At the moment, I am growing two bonsais, a Ficus retusa (Tiger Bark Ficus) and a Ficus microcarpa (Ginger or Ginseng Ficus). The Tiger bark tree (nicknamed Yggdrasil) I received nearly a year ago as a birthday gift from my wonderful significant other. Sent as a pre-bonsai from DaSu Bonsai Studios, in Ames Iowa (seen at left), we wired up the roots, after stripping and annealing copper electrical wire, into a nice flat pot with a good porous soil. After a month, we cut back the leaves toromote smaller growth and then allowed it to grow for the rest of the summer, with one minor reduction of the branches in late August.
Unfortunately, I let the branches get too long and spindly (as seen in the picture from last weekend at right). So, this last week, with a clean sharp pair of bonsai shears, we performed a major reduction to promote growth closer to the central trunk. Once it stops raining here I should be able to get a good picture of the tree in its current state. It is still spindly and now has few leaves, but some new growth is starting to appear.The ginger ficus (as of yet, no nickname) I bought at the Des Moines Farmer's Market a little over a month ago. It was already planted in its current pot, and while the soil doesn't seem porous enough, I have yet to transplant it. At the same time we reduced the Tiger bark, we cleaned up the bark on the main tree (as the previous owner had carelessly left a number of small stumps as they removed branched from the tree) and reduced the canopy to encourage a more spherical shape. The picture below is from before the work. Images of the bonsai in their current state will be post soon.
-KGK
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