Bonsai
By Jackie Perrone
jacper@juno.com

Seth Ellwood with a Japanese maple.

Don't come to The Bonsai Club of Columbia with big ideas. Miniaturization is their game, along with painstaking care, long life, and perfection.

Seth Ellwood has been a bonsai aficionado for 11 years and has the products to prove it. He has dozens of varieties of bonsai plants, knows them all by name, has cultivated many from seed, and can educate anyone on the careful attention to detail required to bring a bonsai to perfection.

"You have to remember a lot," Ellwood said, "and you also have to forget some things. Forget how you water and nurture your other plants. Remember to maintain uniformity of humidity and light and temperature."

Bonsai enthusiasts find their reward in the artistic design and soothing presence of their handiwork. Many interior designers rely on bonsai items to enhance an inside décor. Matching a plant to the proper container is part of the art. In our South Carolina climate,(sharing a latitude with Japan and Korea), bonsai can be cultivated successfully outdoors year- round.

Just what is Bonsai? The Chinese refer to it as Penjing, the Koreans bunjae. A literal translation might be "tray scenery." It has been called a marriage of art and horticulture: the art of styling, miniaturizing, and containerizing plants. Pruning of foliage and roots is pivotal. Bonsai is revered for its sculptural shaping.

To quote from a beginner's manual: "Refinement continues throughout its life."

Bonsai, if successfully established, may outlive its owners. Some bonsai plants have been documented as being 500- years- old.

Bonsai is believed to have begun around 200 A.D. in China. A thousand years later, the Japanese took it up and refined the art. Around the world now, it stands as a symbol of aristocracy, endurance, and long life.

A prime example of bonsai may command top dollar at the plant markets, a thousand dollars and more. But many small and starter plants are reasonable in price. Beginners can get started without a large investment of money. It's more a matter of time and patience.

The Columbia chapter of the South Carolina Bonsai Society meets on the third Saturday of every month in the Garden Club building at Maxcy Gregg Park.

On the second weekend of every October, members of this club participate in the bonsai exhibition at the North Carolina Arboretum in Asheville, N.C., and for the past three years has won first place in that show. Guests may visit workshops that offer everything needed for the bonsai gardener such as plants, tools, pottery, etc.