Planting Your Bonsai
Planting Your Bonsai
Bonsai trees are meant to grow within a container so in order to correctly foster the growth of your tree you will need to select an appropriate container. The bonsai is completely independent of the earth since the tree’s roots are planted within the soil of its container. The bonsai is considered a separate entity that is complete in itself yet is part of nature. This dichotemy is best explained in the expression “heaven and earth in one container”.
A bonsai tree should always have the visual effect of being asymmetrical, being off-center in its container, the center point should also be unoccupied to signify symbolically where heaven and earth meet.
The triangular pattern of the bonsai tree is a necessary aesthetic principle, expressing a relationship shared between a universal principle of life-giving energy or deity, the artist, and the bonsai tree. To create a traditional bonsai it is necessary to hold to the three basic virtues of truth, goodness, and beauty. The three basic virtues form the triangle that together represent the bonsai. The initial containers differ from the traditional containers used for later bonsai development due to the fact that the roots must be pruned for a bonsai. These containers that are used first are called training pots.
In the beginning before the roots are pruned to be small and fiberous, it is a good idea to choose a similar pot to what you would use for your finished bonsai design, but anything will do initially to hold the heavy roots.
Deep pots should be used to train cascading plants, while tall plants will need to start off in fairly shallow containers if they will end up in shallow pots. The drain holes for all training pots need to be at least one half inch in diameter. The traditional bonsai pots are available in various shapes such as round, oval, square, rectangular, and hexagonal; these can be found at large nurseries and import stores. For round or rectangular shaped pots bonsai in cascade and semi-cascade styles look best.
The plant should be in the center of the pot with its branches sweeping over the sides of the pot. For rectagular or oval pots, upright trees look best; they should be place about one third from the edge’s distance off center. Even though it doesn’t need to always be obeyed, the pot for your bonsai needs to complement the tree and not be very big, in fact the pot’s depth should equal the plant’s trunk width.
If the attention should be kept on the planting itself, you should select a wide and shallow pot. This wide and flat bonsai pot will give the feeling found in the deep forest, a feeling of calm serenity. When choosing a container the length should be about two-thirds the height of the tree.
For the pot size of a bonsai tree that is wider than it is tall use the width of the plant to correctly gauge it. You will need to find a planter that has a width two-third the height of the bonsai tree with a depth that is approximately 1 1/2 times the tree’s trunk diameter. The color for you bonsai pot should complement the type of tree such as a brightly colored pot for flowering trees or a deciduous tree with stunning fall leaves or more subdue colors for a pine of cedar tree. It is also a good idea to look at the bark of your bonsai tree. If the bark has a rough texture, a pot with a bit of texture would work very well.
Keep in mind that no pot for your tree is permanent. To keep your bonsai tree from becoming root bound you will need to repot it over time. Re-potting of your bonsai tree will be addressed in a following chapter. To give the impression of a full sized tree in nature you may add moss and other small plants around your bonsai tree once it has been potted.