Category: Journal

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.

After reading my earlier post about my bonsai land, a friend, Irene, asked me why I covered up the soil with the black cloth again after all the plowing and pulverizing of the soil. I told her the black cloth is there to avoid weeds from growing. And here, with a few more photos, let me show you how the black cloth is used.

In a 10 ft x 10 ft space, I have planted five trees.  At the top left, there is a Ficus Microcarpa “Tiger Bark” (虎皮榕 in Chinese).  At the bottom left, there is a Eugenia uniflora. Linn., aka Surinam cherry, red Brazil cherry (紅果 in Chinese). In the center, I have a Murraya paniculata, aka Orange Jasmine (九里香 in Chinese).  At the top right, there is a Carmona microphylla aka Fukien Tea (福建茶 in Chinese).  And for the one at the bottom right, all I know is its Chinese name – 博楠 – but neither its botanical name nor common name…  I did a Google search, yet found no luck.  Does anyone know the botanical name or English common name of this tree?

And instead of planting the trees on the ground level, I have planted my trees a bit higher for easier viewing and pruning in the future.

In order to give the root systems of my bonsai trees as much space to grow and develop as possible, I have cut an opening on the black cloth underneath every one of my trees.  While some openings fit perfectly with the bendable plastic sheets that I use as container (like the one on the left), there are some that are cut too big.  To avoid weeds from growing, I covered up the exposed soil ground with some bricks.

LEFT: This is the tree that I have no idea of its botanical name, as well as its common name.  It is called 博楠 in Chinese;  RIGHT: Carmona microphylla aka Fukien Tea (福建茶 in Chinese)

LEFT: Murraya paniculata, aka Orange Jasmine (九里香 in Chinese);  RIGHT: Eugenia uniflora. Linn., aka Surinam cherry, red Brazil cherry (紅果 in Chinese)

Ficus Microcarpa “Tiger Bark” (虎皮榕 in Chinese)

On top of my bonsai rack, I have also rented a piece of land to grow more bonsai trees.  Teacher Wong always says that one is truly  a bonsai artist only when she knows how to cultivate a seedling or a cutting into a beautiful bonsai tree from ground zero.  And the best way to acquire this knowledge is by doing it herself.

While I have a very packed schedule and know that this is a long-time commitment, I couldn’t resist but rented a piece of land in the bonsai workshop and turned a new page in my bonsai world.

Trees grow much faster when they are rooted in the ground.  By growing the trees in the ground, not only can I  grow my bonsai trees faster, but I can also grow my trees into whatever styles I want them to be in a much shorter time.  And once the tree has grown large enough (around 80% of the size I intend to grow the tree into)  and more or less into the bonsai style I want, I can then pot the bonsai tree into a bonsai pot, and work on the pruning and training of the smaller branches, foliage, and details.

This is how my 10 ft x 10 ft land looked like before I started.  It is covered with a piece of black cloth to prevent weeds from growing.

Plowing is tough, laborious work, and I am very happy that I have got Yik to help.

After all the lifting, turning over, and pulverizing the soil, we add a big block of peat moss and sand for good water retention, high air capacity, and good drainage.

After more plowing and mixing, we stored the extra soil mix in bags and covered up the land with the black cloth again.

I have dug out and potted three bonsai trees that I have bought earlier. When I bought these bonsai trees in the early winter, they were rooted in the ground. Since spring comes early in Hong Kong, now is just the right time to pot these bonsai trees.

This is a Chinese Elm, and I am intended to grow this tree into the semi-cascade style.  In fact, to be more specific, I want to cultivate this Chinese Elm into a “海底捞月” (literally means scooping the moon from the ocean).

This is an Eugenia uniflora (aka Surinam cherry), and obviously, this tree is perfect for the informal upright style.

And the bonsai tree on the left is another Chinese Elm that can be train into the informal upright style as well.

If you want to see how my rack looked earlier, you can check this article – Finally Got My Bonsai Rack.

Since I joined the bonsai club – Hong Kong Institute of Lingnan Penjing (香港嶺南盆景藝術學會) in July this year, I had been debating on whether or not I should rent a piece of land in the bonsai workshop to practice bonsai. It is a big commitment, for I know that once I have rented a spot in the workshop for practicing bonsai, I will definitely get hooked on these little trees for the many years to come.

But I really couldn’t hold it anymore, especially after seeing all the beautiful bonsai in the Guangzhou Penjing (Bonsai) Exhibition. I just wanted to start making my own!

During my research on the history of bonsai, I found a beautiful collection of bonsai postage stamps in the homepage of Phoenix Bonsai Society. While it is not surprising to find bonsai on postage stamps of China, Japan, Hong Kong, or Taiwan, there are some countries that I would have never expected bonsai on their postage stamps, for examples, Maldive Islands, Thailand, and Republic of San Marino. I’ve found this very interesting. I guess bonsai is more popular and widely spread in the world than I have expected.

A few days ago, with Teacher Wong and other lingnan penjing club members, we took hours of long rides to Yingde (英德) in Guangzhou, mainland China in the hope of obtaining some beautiful stones that can be used in our penjing (bonsai in Japanese).
“Penjing” in Chinese literally means “landscape in a pot”. Their art is more of reproducing a miniature landscape than creating a perfect tree as the Japanese are doing with their bonsai. While penjing and bonsai share many similarities, there is one thing that can only be found in penjing but not bonsai, and that’s the rock landscapes.