Maple Bonsai Blog

The Japanese Maple Bonsai play an important part in the structure and design of Japanese gardens. Not just the aesthetic appearance and texture but also on a spiritual level. The art of bonsai goes beyond horticulture and is part of the Zen Buddhist philosophy. Zen and Shinto traditions both play a large part in the design and lay out of gardens. The idea of Zen Buddhism is to be in harmony with nature and not obtrusive to it. Buddhism sees nature as having a soul, so this personifies it, and means it should be respected. The traditional bonsai artists believe that the purpose of this arts miniature approach is to promote the shrinking of human foibles such as greed and self-centred thinking. These bad traits of man promote the unthinking destruction of all of nature according to the belief.

All of the different parts of the bonsai have particular meanings of their own in the Zen Buddhist belief system. For instance the branches stretch towards the sky seeking a richer thought process or enlightenment. The stout trunk carries the responsibility of promoting the spread of the philosophy. The sturdy roots stand for a concrete grounding in the philosophy, which is ultimately bound for heaven.

Maple Bonsai fit into this as they are one of the species that take well to the formal upright style and go well with the skyward stretch towards enlightenment. They are also good candidates for the informal upright style. In this style the trunks is supposed to bend to one side or the other, but not in the direction of the admirer. This mimics the natural bending of trees away from the shading of other trees or objects, or the effects of the wind over time. As stated these trees have a strong upright tendency this makes them particularly suited to these two styles. The Maple Bonsai can also work well with the slanting bonsai style, however it isn’t a good candidate for the cascading or the semi-cascading style.

Although the philosophy of Zen Buddhism and its part in bonsai is interesting, it isn’t a necessary requirement for the cultivating and the enjoyment of these little trees. Today all over the world bonsai fans enjoy a wonderful hobby, that certainly can help you to be peaceful and in tune with nature, but you don’t have to adhere to a Buddhist belief. It can just be used as a tool for decorating the inside or outside of the home.

The bonsai tree can sometimes live for hundreds of years if cared for correctly. They are a lovely, peaceful piece of art that can be given to your children, and this can be repeated for generations to come. These trees are a personal expression of the artist, and therefore no two trees are the same, as in nature. It takes patience to learn how to create a bonsai and failure is common at first, but as mentioned patience is the key. If you want to become a bonsai master it takes time and effort, but you don’t have to be a master to create and enjoy your own bonsai. Just learn some basics, get a tree, and keep it healthy. Enjoy your Maple Bonsai in whatever way suites you, as a piece of art, decoration, or a spiritual representation of nature.

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This particular maple seedling is another fast grower. One of it’s main features is it tends to be bulbous at the base. The bark is a distinctive gray/white and the leaves similarly to other maples are five pointed. A couple of good aspects about this Maple Bonsai particularly for the less experienced is they have a high resistance to disease and can handle a period of drought. This tree can therefor be displayed on it’s own or is ideal for the root over rock style.

This is a style wherein the roots are encouraged to grow over and grasp onto a rock. This mimics what happens in nature when a bird deposits a seed into a natural crevice. The roots will crawl out in an effort to find soil, to get more nutrients after using what could be taken from the soil in the small opening in the rock. When they hit soil they then circumvent the rock. When this occurs the roots thicken out and stand in for the trunk at the very base of the tree.

The display of rocks is an art form of it’s own in Japan called Suiseki, this is one reason rock choice follows a few rules in this method. For starters these are, the rock chosen should have eye appeal, a natural look, and the size shouldn’t over shadow the tree, which after all is the main attraction.

Again the choice of tree for this style needs to be made correctly. A tree that is healthy and has a big root system is a good choice. The roots need to be strong and long enough to hang over the rock. The measurement guide for the roots is one and a half times longer than the rock is high. If the roots of the bonsai you want to use are too short, the problem is solved by planting it in a tall narrow pot so the root system will grow down and get longer. Let the roots grow until they reach the desired length, which may take a year or more, as with all bonsai patience is the key.

When the roots are ready remove damaged foliage and rinse the dirt off of the root ball. Don’t hurt the roots, before washing taking off dirt by hand helps. Now put the tree on the rock and play with the placement to find the best looking arrangement of tree and rock. Put the roots around all of the rock because the arrangement is for viewing from any side. This is not usual in bonsai where the tree normally is expected to be viewed from the front only.

Now the roots have to be secured. Grafting tape is a good thing to use and having someone hold the roots in place while securing them works best. You need to have pulled the tape around the rock fairly tight except at the bottom where it should be tape-less because this is where the roots will go into the dirt.

Next check to see that all of the roots are free on the bottom of the rock. Put the rock and maple bonsai in a container with plenty of clean sharp sand. Make sure the bottom of the tree trunk shows, while the rock is out of sight. Give it a good watering; the tree should stay in this pot for either one year or possibly two. Remember I did say the key to bonsai was patience. It will take one growing season for the roots to exhibit a good showing and during this period they will thicken up. However this does depend on them having been placed correctly. Two years gives the roots really more than sufficient time to thicken. When you check to see if the roots have grow properly and find they haven’t, no worries, simply re-pot them giving the plant one more year to get the roots right.

So as you can see from the description above not the fastest way to get a bonsai to display at home. However at the end you should be the proud owner of a Maple Bonsai that appears to have naturally grown over a rock, making a quite beautiful and unusual display.

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These are green maples and are sometimes called mountain maples or smooth maples. Their natural homes are South Korea, Japan, and China. They are stout, generally hardy and therefor healthy trees. Their leaves reduce nicely making good bonsai trees. They’re suited primarily for single bonsai, although they are good for forest plantings and clump style.

What is clump style? It is a style with numerous trunks, which grow around a centralized spot. The trunks connect to each other so this style differs from the forest presentation in this respect. This is a classic bonsai style and is otherwise called grove style. The several trees are put in one pot, which gives a forest illusion and you usually use an odd number of trees to conform to the Japanese art and show respect. The clump style is also different than the raft style in that in raft styling the trunks are placed along a shared spine. In the raft style the tree is made to look like one that the wind has blown over and the surface branches keep growing as new trunks, because the underside has rooted.

The tree produces tiny flowers whose sepals are colored purple or red with white petals. As with most maples, if not all, over sunning can scorch the leaves. The leaves have five to nine lobes and are yellow in the summer becoming purple or red during the fall. It is a very airy and dainty maple and likes part shade in the height of summer or curtainly not direct sun. In places with climates like that of England’s then it should take the full sun without any problems. In the winter if outside it should be placed on the northern side of the home as it thinks that spring has come if it gets a bit warm. The problem is that it could be killed by a frost if it doesn’t stay dormant until spring really comes. Being on the northern side of the house it doesn’t think spring has arrived until hopefully any spring freezes have finished. This way it won’t sprout new leaves too soon.

To propagate it, asexual ways have to be used like budding, grafting, air-layering or cuttings. A good way to propagate with a cutting is to put it in a small pot with moistened soil and place a plastic bag over it and seal the bag or use a zip-lock. Left in indirect light for nine months it will grow roots. No more water should be needed while in a sealed bag as it becomes a tiny greenhouse.

The fertilization should be done in late winter or early spring; the soil needs to be well-balanced. It can develop a disease called chlorosis if it doesn’t have sufficient iron, if this disease occurs the leaves become a sickly yellow color. It will remind you of the look of jaundice. Re-pot it during this time period too. It needs damp soil, but not really wet. If the soil gets too dry it can cause the leaf to burn when exposed to sunlight.

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