Basics. What exactly are they and how do we perceive them? I write this as I think of when I was asked by a visitor “I see the maples, but where are the Bonsai?” It caught me off guard for a moment and replied “All around you.” It has always spiked my curiosity on what qualifies a plant that has been trained in the art of Bonsai/Penjing (Chinese form) in others eyes. I do often find myself thinking back to the mid 1980’s to Karate Kid and seeing that those images are burned in the minds of those who haven’t experienced or studied much outside the art or see the poor little plants at the home garden centers chopped up and rooted in a container with a top coat of tiny pebbles glued to the top. Are these Bonsai? Yes and no. Yes as they have been prepped but no as Bonsai is a continuous art of shaping the tree and working with it.

   One visitor noticed a Trident maple I have with a 6”+/- trunk but only 22” +/- height. It had low branches from tread grafts, a well-defined apex. Not really knowing that much about the art, he immediately recognized it as being Bonsai. We loaded up the Japanese maples and blue-white pine and almost hesitantly he turned and asks if he could come by and learn a little. I have never considered myself a master of the art what so ever, simply an enthusiast. I obliged and he came by for some months and worked many varieties and ended up actually bringing me back to the basics. Kind of like when a child’s sense of imagination diminishes I felt that was a point I was almost there if not already.

   Basics are where we all have started. Seeing the potential in a tree that no one else has yet too. Going out into nature to observe the growth patterns and incorporating them into your work. Basics keep you grounded and remind you the reality is that half of the work is in your mind, your imagination and vision. The blueprint is in your mind. The tree simply fills it in over time. As we realize it is an art an not specific to any tree, or plant is when the imagination returns and your color wheel of material for Bonsai expends tenfold. Taking the non linier path of thought reveals a whole new spectrum of what you can envision. Yes, I have favorites. Maples. You may like boxwood, holly, juniper/conifers and so forth, but throwing the proverbial “wrench” into your collection in this aspect, is a good thing. It is the basics of growing and expanding your experience! Until next time...