A joint blog with Kasu Bonsai (Jose Luis Lopez Casulleras), Spain Green Island and Green Mound are two very popular Ficus microcarpa cultivars used for tropical bonsai. Both have thick leaves. Several internet articles show how you can distinguish them by their leaf shapes. Green Island Ficus Ficus microcarpa ‘Green Island’ aka Wax Fig, Panda Ficus, Dollar Ficus Green Mound Ficus Ficus microcarpa ‘crassifolia’ aka Long Island, Wax Fig, Panda Ficus, Korea Ficus Heavy-textured leaves, a little longer than wide, the shape would be described botanically as “orbicular’ with only an obs ..read more

Huge massive trees with umbrella-like canopies and neatly arranged pads are hallmarks of Taiwan’s ficus bonsai. They are created and modeled after an old majestic Ficus microcarpa in Tainan’s National Cheng Kung University campus. F. microcarpa at the National Cheng Kung University campus An Award Winning F. microcarpa modeled after the National Cheng Kung University ficus, height: 87 cm, by Hisu Yang Over the last decade, there have been increasing criticisms among some Taiwanese artists that too many of their ficus bonsai look like each other, prompting comment like “if you have se ..read more

This Ficus microcarpa was potted into a 24″ round ceramic pot in 2015. By 2018, it needed repotting again but I procrastinated and did not do it in 2019 either. I finally repotted it a few days ago, but into a wooden box.  I jokingly said it was because I needed to reduce the overall weight. That is true but there are more important horticultural reasons repotting it into a wooden box, like rejuvenating the roots, regaining the tree’s health, and working on the overgrown aerial roots and nebari. Potted into a 24″ round ceramic pot, May 2015. July, 2018. Ready for a repot but did n ..read more

I was searching online for ficus information, came across “FigWeb” and saw this reference: Berg, C.C. & Corner, E.J.H. 2005. Moraceae – Ficus. Flora Malesiana Series I (Seed Plants) Volume 17/Part 2. National Herbarium of the Netherlands, Leiden. Holy Moly! Was Corner still alive in 2005?  No, he passed in 1996.  The monograph was published posthumously. As a ficus bonsai enthusiast, I think there are two botanists whose names are worth knowing beside Carolus Linnaeus the Younger who first described our ubiquitous Ficus microcarpa. These two botanists are: C.C. Berg: He was the o ..read more

This article was written by Mr. Xuenian Han (韩学年), a well-known Lingnan penjing master. It was published in Mr. Shaohong Liu’s (刘少红) “The World of Penjing” (盆景世界), the most widely read online penjing magazine in China with over 135,000 subscribed readers. Both Mr. Han and Mr. Liu gave me permissions to translate this article and share it with English readers on how this new style was developed. “The Fittest”, a “root-on-wall” ficus created by Mr. Xuenian Han. 韩学年作品《适者》（附壁榕） Ficus microcarpa is a native tree species in the Lingnan region. As a fast growing tree and an ability to grow in ..read more

Huge tree roots clinging onto this ancient Ta Phrom Temple ruin in Cambodia is an image.  They are not ficus’, but silk-cotton’s (Ceiba pentadra)  tree roots. “Tomb Raider” was filmed at the Ta Phrom Temple. Waiting for Angelina Jolie to come out. Strangler figs, Ficus gibbosa, do claim Ta Phrom, however, they look different with distinctive mesh-like aerial root networks. Ficus grows rapidly in the tropic, it does not take very long for it to completely engulf an abandoned building.  Let me take you to the Anping Tree House in Tainan, Taiwan.  It was a wa ..read more

A post from my wife, Soon Cheah, a kusamono aficionado. Our Facebook friend, Uwe Harwardt from Germany, sent us a selfie video showing how he made a kusamono pot from a lump of clay into a pot with surface cracks; at the end of the 20+ minute video he asked whether we like this pot or not, if so he would send it as our Christmas present.  We were delighted when it arrived in time for the 2017 Christmas. Uwe and I have been Facebook friends for several years and we communicated often about kusamono.  Every time I received Uwe’s pot, I would put my heart into creating a kusamono that I ..read more

I wrote this blog after returning from the 2017 Taiwan National Hwa Fong Show but did not finish it.  I can give many excuses, truth is I was just lazy.  Procrastination has become a way of life for a retiree; there is never a rush to finish things I used to hurry and complete over the weekends while I was still working. With the coronavirus pandemic, many of us are staying home for various reasons, doing our best to cope in this difficult time, and I want to wish every safe and well.  I thought I should pick up this old draft, add some more ficus bonsai from the show and post i ..read more

Ficus microcarpa, commonly called the Chinese Banyan or Indian Laurel, is the most used ficus species for bonsai.  Although it has many cultivars and varieties, Tiger Bark, aka Golden Gate, Kinmen, Kingman, Kimeng, Kin Men etc. is perhaps the most popular because it is easy to grow, has a beautiful bark, and their leaves reduced easily.  Where do these names come from? My ‘Tiger Bark’ ficus which won the Best Tropical Bonsai in the 2016 US National Bonsai Exhibitions.  The history of its training from a pre-bonsai was described in an older blog. Min Hsuan Lo gave a short description on the d ..read more

We all take vacations or have to go away for a few days, who is going to water our bonsai?  I mean the whole family is away, there is nobody home!  Some people hire a house sitter, a friend or a neighboring kid to water their bonsai; the outcome can be great or disastrous depending on how reliable is the help. My wife and I often take vacations from a few days to as long as 5 weeks, we need a reliable watering system for our bonsai.  I experimented with several automatic sprinkler systems for the last 20 years or so, and found the one we have been using for about 10 years works well for us.  W ..read more