I'm thinking of joining a bonsai club. I've a beautiful Chinese wisteria that bloom profusely each spring, and I would like to try to air layer a branch to create a bonsai. Can you help?
Have You Attempted Bonsai?
I've been working to improve my proficiency for more than 25 years, and as a very active member of the bonsai community I've seen a lot of people become infatuated with the art, only to find their infatuation quickly turning to frustration as they discover keeping their trees alive takes more than a strong desire. When I first decided I HAD to learn how to produce beautiful trees, I failed miserably - for the reason I stated - my trees kept dying. I put the trees aside and hit the books, studying soil science and the physiology of woody plants for about 4 years before I made another foray, during which I discovered I'd learned enough that I could keep my trees reasonably healthy.
Bonsai and diving have some things in common, in that they both have built-in difficulty factors. Proficiency at container gardening is like doing a back flip off the low board. Proficiency at bonsai is like doing a double back somersault in the pike position with a triple twist off the 3 meter board. Where someone with a fair degree of skill might be able to keep most containerized plants happy, it will take much more than just that skill set to be able to keep a woody plant happy through a lengthy term of development and subsequent process of refinement.
If you have the desire, I encourage you to try it, because the personal rewards and sense of accomplishment are immense, and you'll never ever reach a level of accomplishment where you no longer feel challenged - that just doesn't happen. There is always an eye-opening experience just waiting to be discovered, no matter your level of skill.
I already mentioned the 2 things I found to be indispensable tools - a very good working knowledge of soil science and plant physiology. If you're still interested, I can point you in the right direction. Joining a club and ultimately finding a knowledgeable mentor to guide you would be invaluable and undoubtedly shorten the length of time it takes to get to the point you can keep your trees healthy and on track. Again, the rewards are great, but there are dues to be paid.
About propagating wisteria: Most vines come very easily from cuttings, with wisteria being no exception. Unless you are looking for the sense of accomplishment that comes from successfully layering a plant, go the cutting route - much less effort.
Al
Best luck.
Al
This message was edited Mar 24, 2015 9:55 PM
Thank you Al, for your sound advice. The desire to create a bonsai has been latent within for quite sometime....
It's time for me to devote more effort into realizing my dream. I'll be actively looking for a source of study on the bonsai art locally.
As far as propagating the wisteria, the various different methods, layering versus take cuttings. I was hoping to minimize the length of time by layering a large branch, instead of taking small cutting of smaller branches.
At the meantime, the wisteria is about to unfurl the pendulous blooms.
The "tree" is in a half whiskey barrel. The creeping phlox adorn/covers the container.
