carp
Chumono
First off, I am sure 90% of the forum is unfamiliar with the species, so let me give a bit of background information on it. Michelia figo is a member of the magnolia family, often times called Banana Magnolia or simply, Banana Shrub. The leaves are quite large, with relatively short internodes which show the ability to decrease along with the leaf size. It produces a blossom about the size of a quarter that is has a very strong banana fragrance, hence the name. My tree is not blooming, this photo was taken from a Google search.
To be fair, I have only seen one photo of a fine specimen of Michelia figo, of course, from Taiwan. The artist is Yung-Shou Chang. Outside of this photo, I have not come across a specimen quality bonsai.
Looking at the image, it tells us a few things about this species in bonsai culture. Most importantly, you can see that the species ramifies beautifully, though I've been told it takes a long time to develop. The large leaf size does not particularly matter so long as the species ramifies, look at the Sea Hibiscus coming out of Taiwan. Secondly, the species responds well to pruning (otherwise it would not ramify) and wiring techniques. Lastly, it can be assumed that the species also responds well to root pruning, otherwise the tree would not display a beautiful nebari.
From my own observations and research over the course of the last one and a half months, the species appears to heal and backbud well. My trunk has a few cuts that were not properly cleaned, but the wounds have healed very well all around the stump that was left from improper pruning. The tree came from the nursery I work in, not much attention is paid to pruning technique in the nursery trade; I also purchased it at 50% off retail price.
Here are the glamour shots:
As purchased. 7 gallon nursery material.
Nice view of the nebari near the desired front.
After reduction.
This will be one of those 10-15yr projects, but I am very excited to begin working with this species. The overall design concept will be very similar to that of the Taiwanese image, a multi-trunk, a-symmetric broom. This design will allow for strong ramifications and accommodate the large leaf with the height of the trunks.
I did not know how the species would respond to hard pruning leaving no foliage, so when I did my initial styling, 10/12, I treated it similar to Ficus benjimina. I went and looked at the tree tonight, 10/19 and buds have already begun to swell along the trunk and branches only 7 days after the work was done. Once those buds have opened up and develop I am going to further reduce the height of the trunks in order to have the opportunity to create movement and taper. The nebari is nearly 8" across and 6" deep. The current height is sitting close to 30" and I would like to have the finished height more near 24"-26". To create taper and movement at this finished height, I'm going to need to significantly reduce the height and regrow once the buds break.
When I was in Puerto Rico, the comment was made, "In all tropical bonsai shows, there is too much green. We do not have enough color, so we need to use more species which flower and fruit!" During Min Hsuan Lo's lecture on Pitanga, the next day, he commented on that same feeling; tropical bonsai artist needs to capitalize on those species which display color so we can break up the green foliage in shows. This idea has been resonating with me for months as I've been hunting down and researching many tropical fruiting/flowering varieties to introduce into Florida bonsai. I'm glad to see other tropical bonsai artists share the same sentiment about color and flowers in our display.
To be fair, I have only seen one photo of a fine specimen of Michelia figo, of course, from Taiwan. The artist is Yung-Shou Chang. Outside of this photo, I have not come across a specimen quality bonsai.
Looking at the image, it tells us a few things about this species in bonsai culture. Most importantly, you can see that the species ramifies beautifully, though I've been told it takes a long time to develop. The large leaf size does not particularly matter so long as the species ramifies, look at the Sea Hibiscus coming out of Taiwan. Secondly, the species responds well to pruning (otherwise it would not ramify) and wiring techniques. Lastly, it can be assumed that the species also responds well to root pruning, otherwise the tree would not display a beautiful nebari.
From my own observations and research over the course of the last one and a half months, the species appears to heal and backbud well. My trunk has a few cuts that were not properly cleaned, but the wounds have healed very well all around the stump that was left from improper pruning. The tree came from the nursery I work in, not much attention is paid to pruning technique in the nursery trade; I also purchased it at 50% off retail price.
Here are the glamour shots:
As purchased. 7 gallon nursery material.
Nice view of the nebari near the desired front.
After reduction.
This will be one of those 10-15yr projects, but I am very excited to begin working with this species. The overall design concept will be very similar to that of the Taiwanese image, a multi-trunk, a-symmetric broom. This design will allow for strong ramifications and accommodate the large leaf with the height of the trunks.
I did not know how the species would respond to hard pruning leaving no foliage, so when I did my initial styling, 10/12, I treated it similar to Ficus benjimina. I went and looked at the tree tonight, 10/19 and buds have already begun to swell along the trunk and branches only 7 days after the work was done. Once those buds have opened up and develop I am going to further reduce the height of the trunks in order to have the opportunity to create movement and taper. The nebari is nearly 8" across and 6" deep. The current height is sitting close to 30" and I would like to have the finished height more near 24"-26". To create taper and movement at this finished height, I'm going to need to significantly reduce the height and regrow once the buds break.
When I was in Puerto Rico, the comment was made, "In all tropical bonsai shows, there is too much green. We do not have enough color, so we need to use more species which flower and fruit!" During Min Hsuan Lo's lecture on Pitanga, the next day, he commented on that same feeling; tropical bonsai artist needs to capitalize on those species which display color so we can break up the green foliage in shows. This idea has been resonating with me for months as I've been hunting down and researching many tropical fruiting/flowering varieties to introduce into Florida bonsai. I'm glad to see other tropical bonsai artists share the same sentiment about color and flowers in our display.
