Tekmanx wrote:
Ok I think I'm starting to narrow it down. I'm now looking into growing
a ficus bonsai. I looked it up in my "Sunset Bonsai" book and it didn't
give a specific zone. Instead it says "Vary by species". Where I'm from
in the Bahamas, I grew up with ficus plants all around.. they have
created a border for my front yard, was the biggest tree at my school I
grew up in. There are many places that just flash back in my mind where
I saw a ficus plant, question is.. what species do these ficus belong
to? Which ficus is the right one for me?

Another question Little off topic here, can any tree be a bonsai tree?
What makes a bonsai....training or the actual parent tree? Hope you get
my drift, what I'm asking is.. is bonsai the name of a type of plant in
the wild.. or the name given to a plant grown with special care in a
shallow pot?

Also, do you guys have any suggestions on where I can purchase bonsai
plants/seeds/accessories from online?

Tekmanx
-Zone 25

Ficus will not live outside in climates that have freezing
winter weather (though they do well outside in spring summer
and early fall in those areas).

Are you still in Jamaica?

Sunset's zone 25 is the equivalent to the USDA's zone 11 --
which is most of southern Florida. The Sunset National zone
system is MUCH better (more detailed) than the USDA zone
system, but for some reason has not gained that much acclaim
-- maybe because Sunset Magazine is limited to 10 western
(US) states, so is less well known over the other 3/4 of the
country or because it is more complex -- probably the
latter, we tend to prefer the simple approximation to the
detail of accuracy.

Anyway, Ficus will grow outside in zone 25 year 'round --
always with the _possibility_ of a freak winter cold spell
-- more and more unlikely these days.

Any tree CAN be a bonsai, but perhaps not a good one. It is
the method of growing them that makes a tree a bonsai. Your
Sunset book should explain this in more detail. A GOOD
bonsai is one with small leaves that are more in proportion
to the size of the potted tree. Thus a Southern magnolia
(or a "rubber tree" -- another type of Ficus) can be
"bonsaied" but won't make a good "bonsai" because the leaves
won't reduce enough.

As for supplies, you should go to our IBC Home Page --
address below -- and choose any of our sponsors.

And as far as seeds go, unless you just love the idea of
growing a bonsai from seed, that is a VERY long-term
proposition. You will do much better, faster, by buying a
suitable plant at a nursery and working with that.

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Nature
encourages no looseness, pardons no errors. Ralph Waldo Emerson

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