Osmanthus Bonsai Making Method
The editor will answer your questions about osmanthus bonsai making knowledge. Continue reading for the osmanthus bonsai making method!
Bonsai originated from the herbaceous pot plants of the Neolithic period, matured during the Han Dynasty, flourished in the Tang and Song Dynasties, and developed comprehensively in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Bonsai techniques mainly use the artistic methods of "shrinking a dragon into an inch" and "miniaturizing mountains and forests," which is an art that represents nature.
Osmanthus has lush branches and leaves, is evergreen all year round, has twisted roots and beautiful posture, and has bright flowers and fruits, fragrant aroma, strong germination, pruning tolerance, and long lifespan. It is a good species for making tree bonsai. The making process of osmanthus bonsai is complicated, imitating nature, and indescribably wonderful, with high-quality bonsai thanks to the profound artistic conception and skilled techniques of the bonsai masters. It is not convenient to explain the skills of making osmanthus bonsai one by one, so only a brief description is provided.
I. Principles of Osmanthus Bonsai Making: Deep composition and concept; imitating nature realistically; highlighting strengths and avoiding weaknesses; combining dynamics and statics cleverly; unified and harmonious; perceiving the big in the small; properly spaced; clear primary and secondary.
II. Osmanthus Bonsai Varieties: For small-sized bonsai, choose "Winter Aroma Red," "Winter Aroma Silver," "Daily Aroma Osmanthus," "Large Leaf Fodingzhu," "Monthly Osmanthus," "Four Seasons Osmanthus," "Nine Dragon Osmanthus," "Willow Leaf Osmanthus," etc.; for medium-sized bonsai, choose "Large Flower Dan Osmanthus," "Seed Dan Osmanthus," "Cinnabar Dan Osmanthus," "Large Flower Golden Osmanthus," "Round Petal Golden Osmanthus," etc.; for large-sized bonsai, choose "Large Leaf Yellow Silver Osmanthus," "Golden Osmanthus," "Large Leaf Dan Osmanthus," "Large Dan Golden Osmanthus," "Orange Red Dan Osmanthus."
III. Material Selection for Osmanthus Bonsai: The materials for making osmanthus bonsai mainly come from seed sowing, cutting, layering, grafting, dividing, and collecting wild flowing trees. The methods of propagation and cultivation of tree stumps will not be elaborated.
IV. Osmanthus Bonsai Styling Techniques
Osmanthus bonsai inherits the technical characteristics of various schools, mainly using techniques such as shrinking a dragon into an inch, cutting the trunk to thicken branches, coarsely binding and finely cutting, lifting roots and漏zhuang (leakage), and controlling the top to promote the bottom. The tree shape mainly focuses on the curved trunk, oblique trunk, or flowing style, with a diagonal posture, dense leaves, and a simple and natural appearance, which is most appreciated. When flowering, the strong fragrance is refreshing. You can also freely choose to use cliff, rock-attached, literary, dead trunk, carved, and basket styles based on the tree shape.
(A) Winding and Pruning of Branches. Osmanthus has a strong germination and pruning tolerance. After being potted for one or two years, during the plum rain season or after flowering in autumn, shaping is processed by combining winding and pruning methods.
1. Winding Method: Using materials such as palm fibers, hemp skin, or metal wires to wind the branches and trunk into shapes like crab claws, deer horns, cloud slices, drooping branches, and wind-blown styles. In the north, the metal wire winding method is mainly used for osmanthus bonsai. When winding, first fix one end of the metal wire at the base or intersection of the trunk, then wrap it closely against the bark, making the wire and the trunk form an angle of about 45 degrees, avoiding crossing as much as possible.
2. Pruning Method: Using methods such as pinching, cutting, thinning, and injuring to prune the branches and trunk, weakening, dwarfing, and changing the tree shape. First, cut off the diseased, intersecting, overlapping, parallel, and opposite branches; secondly, gradually form the required tree shape by shortening the branches year by year and section by section.
3. Highlighting Main Branch Methods and Defect Compensation: The main branch is mainly highlighted by balancing the trunk and increasing the drooping branch (increasing length); increasing the risk of the main branch (increasing weight); adding main branch shaping for serious imbalance in the picture; emphasizing the drifting posture of the main branch in the wind-blown style (increasing momentum). Defect compensation of the main branch mainly adopts methods such as枝芽腹接法 (bending branch grafting),蘖株靠接法 (suckering close grafting), 移枝靠接法 (moving branch close grafting), 高枝吊盆法 (high branch hanging pot method), 合栽借枝法 (mixed planting borrowing branch method), and 钻孔穿枝法 (drilling through branch method).
(B) Bending and Carving of Tree Trunks. The main trunk can be wound into a curved or oblique shape; for taller trunks, they can be shortened appropriately to encourage new branches at the base, avoiding emptiness at the bottom, or剪去上部枝梢及过密枝条 to stimulate new branches at the bottom of the trunk, maintaining balance and making the tree shape beautiful with abundant flowers and leaves. Sometimes, the main trunk, especially old stumps, can be carved and eroded.
1. For bending thicker branches, first wrap them with hemp skin and line the outside of the bend with a hemp fiber to enhance the flexibility of the trunk. If the branch is too thick and difficult to bend, you can use the "cutting method," which involves cutting a 3-5 cm deep slit at the bending point, then wrapping the cut area with hemp skin as described above. This makes bending easier and less likely to break. For better healing, it's best to make the cut surface perpendicular to the plane of the bend.
2. Carving the Tree Trunk: To show the ancient appearance of the tree, sometimes you can use a chisel or sharp knife to carve the trunk according to the shaping technique, creating natural concave and convex changes, and even stripping off some bark or splitting the trunk in half to show a naturally decayed and ancient posture. However, avoid showing artificial tool marks when carving.
(C) Lifting Roots and Leaking Claws. Bonsai tree stumps emphasize hanging roots and exposed claws, which is also an important part of enjoying bonsai.
1. Root Lifting Technique: Usually, the tree is first planted in a deep pot, and then the topsoil is removed year by year to expose the thick roots. At the same time, the roots can be artistically curled to make them look more ancient and interesting. However, the root lifting should be moderate to avoid exposing too much of the root system at once, which may affect the growth of the tree or even cause death. For osmanthus with long and soft roots, the roots can be curled into an elegant shape, but the curling should be orderly and aesthetically pleasing, not tangled and chaotic, which would affect the overall effect. There are four ways to shape the roots: potting root lifting method, sand cultivation method, adding sheath method, guiding root method, and attaching stone method.
2. Root Defect Compensation: For areas needing compensation, the root compensation method involves using flowing large tree roots for correction and enhancement, increasing the root posture of crouching and coiling; the stone compensation method involves using stones to fill in imperfect root shapes, adding interest.
Here is a detailed introduction to the method of making osmanthus bonsai. Did you understand it?