Bonsai the Amazing Dwarf Trees

WE HAD come some thirty miles from the city of São Paulo to see what is known to the Japanese as “bonsai.” Over cups of tea brought to us by the grower’s wife, we expressed surprise when he told us that some of his four hundred dwarf trees were thirty years old.

On one long table there were some small pines that had the windswept look of old age. On other shelves stood out single trees in vessels of shallow depth. Their description seemed appropriate, “Lone tree in plain country.” Others looked withered, with drooping branches, evidently overhanging an imaginary cliff. Two others grew out of the same stump; “the twins” they were called. Another one had high exposed roots, clinging for dear life to a riverside where the water had almost worn away the soil, or so it seemed.

With some, the fascination lies in the spread of the roots, while with others it is the distribution of the branches, the appearance of the trunk, the leaves or flowers. Sometimes, a little moss or some pebbles are all that is needed to add a touch of real scenery.

A twenty-year-old persimmon tree with natural-size fruits stood a mere two feet high. And an even smaller orange tree and several plum trees attracted our attention.

Groups of similar or different trees suggest a forest. And those growing out of a rock simulate trees dwarfed by constant storm and wind on a mountain precipice. In fact, there are mountaineers that risk their lives in the attempt to dislocate real-life dwarf trees from precarious positions on weather-beaten cliffs and rocks.

Whoever thought of reducing normally large trees to this mini-size? we wondered. We learned that a Japanese temple owner by the name of Honen Shonin, in the twelfth century of our Common Era, is said to have produced miniature trees to decorate his small Bodo temple. It is not known, however, whether he actually originated or only copied the dwarfing technique.

The dwarf trees came to be known as “bonsai,” literally bone (shallow pot) and saigh (cultivation) or in other words “potted dwarf trees.” Soon they spread over Japan, China, South Asia, the Pacific, Europe and America, finding admirers almost everywhere. In the seventeenth century the Dutch brought this art to the West. Today it is no longer a question of space alone that inspires enthusiasts and amateur gardeners. It is the gracious beauty of the dwarfed trees.

Japanese immigrants brought the bonsai to São Paulo some thirty years ago. Now they dwarf not only imported trees but also common Brazilian kinds, such as guava and palm trees, yellow ipê, bougainvillea and many more.

Their ages are remarkable. For instance, some brought to Brazil from Japan are more than two hundred years old. And in Japan, some are calculated to have reached six hundred years, such as one in Osaka.

How the Dwarfing Is Done

The natural method of reducing the size of a tree is still the most popular, although chemicals and hormones are used to achieve even smaller specimens than the conventional height of about fifty centimeters (a little under two feet).

The tree is shaped and trained over many years until it acquires the stately shape of a big tree. Bonsai can be cultivated from seeds or cuttings. In the case of seeds it is preferred to use them from naturally smaller trees, planted in soil mixed with half sand. After four to eight months they germinate and are left to grow in the normal way. Cuttings are planted like those of any other tree. The miniaturizing process begins after seven to nine or twelve months while still in the ground outside.