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CHAPTER 2

Creating Instant

Bonsai

The easiest way to start your edible bonsai collection is to visit a garden center and purchase an already-created bonsai from one of the varieties commonly used in the bonsai trade. Australian cherries, dwarf pomegranates and Natal plums should be easy to find this way. They will be small, like traditional bonsai, and won’t bear heavily until they get some age and size. The garden center may also have “bonsai starters,” which are less expensive partially shaped trees in four- to six-inch pots. These groomed starters, which need a minimum of pruning and often have large roots to expose upon repotting, can be planted in nice pottery and will look good immediately.

Depending on the size and quality of your local garden center and the area where you live, some of the varieties discussed here may be available as nursery stock plants in one-, two-, or five-gallon nursery pots. Australian cherries, pomegranates, olives, myrtles, figs, rosemary, and citrus are widely available in larger pots even in colder climates where they aren’t planted outside as nursery stock. Plants ordered through the Internet will likely be young and small, allowing you to develop desired shapes as they grow. Most herbs and scented geraniums will be in pots no larger than six inches or one gallon, although they grow quickly and can be shaped in any direction you choose.

Many bonsai guides offer strict instructions for shaping different bonsai with specific forms, keeping them as diminutive as possible. This book changes the parameters, presenting bonsai that are larger than usual and pruning times and patterns that are directed toward production of meaningful crops. Some may be satisfied with a symbolic crop from a classic bonsai, but this book considers production of a useful crop to be an important part of the bonsai experience. It also focuses on creating larger bonsai than is typical in order to maximize production.

The best way to accomplish this goal is to purchase a good-sized nursery plant and “carve” an instant bonsai. It is usually easy to find good-sized blooming or fruiting citrus plants in five-gallon nursery pots. These can be minimally shaped and repotted into nice pottery, giving you an impressive specimen with a couple hours’ work. The first edible fig plant I trained as a bonsai was a nursery “standard” in a five-gallon pot, delivered as a two-foot-diameter ball of foliage atop a forty-eight-inch stem. I let the plant grow and bear a first crop of figs that first summer. When it went dormant in the fall, I took a saw to the stem two feet above the ground, leaving an unbranched stubby trunk. When it sent out new shoots in the spring I left the ones I wanted and pinched them several times. The tree grew a nice shape that summer and bore figs again. After another year of growing and pinching tips, that fig bonsai has a full crown that is quite impressive in the summer and bears a large crop of figs. Taking a large older plant and cutting it back dramatically can be the quickest way to create a spectacular bonsai in a relatively short period of time. Besides figs, I’ve also done this with guavas, citrus, Natal plums, and Australian cherries. Some of these were left with two-inch diameter stubs and essentially no foliage, yet grew out a nice crown over the next year with regular pruning.

Although it may not be as dramatic, a nice nursery plant can often be pruned heavily, removing a third to more than half of the plant’s branches and foliage, to create a beautiful bonsai immediately. This is where it is important to have a selection of plants to choose from, so you can select the inner structure that will create the best bonsai. In addition to a good main trunk, the ideal bonsai should have a nice main branch to one side some distance above the ground. It should be balanced by another branch, slightly higher up on the opposite side, for balance. A third branch should grow from the back of the bonsai, providing depth. These branches should come from different spots on the trunk rather than from the same original leaf node. The lowest branch should be the thickest, with each succeeding branch being a little smaller. Branches that project across the front, crossing the trunk and obscuring the inner bonsai, should be removed. Of course, it is unlikely that a large nursery plant will have this perfect shape, but hopefully you have picked out something with good enough balance and shape to give you something to work with. The three plants illustrated in this chapter were purchased at a local garden center in Fort Collins, Colorado, near my mountain home. The store offered a selection of six strawberry trees, a dozen myrtle-leaved oranges, and about thirty Key limes for me to choose my specimens from.

The tallest growing tips were pruned when shaping the crown of this Key lime bonsai.

Citrus can be very easy to shape as bonsai. The large Key lime shown here was about forty inches tall in a three-gallon pot. It had just finished blooming and had some pea-sized fruits. It was easy to see the future shape in this plant even before anything had been trimmed. Only five growing tips were cut back, leaving the height of the specimen thirty inches from ground level when finished.

Removing a strong branch that was too low on the trunk of this tree.

Fresh soil being added when potting the trimmed Key lime bonsai.

More than a dozen small, stubby, or spindly shoots were removed from the bottom half of the tree. A few that could have been removed were left because they carried small fruits. These would be removed after fruiting to better expose the open branch form. The foliage crown was pruned from the bottom up, exposing the bonsai structure, and the tips were pinched to fill out the top of the crown. One thicker branch was removed from below the main fork to open up the bonsai, allowing a good view of the flowing symmetry of the two main branches.

