: All about miniature plants and gardens indoors and out by Brilmayer Bernice Bourke Kathleen Illustrator Schaefer Fritz Illustrator - Miniature plants; Gardens Miniature

@FreeBooksThu 08 Jun, 2023

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ers are seldom ornate; really they shouldn't be. They should have the grace and elegance of "expensive simplicity," which doesn't mean they are expensive. They just look as though they were. Colors are subdued, not bright or showy. As a rule to follow, darker and somber shades are used for evergreens, lighter shades for flowering plants, the specific choice depending on the color of the bloom. In shape and form, bonsai containers are simple and graceful and are selected to set off the shape or lines of the plants. Erect trunks often take shallow, rectangular containers. Hanging or weeping lines call for round containers with more depth. Square or oval containers are used for extremely delicate, graceful subjects.

Container size, of course, depends on the plants themselves. As a general rule, the smallest and most shallow container that is culturally practical, and in good proportion, is the best. In true bonsai containers, diameters range from two to twenty-five inches; depths, from one to ten inches. The accepted rule for good proportions allows the plant to occupy 80 per cent of the picture, the container 20 per cent. Should you have very small plants the ratio is slightly changed--60 per cent for plant, 40 per cent for the container. However, these figures should not be considered as hard and fast, but as a guide when purchasing containers. Your eye may tell you what is better suited for your particular plant or shrub.

PLANTING AND CARE

This is often the first thing you do for a plant that is to be grown bonsai-style. It is a procedure that is repeated regularly if your plant is to have a long life. Dwarf trees and shrubs are root-pruned so they will fit their small containers, or to make room for fresh soil when they are repotted, or to keep the root system in balance with the growth above soil that is being restricted. Pruning also keeps the roots compact, near the surface of the soil, and vigorously young. Removing old, woody roots encourages the growth of fine new ones.

When seedlings, rooted cuttings, and small newly purchased or collected plants are made ready for their first bonsai containers, they are not immediately root-pruned in a severe sense. Any roots that are dead should be trimmed off and long taproots should be cut back at least one-third. Otherwise, it's a matter of trimming off the root ball with as little disturbance as possible, just enough to fit the container.

After they have been established, plants are root-pruned when they are repotted. When roots are crowded and completely cover the soil in a close mesh, it's time to repot and root-prune. For some plants this may come once in a year, for others once in five years.

Hold the base of the trunk in one hand--your left hand if you are a right-hander. Use a dull-pointed pencil and loosen the soil around the outside. Pick away about one-third of it if the plant is established, somewhat more on younger plants. When you have finished, the soil ball should be, roughly speaking, one-fourth smaller than its container. Then, with sharp scissors, cut away all the loose root ends which you have removed from the soil. This is rather drastic surgery, although not like removing an arm and a leg of a gardener, because the plant or shrub has the happy faculty of growing new roots. However, it will need special care and protection until it is back on its feet again. Bonsai plants are root-pruned and returned to the same container year after year. None of this making each container one size larger each time the plant is moved into a new house. That's for house plants per se.

Potting soil for dwarfed trees and shrubs is particularly important. There is so little of it in small containers. In general, it should provide good drainage and aeration while also holding a certain amount of moisture. On the specific side, soil contents and textures should vary to meet the individual plant's needs.

If your plant happens to have been dug locally, take along a supply of local soil. If you happen to have purloined the plant from a neighbor's woods, purloin a little soil. It's no more of a sin to have stolen a sheep than half a sheep. In our neighborhood it is a standing joke about how many plants, flat paving stones, etc., we swipe from each other. If you have been honest enough to have bought your plant from a nursery, ask their advice on the soil. If they are not smart, although most of them are, get the reference book down off the shelf and find out whether the plant craves a mixture that is sandy, rich in humus, acid or alkaline, fine or coarse. You have a baby on your hands. Treat it right and it will award you with adulthood in bonsai. Neglect it and it will curl up and die. Mix your soil as you would a baby's formula. Remember, babies cry when the formula is faulty; plants can't. They silently pass away.

I am frequently asked how often an established tree or shrub should be repotted. It depends, first, on how fast it grows. A willow may need this attention twice a year, a conifer once in five years. A general rule is to repot flowering and fruiting plants about once a year, most deciduous varieties every other year, evergreens every three to five years. But don't follow that schedule too literally. If a tree begins to wither or look weak, if its color turns sickly and it shows no sign of growth, if its roots are so packed they hump up the soil, root-pruning and repotting are often the "shot in the arm" that can save it.

The most favorable repotting seasons vary with types of plants and the climate. Again, it's a good idea to consult some authority or reference book. In general, and in most areas, it is safe to repot evergreens, deciduous foliage varieties, and summer-or fall-flowering types in early spring before new growth begins. As for spring-flowering plants, repot immediately after flowering; for fruiting types, in early autumn before cold weather sets in.

As a side light, it is possible to use watertight containers minus drainage holes. That is rather desirable when a plant is to be displayed on finely finished furniture in the house. The container should be a shade larger than usual so that, in potting, a corner area or space along the side can be left empty and the soil sloped down toward it. If there is any standing water it will show up in this section. Just up-end the container and drain off the excess water. In the process make sure that the plant is not also drained off or disturbed. But that you will know from plain common sense.

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