Minibonsais started to become popular five or six years ago. Rapidly winning favor, they have become the darlings of the gardening world and an important commodity in flower markets. By rough estimate, the flower growers at the Chienkuo Flower Market, Taipei's largest, sell a couple of hundred bonsais every weekend; half of the stalls there deal in them.
Some people say the fad blew in from Hong Kong and Japan, but Professor Ling Te-lin of National Taiwan University's horticulture department thinks that is irrelevant. He maintains that minibonsais suit current gardening tastes, which have become more tradition-oriented; that they coincide with the government's promotion of high-yield, intensive agriculture; and, most importantly, that they take up minimal space and are just right for crowded urbanites. "Minibonsais meet our society's needs. It doesn't matter where they first became popular."
Actually, bonsai is one of China's traditional horticultural arts. In his Records of Old Suchow, Wang Ao of the Ming dynasty (1368--1644) writes, "The people of Huch'iu like to grow strange flowers, wonderful plants, twisting pines, and ancient plum trees in pots. Placed on a table, they are elegant and lovely. They call them p'enching (pot scenes)." Miniature gardens and rockeries were also called p'enching.
China in fact cultivated bonsais as early as the Han dynasty (206 B.C.--220 A.D.), calling them p'entsai, or potted plants. The Japanese pronounced this word bonsai, which has been taken over into English.
Horticulturists today distinguish bonsais from ordinary potted plants, which are not shaped and may be either herbaceous or woody. Bonsais use only woody plants or trees which are dwarfed and trimmed to look ancient and weathered. Unusual rocks and water may be added to produce a miniature landscape.
Cultivating a respectable standard bonsai requires at least 20 years, maybe 30 or 40. Few people today, with our quest for economy and efficiency, have this much time or patience. Minibonsais are the answer. They need only three to five years to take shape, and the cost is inexpensive. The market for them has grown steadily.
That market is currently supplied chiefly by the Japanese, who produce the plants in mass quantity, keep them in cold storage, and ship them to Taiwan in the winter. The imports are mostly finished products. Domestics are often semifinished and need more care.
Cultivating minibonsais takes less time than standard bonsais, but the methods are the same. "All the parts of a big tree are there--leaves, trunk, branches, fruit, and flowers," says Lin Kuo-ch'eng, who has six years of experience growing them. "So you've got to cultivate them methodically, just like regular plants."
The smallest bonsai in his greenhouse at present is just two inches high, in a pot the size of thumb. It's an elm, three years old.
"Sow a year, prune a year, pot a year" is Lin's motto. Sowing refers to planting, grafting, or transplanting the tree into a field or a garden. Pruning involves cutting off shoots and twisting the branches to make the tree grow to the desired shape. Potting means transferring the tree to a pot and letting it adapt to its environment. "A bonsai grown this way will take shape well and won't easily die," Lin says.
A bonsai raised this way costs from NT$600 to $800 (US$15 to $20) for ordinary trees like maples, elms, and banyans. If the shape is particularly "ancient" or if picturesque rocks are added, the price starts at NT$1000. A juniper at the Chienkuo Flower Market is tagged at NT$4500 but has attracted many lookers with no takers.
At the other end of the price scale are laoshut'ou, or "tree-bits," which run for just NT$10 a piece. A tree-bit looks like merely an oddly shaped piece of wood but, taken home, sprouts roots and shoots. It's fun--and easy!
Traditional Chinese bonsais strive for beauty of landscape and rely largely on structure and composition. Pruning and shaping branches are not enough. Also needed are the creative inspiration and eye of an artist.
"Besides observing nature a lot, you've got to look even more at traditional Chinese paintings," says Kao Ch'i-hui, the experienced master of the Shushihyuan, or "Tree and Rock Garden." "Only if they're created this way do bonsais have a feeling of vitality."
In fact, an exquisite bonsai can give inspiration to a painter. "When [the famous painter] Chang Dai-chien was alive, he used to come to my garden to look at the bonsais." Kuo Ch'i-hui says. Kuo's works are regularly shown in the Shih Lin Horticultural Institute's annual bonsai exhibitions.
To Kuo's way of thinking, a painter painting a picture has it much easier than he does making a miniature landscape. Sometimes he has to run all over the place just to find the right stone. But the joy and satisfaction of a bonsai are intoxicating.
"A man fell in love with a bonsai he couldn't afford once and asked if he could pay by installment. He came here several times and we saw he really liked it, so we agreed," a seller says. "Then there was the singer Su Lai. He didn't have enough cash on him so he asked to have one held and to pay for it after he finished his show and got his money."
No wonder they are fascinated. Each bonsai is a miniature world all its own, rich in human interest, that can set the spirit soaring to a place where, poised between the real and the imaginary, we wander among the hills and valleys of our dreams.
[Picture Caption]
A lohan, or Buddhist saint, under a pine tree achieves a sudden understanding of the secrets of zen. (Kuo Ch'i-hui/hgt: 92.5 cm)
What towering precipices are these? For a little figure not four inches high, these three-foot-high mountains are grand indeed. (Kuo Ch'i-hui)
Liking them all and not knowing which to choose is a problem for many plant lovers.
A spider found the irregular angles of this attractive bonsai arrangement a good place to weave a web. (Lin Kuo-ch'eng/hgt: 13 cm)
Getting it to grow in this shape takes a year. (Lin Kuo-ch'eng/rose of sharon/hgt : 12 cm)
Shouniangtzu (or "The Old Gal"), a bonsai by the traditional painter Ku Sheng-chen, expresses the hearty vigor of his old age.
This exquisite little landscape by Kuo Ch'i-hui is entitled "Standing Alone in the Haze, Taking One's Fill of the Mountains." (hgt: 43 cm)
Kuo Ch'i-hui excels in creating miniature landscapes.
An idyllic little scene of scholars playing go under a pine tree. (Kuo Ch'i-hui/hgt: 26 cm)
What towering precipices are these? For a little figure not four inches high, these three-foot-high mountains are grand indeed. （Kuo Ch'i-hui）
Liking them all and not knowing which to choose is a problem for many plant lovers.
Getting it to grow in this shape takes a year. （Lin Kuo-ch'eng／rose of sharon／hgt : 12 cm）
A spider found the irregular angles of this attractive bonsai arrangement a good place to weave a web. （Lin Kuo-ch'eng／hgt: 13 cm）
This exquisite little landscape by Kuo Ch'i-hui is entitled "Standing Alone in the Haze, Taking One's Fill of the Mountains." （hgt: 43 cm）
Shouniangtzu （or "The Old Gal"）, a bonsai by the traditional painter Ku Sheng-chen, expresses the hearty vigor of his old age.
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