Also the ficus has
a neat tropical look which Iike. And I think they are of good bonsai
quality because they come small, and specialy sold as "bonsai
starters" for fairly cheap, around $4-$10 depending how big ya want.

I was thinking about one picture
specificaly, cant think of where it was of a ficus, and it almost
looked like several trees with their trunks all "braided" as i can
best describe it together.

Hi Adam!

Do you want something that's already a bonsai, or do you want to
style your own? I'm surprised at how many beginners don't want to
trim or style; they don't want a hobby, they want an ornament for
their coffee table. You, on the other hand, sound like someone who
wants to dig in. If so, you are starting with the wrong tree for
your location. Figs will survive indoors, but they won't prosper.
To get growth, your tree needs heat and light. You can put your tree
outside during the summer, but it probably won't get a long-enough
growth period. You can set up artificial lighting, augmented
humidity and warmth, and you might be able to get your tree to look
like the pictures you were looking at on the net. But those trees
were almost certainly raised in the tropics. The only way for you to
acchieve something like that is to buy a finished bonsai from a
Florida nursery. I own figs that I started from cuttings, and my
mistletoe, after maybe 13 years, has a trunk diameter of 3/4 of an
inch. It's never going to do better than that. You'll have better
luck with an easier species: willowleaf fig gets a husky trunk even
indoors. But aerial roots (the braiding you noted) is difficult to
get except under conditions of high humidity.

I think you should buy a fig and have fun, but if you really want to
style your own bonsai, you should seriously consider natives of
Colorado. You've got some great plants to work with: besides pines,
you've got those woody potentillas, and all manner of shrubs.

Me, I love my ratty figs, but my blueberries are ten times the bonsai
my figs ever will be, because they like their habitat and grow like
the devil.
--
Nina Shishkoff

Frederick, MD

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