Ficus nitida

(Ficus nitida)

Bonsai Buddy had told me long ago that he had a Ficus nitida for me in his yard. At one point it wasn't healthy, so he was going to treat it. In the fall of 2005, he presented it to me.

Well, at first, I was unimpressed, because this thing was about four feet tall and bushy, but after I got it home I lopped off most of the height so I could see what I had to work with... and it has a gorgeous twin trunk, huge nebari (definition) and aerial roots... in other words, the perfect candidate for the banyan style I'd been dreaming about! After my hard cut last fall, I let it sit in its 5 gallon nursery container until today.

I was scared spitless, but decided that I needed to go ahead and repot this tree into a more suitable container.

Today (May 18, 2006) was a little cooler than it's been here, so I decided to do it. I set up my bonsai workstation out by the bonsai bench, and went to work. While I'm not sure if I did it "right" or not, or whether this pretty little tree will make it or not, I feel pleased that I did it, and it looks decent!

The Ficus gallery can be found here.