The front of the nursery tree in the photo became the rear of the finished bonsai, showing the scar where the branch was removed. The marks where some other branches were removed are visible; they will darken and scar over with age. Because not much foliage needed to be removed from this specimen, the root ball was reduced very little. I exposed a little less than one inch of trunk stem and just roughed up the edges of the root ball, adding some fresh soil in a pot big enough to give the bonsai some room to grow.

Finishing the Key lime by covering the soil surface with gravel.

Completed Key lime bonsai. This specimen is thirty inches tall.

If you look closely, you can see I lost some small Key limes with that larger branch, but it needed to be removed to look good, and there are other fruits on the specimen. The left-flowing movement of the two main branches is pleasing to the eye and is balanced by the foliage to the right, even though the two main branches cross each other slightly. It may not have the “perfect” shape, but it’s still a very attractive bonsai with strong branches, a nice full crown, and a crop of small Key limes. Less than one month after shaping, this bonsai had new flower buds opening. After dressing the soil surface with fine pea gravel, I placed a snow-capped-mountain rock behind the bonsai to draw attention through the plant, giving an illusion of depth with a mountain in the distance.

The myrtle-leaved orange specimen shown here was twenty-four inches tall in a one-gallon nursery pot, and was covered with clusters of little oranges. The crown didn’t need to be cut back to obtain a nice shape, which was a good thing because there were orange clusters on the branch tips. One larger branch was removed from below the main fork, and a few oranges went with it, although there are several dozen left on the bonsai. A number of short branches and leaves were removed to expose the trunk and branch structure and to define the lower limit of the crown.

Pruning leaves and small branches from a myrtle-leaved orange tree.

Using a pointed bamboo stick to remove soil and expose the roots of the newly carved bonsai.

During repotting, a sharpened bamboo stick was used to loosen soil around the roots and base of the tree, exposing almost two inches of trunk that had been below the soil.

A few small roots were removed when exposing the trunk, but the rest of the root ball was only slightly disturbed. The tree was then planted with some fresh soil in a pot large enough for it to grow in for a of couple years.

Fresh soil should be tamped down around the root ball when potting. The original soil level can be seen on the trunk.

The completed myrtle-leaved orange bonsai is twenty-four inches tall.

Exposing the trunk added to the height of the bonsai, and though the top was not pruned, the finished specimen rises twenty-four inches above the soil level. The added trunk length places the first branch at a nice interval above the ground and adds to the aesthetic effect of the curving flow in the trunk and branches of the bonsai. The soil surface was dressed with pea gravel, then topped with a multi-colored agate chosen to reflect the curve of the trunk and balance the “empty” side of the bonsai.

The strawberry tree shown here was about twenty-six inches tall in a one-gallon nursery pot, and had flowers and buds in several of the growing tips. Although it took off a large cluster of flowers, the tallest growing tip was removed just above the point where three nice branches were sprouting, bringing the crown of the bonsai into balance. More pinching will be needed to develop the crown, but as the tips were producing clusters of buds, they were left to grow, flower, and hopefully produce fruit before trimming. About half an inch of trunk and a large root were exposed when shaping the root ball before repotting, giving the finished bonsai a height of twenty-two inches above the soil level.

This strawberry tree has been removed from its pot and is ready to be trimmed.

The bottom branches have been pruned, and the tall growing tip was removed.

The strawberry tree is now ready to place into a bonsai pot.

Fine pea gravel is used to cover the soil surface after the bonsai is potted.

Strawberry tree bonsai. This specimen is twenty-two inches tall.

The bonsai was placed in the pot just to the left of center to balance the right-flowing movement in the tree’s structure. Leaves and small branches were removed from the bottom up to shape the lower level of the crown. Two large branches were removed, one of which was below the large first limb left on the bonsai. The scars from removing those branches are visible, but will fade over time. Even with this harsh treatment, one month later the remaining buds were progressively blooming; the oldest flowers left on the bonsai had dropped, leaving clusters of tiny strawberry fruits growing in their place.

After the surface was finished with pea gravel, a piece of black obsidian collected in Oregon was selected to accent the bonsai. The rock was placed to anchor, balance, and reflect the flowing movement of the trunk and main flowering branch. The obsidian was particularly chosen for the contrast of its black color against the white flowers and pottery; it also reflects the color of the wingtips and neck of the sacred crane painted on the pot. The beautiful painted pottery also contrasts well with the bright green leaves and red trunk of the strawberry tree bonsai.

