, I am intended to make the 博楠 (the tree closer to us) into a semi-cascade style, like a tree that grows over a riverside or a lake (maybe I will elaborate on this later in another post).
Okay, so this is not quite yamadori. Here, we don’t have tortured, bended trees hanging on the side of a mountain cliff. But we have a safe and suitable environment for us to dig up trees and ensure the greatest chance for the trees’ survival after the transplanting.