AusBonsai

The following photos were taken on 10/May/2008 --



The one on the left is of several individuals fused together:







The dish is Japanese. My father bought it a little over 20 years ago.

The stones are cheap Chinese-imported stones. I think it is called yingstone.

The roots are not clasped onto the stones, I would think the stones can be
replaced with no damanges to the roots.

The temple is from Bali, Fiji or Sri Lanka. I am not certain.

(History has it that, Siddhartha Gautama, an Indian Crown Prince, became
disillusion with the burdens of livings, so he went away, and sat under a
ficus religiosa tree to meditate. His philosophy was later became Buddhism
throughout Asia. That is why ficus religiosa is a common feature in Buddist
temples in countries such as Sri Lanka etc...)

The measurements:

• Box length: 47 cm.
  
  Pot width: 27 cm.
  
  Pot height: 4.5 cm.
  
  Height of the highest tree: 35 cm.
  
  Height of the second highest tree: 25 cm.
  
  Trunk diameter of the biggest (fused) tree: 15 cm.
  
  Diameter at the layering point: 4.5 cm.

My father creates this pot. It is more 15 years old. It has not been repotted
in the last 10 years (as on 10/May/2008 -- when I took the photos.) I think
this is why the root ball is so high. The roots just keep lifting the structure
up.

It was a bit unkempt in the photos. But the branches are rather lanky, so there
are rooms to move.

Recently it has been repotted into a slightly bigger dish, of oval shape. I do
not like that dish at all. I think the one in the photos suites it just fine.

nice! viet i think 360 would present this better! lol........very cool, mixed with aussie and asian stuff all together..........thanks for sharing...

Asian /Penjing styling is strong influence here. I do like your father's dish for this compositon but
I agree that repotting to a much lower position on the container is required. Lots of root will need to be removed from the bottom of the root ball to achieve this.
On repotting I would try to keep the tree from not leaning out of the composition as this leads the eye away from the composition.
Do you have a shot of the new pot?
Warmest regards,
Jerry

viet good on you for having a go, the concept is good. jerry has certainly made some great points to improve on.

Hi all,
That's a nice penjing DaiViet! I like it! It's crazy, but in a nice Vietnamese kind of way. The pot is fantastic! I don't think one can find that again. I agree with Jerry Meislik about how to improve it too. In this case, since it was your father's work for 20 years, I would probably leave the overall composition alone. The sentimental value here is so much more than any possible improvement that one could make. Buddha often said to leave things alone. Unless you father said to restyle it anyway you want, I would probaly just trim and wire the branches, and leave the overall composition intact, rock and temple and all. Maybe wrap the whole root ball in plastic and get the roots to develop more and aim for a completely exposed root style. It needs more roots to cover up all that loose dirt ball. Or flatten it off like Jerry said, but then you would need a different pot.
Thanks for showing it. This makes me want to show some of my ficus too. Maybe later this weekend.
Good day!
Si~

Hi everybody,

Thank you very much for taking times to comment. I appreciate the attentions.

Hi Jeff,

Thank you for the offering. But I think we should wait till the next season.
He has two more Port Jackson figs, which would be very suitable for 360 -- but
all needs a bit of grows.

Hi Jerry,

Thank you for commentings, I feel privileged to have a person of your
reputations comment on this tree.

I have taken the new photos today -- 21/March/2009:









Might I withdraw my earlier statement about not liking the new pot? I think
it looks all right too. The pot is also Japanese, it is not a signed one.

My father agrees that the root-ball need to be flatten about a half too. I
think it could withstand this treatment. He is still thinking about your
suggestions on the direction of the branches.

Hi anh Sĩ,

I did sort dance around the idea of replacing the stones with him today,
he looks very displeased When he changed the pot, he did wrap the
root ball in soil, but not with plastic as you suggested. The garden birds
keeps digging it up.

We usually use the kitchen cloth to cover it. This cloth is thin, absorbs
water well. But it rots away after a few months. He is going to cover it
again

Best regards everybody.

cool pot

thanks avpslayer.