Ficus 'Methuselah'

[Taffy]

Ash, that is a great tree with a lot of personal history and a heart-warming story behind it. You've acquired an awesome gift.

Glenda, I believe Ash's return gift will be to look after and nurture the tree that has been placed into his care. He has received a great honour, and the dear lady that has given him the tree obviously has absolute faith in his ability to care for her treasure.

[Glenda]

Just a thought Ash, did your teacher give you any guidance on how she would like you to maintain the appearance of Methuselah? Would she like you to continue with her original vision or has she stated that she is happy for you to restyle the tree or was nothing said at all? In the same situation I think I would prefer to have some clear guidance from the original custodian.

It probably leads on to a pretty good discussion... Should a tree be preserved in the original vision of the creator or is it okay to restyle?

Food for thought

Regards,
Steven

I thinks Steven poses a good question here, and I only hope and pray I will one day be in a position to make that decision. Having made the decision before hand could prepare one better. the future of a tree such as this should be between the giver and the receiver. If I should find myself in this position, now that I have taken time to think, I would ask the giver what permissions were being given along with the tree. Some people may be quite upset if the tree were completely restyled - it may be felt it was an insult that the gift was not good enough as it was given. I realise not everyone will feel that way, but it needs to be acknowledged that there is potential for hurt feelings here. Ultimately I feel it is between the giver and the receiver

Glenda

[Asus101]

That tree looks almost as old as you are :p

Nice looking tree.

[Ash]

Hi again,

Some in my opinion for the better, few not so

I agree Pup- whilst some restyles are magical others look like they were changed to prove they could be changed not to make them better.

My attitude has always been that bonsai are not and never should be static

I agree Craig and Neal - a tree cannot be static. When I say I would not change this style of the tree in some ways I mean not change it from an informal upright to a cascade etc. or from a fig style branching to a pine style branching. I don't want to change it so much that I don't recognise it as I first saw it, but like my teacher I would always want to improve it. As it presents new growth to the palette new options will arise for making it look good without altering the good parts that are already there. Changing some of the not so good parts is tricky because of the age of the tree these will have to be done gradually and carefully.

Nothing stays the same forever, change (hopefully for the better) is the only thing guaranteed in this world. I don't know figs at all but if you want to grow more leaves would a specially choosen, quality new pot with a little more room for the roots to grow help achieve this? It would look good in a great pot and honour the gift too. Just a thought

Yes a larger pot will be needed in the future. This one is only about half the width of the overall height! It is also very red when wet. The stipules of this tree are white and not red, other than the slightly reddish-brown wet bark there is not much red in the composition. A browner or greyer pot of good quality is what I would like. Obtaining a good pot is like getting blood from a stone up here! Any suggestions of pot suppliers who can post to north Queensland? I am starting to need a few replacements!

It is my duty to make these the best Bonsai they can be, but does not mean I will change them, but I will always strive to improve them

Yes Tony - I will post a pic again when it goes into a different pot and has started to achieve some more growth and hopefully I can say I have improved it.

I must read and learn some more about fig defoliation and growth to achieve better ramification on all of my figs . This fig has much larger leaves and thick stems than my Ficus rubiginosa but shorter internodes. I think I will wait until it is potted into a larger pot before I do regular defoliation.

cheers
Ash

[Fish]

Really nice Ash. It was a really gracious giving by your teacher. I am sure she knows that you are going to love and cherish Methuselah for a long time and pass it on as she did to you.

Fish

[Ash]

Growth of this tree over the month has been slower than for my other figs. So last week I removed the growing medium from the roots and potted it up into a larger bonsai pot. The growing medium i used was 4:1 screened washed diatomite and charcoal. Already the new sheathed buds are getting larger so I think a larger pot was well overdue. I took the opportunity to move a few aerial roots and will move more next repotting. Attached is a picture of Methuselah sitting on the hall table yesterday when my wife and I sat and contemplated the next year. The root that is curved around from mid trunk on the right is fused to the second primary branch and cannot be moved. Added to the composition were two small epiphytic Sarchochilus cecileae.

Ficus Methuselah.jpg

Ash

[Ash]

Methuselah updated.jpg

It is now ten months since I was given Methuselah and I time for another update. The number of shoots from old stems is gradually increasing, I have not defoliated it yet as I wish to balance the growth a little more using my usual shoot pruning technique and be very sure of its strength. To my interest the stipules and petioles are now red (they used to be white) and I wonder if it was the change of locale or change of growing medium or just random chance. After a week of heavy rain recently this tree has sprouted aerial roots everywhere and the little orchids growing on its branches have flowered.

The large leaves isnt all bad. They make a good place for our little resident sunbirds to come and visit for a leaf droplet bath every morning. They are funny little things, they fly around the house at the same time every day and visit the same places when they are doing the rounds. They have many bonsai dripping wet to choose from but they land in Methuselah, splash about and then fly on to the top of my Syzygium and then away when you get the camera.

Nectarina having a bath.jpg

They will even sit on the tree as you water and tweet at you when you take the water away, but the camera no - that they dont like. I took this photo from inside the house through the fly screen and you can see by the look on his face that he spotted my covert attempts to take a spy photo.

Nectarina jugularis.jpg

cheers
Ash

[Hornet]

looks amazing mate, any idea on species? Thats one of the nicest figs i have seen here in aus, great to see you added some sarcs, how are they doing?

[Ash]

Thanks Hornet, It is probably a Ficus rubiginosa but it has much larger glabrous leaves than my other examples of this species. The Sarcs are going well - roots are growing all over the bark. Also I have now added Cadetia wariana, Dockrillea lichenastra and Den. carronii seedlings to the mix and a little Pyrrosia that came up in the garden. So I am going for a new style - bonsai with epiphytes.
cheers
Ash

[Steven]

A very aged look Ash.
I love your display with scroll and birds nest accent. Very clever and fitting.

Regards,
Steven

[Ash]

'Methuselah' in the garden where it got down to 19.7 degrees last night!
Time to dig through the winter-chest and find a longer pair of shorts!

Methuselah update.jpg

As you can see not even winter stops the leaves on this one growing back big.

Ash

[anttal63]

Longer pair of shorts !!!

Lookn mighty fine up there mate !!!

[Ash]

Ficus Methuselah is flowering again - nope - not little figs - epiphytic orchids. At the moment it has Dendrobium carronii the native Pink Tea-Tree Orchid (which is the worlds smallest Antelope Orchid), and Dendrobium linguiforme another miniature native epiphyte.

Methuselah front.jpg

Methusela back.jpg

Methuselah epiphytic orchids.jpg

Methuselah epiphytic orchid 2.jpg

Perhaps it is not traditional bonsai - but I love trees with epiphytes so for me miniature epiphytes on bonsai is a natural progression.

Ash

[lacertilian]

That's very interesting about the stipules and petioles changing colour Ash!
I've always wondered whether the colour was species determined or some other factor arising.

[Andrew F]

Amazing Ash, your ficus are incredible. Those orchids are beautiful.