When creating these “instant” bonsai, the root ball usually cannot be flattened enough to fit in a conventional shallow bonsai pot. Like their crowns, the roots of traditional bonsai need years of training to be worked into shallow containers. The pots may depart from tradition in other ways, as well. Solid-colored earth-tone pottery is the customary choice for evergreen trees, while brightly colored or painted pottery is acceptable for flowering bonsai. These days, however, people are more concerned with whether the pottery style and color matches their home décor than its suitability for the bonsai. If we are pursuing this art to please ourselves, rather than feeling forced to follow tradition, the pottery style and color should reflect the artist’s preferences. Some may prefer to choose each individual pot to match the bonsai, while others may want every pot in their bonsai collection to match.

Although it is not as fast as carving an instant bonsai, another way to create a bonsai is to plant an inexpensive small plant such as a fast-growing herb, scented geranium, or hot pepper directly in the ground. This technique has been used in traditional bonsai with outdoor trees, which are planted in the ground and encouraged to grow rapidly for several years. A fifteen-foot tree would be dug up and cut back to less than two feet, providing a thick trunk on which to develop a crown. By adapting this technique to fast-growing plants, a bonsai can be created in a single growing season.

Ideally this should be started in spring, at the beginning of the best growing season. Field-planting directly in the ground in a space with good soil and ample available water will encourage rapid growth. I have taken a four-inch pot of rosemary, like those available in any good garden center, and field-grown a plant that produced a bonsai under two feet tall with a one-inch diameter trunk in a single summer growing season. This can also be done in a large pot while pushing growth with lots of water and fertilizer. You won’t get as much growth as is possible in the field, but it will be easier and less risky to move to a smaller pot when carving your large herb back into a bonsai. Field-growing and digging a plant carries some risk of losing the plant if conditions are too harsh, or if the root and crown pruning are not balanced. For this reason, I recommend growing several plants to train as bonsai. You may lose one or two, but an extra bonsai or three—especially a desirable herb—always makes a great gift.

Most of these fast-growing varieties put out many more new sprouting branches than will be needed to develop the bonsai structure. Your young plant should be cut back to a basic skeleton of a bonsai, with just the trunk and a couple of main branches pruned where you wish them to branch again. All extraneous new shoots and branches should be removed. As your bonsai-in-training grows, all new shoots on the trunk and main branches should be removed regularly except for the new branches forming at the tips of the pruned “skeleton.” These new branches should be pinched at the point where you wish them to branch again. Don’t be too obsessive about this process. Two to four pruning sessions through the summer should be enough. The point is to push lots of growth in the direction desired while keeping the plant from using too much of its energy developing unwanted branches. This process will work well even with little or no trimming through the growing season, although one good trim mid-season can make a big difference in the final shape. Refrain from pruning for the last month or two of the growing season before it is time to dig your specimen and replant it.

Digging a field-grown plant is necessarily a harsh procedure, likely causing root damage and reducing the plant’s ability to take in water for several days as root tips redevelop. This is ideally done at the end of the growing season in cool weather, before the first frost. Avoid digging field-grown plants or repotting in hot weather, which will stress the plant too much. Your transplanted bonsai should kept out of the sun in a shady place to prevent it from drying it out before new roots develop. You will need a rather deep pot. You may want to consider using a training pot, like a ten-inch or two-gallon plastic nursery pot, for six months or so before moving your bonsai into nice display pottery.

In order to balance the unavoidable root damage when digging your field-grown bonsai, a large amount of foliage in the crown must be removed. As plants lose moisture through their leaves, enough foliage must be removed to balance the damage done to the roots. All growing tips should be removed. Some may be cut back severely depending on the seasonal growth and desired bonsai shape. Lower foliage, especially large leaves, should be removed from the bottom up to define the lower part of the crown. Expect to remove about half or more of the plant’s leafy foliage to keep it in balance as it recovers from potting. These plants grow quickly enough to recover rapidly, and can look very good after just another month or two of growing in a pot.

If you purchase your potential bonsai through mail order or over the Internet—which may be the only way to obtain some of the more unusual tropical varieties like guavas or green tea, depending on your location—you will probably get a small, young plant. My green-tea bushes arrived as single-stem unbranched rooted cuttings six inches tall. In developing a small tropical plant as a bonsai, the best results will be obtained by pushing its growth in a good-sized pot for a year or more with only minimal shaping before cutting it back. Over a period of several years, this will create a thicker trunk and a more dramatic appearance than restricting your bonsai-in-training to a small pot with more frequent pruning within that same time span.

Of the many ways to create your edible bonsai, the easiest but least satisfying is to purchase one already created. Perhaps the best way is to find a large nursery plant and carve an instant bonsai. Explore the recesses of your local nurseries. Talk to the greenhouse manager about your interests. Search online if you can’t find your desired variety locally. In more than twenty years of business, I’ve created tens of thousands of edible bonsai using the techniques described here, yet I am always on the lookout for new varieties and sources to explore.