Ficus Retusa - Story/progression

[Patmet]

I've just recently worked on this little Ficus Retusa, which has made me reflect happily on mine and it's journey together so far.

November 2018 I was driving up to Perth to get married to my now wife at the registry office. On the way up in one of Perth's southern suburbs my wife spotted a man set up on the side of the road with a sign selling bonsai. I was just starting to dabble at that point so we turned around and had a look. I ended up buying this Ficus for $50. I was immediately drawn to it. And boy did I think it was top shari. It was the first time I'd seen anything close to resembling an actual bonsai. It's been made by the guy twisting three cuttings together. He gave me a bunch of advice and off I went.

We were staying at a 5 star hotel in the city for the weekend (because why not) so I brought my little ficus up the multi story building and it lived next the sunny window for the weekend.

It's one of my only trees that's got sentimental value, and I hope I can keep this one for the rest of my life. It just makes me smile. I call it the marriage/wedding tree.

Anyway a couple of years later a fellow bonsai enthusiast helped me look at the tree differently and choose a new front with better movement taper and root base, which made a huge difference. Now that these days I somewhat know what I'm doing I think it's starting to really come along. I love the vibrant green colour it brings to my garden.

Here's some pictures of when I got it through the years to now - August 2023

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[TimIAm]

From what you started with, you've done a great job refining this tree. It looks fantastic. I'm assuming you pulled the base apart slightly to lower the height? Or is that pic of you holding it, did you layer the whole thing?

Great backstory to this tree and you'll have something to enjoy for a lifetime.

[Patmet]

From what you started with, you've done a great job refining this tree. It looks fantastic. I'm assuming you pulled the base apart slightly to lower the height? Or is that pic of you holding it, did you layer the whole thing?

Great backstory to this tree and you'll have something to enjoy for a lifetime.

Thank you. Nope haven't done anything to the base or layering. Purely just rotating to change the "front" position and pruning gradually to reduce height. Pic of me holding holding it was just before putting it into the new unglazed pot.

[Matty7]

Looks really good.

Great work!!!

[BonsaiBobbie]

Great tree and great story.

Also good to see. I've been wanting to fuse a ficus together much like that, mainly for the nibari, so good to see how well it can turn out.

[Ryceman3]

It’s always nice to hear about trees with a story and sentimental importance. They don’t have to be the “best” to be special (not saying this one isn’t good! )
Long may it reign!

[Patmet]

This got a trim yesterday to push growth back in tighter and start fixing some branch flaws.

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