Hi Everyone

I'm so excited to share my news. I am now a member of a Bonsai Society and the contact person for the club invited me to visit her home this past Friday, July 29th. I was treated to a tour of her lovely Bonsai collection in her little back yard...how delightful! I purchased my first indoor Bonsai tree, a Ficus, from the club as well as two essential tools, a pair of scissors and a branch pruner. She also gave me some freebies such as enough bonsai soil for one plant; a plastic bonsai starter/training dish; some screen; a few pieces of wire; a wooden turntable/lazy susan; and the Spring Issue of Bonsai & Stone Appreciation Magazine (a BCI publication). I go to my first workshop this coming Tuesday, August 2nd.

I am including a couple of photos of my new Ficus and one of my tools. I'm not sure which variety of ficus this is so I could use some help in identification. I searched several sites for decent images of some popular varieties however, the best that I could come up with is it could be the Retusa, the Benjamina or the Micro carpa (Japanese Banyan). They all look very similar to me. Any ideas?

Leslie

P.S. ~ I forgot to mention that my Ficus is coming back from a recent defoliation and has been very recently repotted. The tree is 15.5" tall from the base of the trunk to the top most leaf and 8.5" wide. The dish is 8" long by 5.5" wide and 1.25" high.

I have one more question...should I be concerned about the bare portions of branches?

Leslie

Oh Leslie, that's wonderful! It looks like you have just about everything you need. I'd wait a little bit before worrying about styling. Your tree is going to need some time to get accustomed to its new environment. It looks great so far, and I'm glad you've been able to hook up with your local bonsai club!

Hi Leslie,

Congrats on your purchases.

The ficus you show looks very much like benjamina to me. As for worrying about bare branches.. I never worry about bare branches. Just leave them on for a few weeks. If they shrink to little dried-out twigs they are dead. If they continue to look 'swollen' the might show you some new foliage in time, provided the plant is happy with how you treat it (which doing right for ficus typically is not all that dificult)

Hi J and Hannah!

Thank you so much for your replies and good wishes.

J...whew! That is good to know! The bare branches do have what appears to be very tiny little buds on them so I will patiently wait for them to open. The Benjamina, huh? Cool! I really couldn't tell the difference between the three other than one was speckled with light-coloured dots on the bark. Thanks for your advice and encouragement.

Hannah...Ahh yes...I'm so glad you pointed out that it needs the adjustment period to it's new home; I completely forgot about that! I'm so excited about meeting with the Bonsai Club and learning tons of stuff! Thank you for your kinds words and advice.

Leslie

Good going leslie. I have tried numerous times to contact the bonsai club in my area with no response. I'm beginning to think I'm the lone ranger here in Maine. I love your new tree.if it has been recently defoliated, I wouldn't worry about the bare branches.....yet.
Again. ....cute tree.

Hey Leslie,
I got home today and looked at your tree on my computer. after a little thought I had an idea on styling when you think it's ready.This is what I came up with. Again, it's just a quick sketch, but the more I look at it the better I like it.

Hi Lance,

Thank you for your kind comments on my tree! You may have the incorrect contact number for your local Bonsai club. I used the Bonsai contact reference listed here on the site which connected me to a different city from the one I was searching for however, after a little digging I was able to reach the right person in the right city through the initial reference given. Hey! I really like your styling idea! How cool is that? You have a very good eye for that...thanks so much for sharing! You realise however, you owe me a new lampshade...you took a good-sized chunk out it... Jess kiddin'!

Leslie

It's the correct number for the bonsai club here. The contact name on the message is the same as The information on the internet. I seriously have no one around to share anything bonsai with.Except the nursery where I bought my pine, and they don't seem very nice. They are kind of condescending...even when they are wrong.
When they are right...watch out. I went in to ask about the health of my pine this spring and they told me that it was my fault,and gave me 2 reasons why. Come to find out it had a fungus. I treated and cured my tree and sent them an e-mail informing them that they may have a fungus in their nursery. They said they had never heard of it...but thanks for letting them know..
WOW.. way off topic. Sorry, I tend to ramble.
anyway.....
take pictures of different angles for us.

Hi All,

I emailed Joan from the Bonsai club, from whom I purchased the Ficus, to get a little more background information on the tree. Jelle...you are right...it is the Ficus Benjamina! Good going! Also I found out that it wasn't defoliated as she had initially said...it suffered from heat exposure outside and dropped all of it's leaves. It kind of *irks* me that she wasn't honest about that in the first place... ...however, it seems to be recovering alright. Any thoughts or insights on that point is appreciated.

I picked up a couple of spiral-bound note books for my Bonsai journey. The front covers have these really cool, gray, black & white monochromatic images of trees. One is 7"x 8.75" for keeping maintenance records of my Bonsai trees and the other is 5"x 7" for taking notes at the Bonsai meetings. Can you tell I'm excited???

PS ~ Lance...I just noticed in your design idea you painted in some leaves...how
very creative of you...good colour match too!

Leslie