Tugas Forest Bonsai Project
This is long overdue but allow me to give you a quick update on my Tugas Bonsai Forest.
What happened to my Tugas Forest Bonsai?
My last update was back in 2016 and you can read it on this old blog post – Tugas (Vitex parviflora) Forest Bonsai Project
Today I got a chance to visit my old posts and remembered this forest-style project. A lot has changed on these trees and I must apologize that I was not able to document most of its progress. To compensate for that, I will try to remember the activities I made on this tree as much as I can.
Fast forward to 2018, I repotted this and changed its positions as the pot got rootbound. I must remind you that Tugas has very aggressive roots that can fill the entire pot in no time.
2020, I repotted it again and asked a friend to do some maintenance work such as wiring and branch selection.
How is Tugas Forest Bonsai?
July 2022 update! It’s pretty bad. Unfortunately, due to neglect, I had to disassemble the forest and planted the trees individually temporarily. This is because their forest pot got damaged and I got busy with other personal things in life. Don’t worry, the trees are alive. They are now planted in their own pots and they look just fine.
The lesson
Bonsai is a journey with trees. And just like us, trees face unavoidable circumstances but it is mostly a result of how their owners handled or cared for them. And the owner happened to be me. So who else is to blame for a failed project? lol. I realized that the hobby really requires attention which I failed to give. I admit that due to my neglect, the trees have to be disassembled but I saw an opportunity there to try and re-make a new one. Maybe try a different angle or arrangement or place the forest bonsai in a safer place in the garden. I’ll be careful next time!
The plan
I’ve been thinking of getting a new pot that can accommodate a forest-style bonsai. But before I do that, I want to develop the trees individually first because I think it would be easier for me to do it that way. This time, I can work on the branches more comfortably because of full exposure unlike in a forest-style setup where other branches are hard to access between trees.
