Happy new year! Here is my first composition of 2021. A Coprosma kirkii planted on a rock attached to a plate, hung on my living room wall. This species native to New Zealand can withstand temperatures down to 5C (41F) but also does well indoors. Still, I will probably hang it outside in the garden during the growing season next year. I like the flow to the left of the branches that mimic the flow of the details in the rock. The LED light shining on it 12h daily also adds to the composition with the cast shadows. I am extremely happy that I managed to actualize pretty accurately the vision that I had while conceptualizing this creation. I should also note that this is a 3 year old pencil-size cutting. That is to say that it is possible to do some pretty awesome stuff with little to no investment and some imagination. The composition is 10" wide by 5" tall and about 6" deep. Oh, and yes, I will need to take it off the wall water it in the kitchen and let it strain with the kitchen dishes for a few minutes before putting it back on the wall.
haven’t seen that before so kudos for the idea … really opens up an entire new avenue of exploration for ceramics and design - eg the soil now provides a ‘backdrop’ for the composition, and the rim of the ceramic is all that is seen
i’ve got to think there will be some inherent horticultural challenges (watering and root growth at the top of my mind… not to mention some worries about water in the drywall and mildew haha) but i’d love to get some follow up and see how it works; may finally have found a niche into a new sales model for those trying to sell to the public
Hey DrC,
Thanks! Michael Hagedorn has a tree on a wall, a juniper if I am not wrong, that I’ve seen a picture of. Also the Montreal Bontanical Gardens has a rock planting of a chinese elm if I am not mistaken hanging off a wall. I wanted something different in that the plate serves as a sort of frame for the composition. An actual picture frame or one of the art pieces with a deadwood/frame combination that Mirai sells would also look awesome with a tree inside. In any case I like your idea of exploring the use of ceramics in this context. To water I need to remove it from the wall, water and let it drain a few minutes before hanging it back up. There is plenty of room for root growth, perhaps more than there was before in the pot it was planted. I will sure update on its development.
I’m from NZ and these guys are everywhere it was my first bonsai and tbh I’m astonished it survived for 5 years with very little watering, poorly draining pot and a heavy soil mix, they are very, very strong. They are a coastal species and are often found clinging to sandstone or volcanic cliff faces near the ocean so I think you’ve nailed the aesthetic! Back budding on old wood is easy and if branches become leggy you can just let them run until you get tighter buds on the interior and then cut back to those. Kirkii behaves as a ground cover a lot of the time and there is a more upright tree called Coprosma robusta, if you can get your hands on one they are also great material.
Below is one of the best examples of Coprosma bonsai in NZ, it really illustrates their natural growth habit and really changed the way I see this species.
First of all, WOW! Thank you for this photo, so cool to see their potential! Also, really nice all that information. I don’t know how Coprosma Kirkii arrived in the quebec bonsai scene but I have never seen here anything even closely as big as the one in the photo. Awesome.
Indeed. There are a Juniper and a Contorta Pine bracketed to the wall at Michaels place however they have a kind of cupped “pot” under the roots and not sideways and look really cool. I think the watering thing and wall problems might be a problem eventually.
