that titles a bit much. "phorobana" is a word that i made up for a potted plant with epiphytes on it... phorophyte + ikebana. phorophyte is a plant, usually a tree, that hosts epiphytes. i'm sure there's a better word but in the meantime it's better than nothing.
in my thread about eliminating advertisements @BrightsideB said, "I think the answer is just more cowbell honestly". it's a funny snl skit if you haven't already seen it. one of the cowbells i want a lot more of is life. so when i see a typical bonsai i think it needs a lot more cowbell (life). this idea rubs most bonsai people the wrong way, but nearly everybody else appreciates it.
imagine a typical bonsai show. everybody at the show spends an average amount of time in front of a bonsai, let's say it's 2 seconds (what is it really?). if each bonsai had 1 epiphyte on it, then the average "linger time" would go up to 4 seconds. add a 2nd epiphyte and the time would go up to 6 seconds. and so on. logistics aside, ideally various critters could be added to each bonsai and the linger time would go up even more. the winner of the show would be the entry/exhibit with the longest average linger time.
naturally, linger time really wouldn't be an effective way to judge shows if everybody knew that it was being used. therefore... donations, of course. every show should be a fundraiser.
back in 2003 at ucla, i saw a mature ficus rubiginosa that had numerous aerial roots. what particularly caught my attention was that the aerial roots were also on relatively small branches, which i thought was rather unusual. i borrowed a couple small branches and potted them. here was one of them...
i put maybe 1' of roots in the pot and left the rest of the roots exposed. i suspended the pot from an old clothes hanger.
same tree in 2007...
the root crown was at the lowest branch. i attached an oncidium at the base.
in 2013...
not sure what happened to the oncidium but by 2018 i had attached a couple small orchids and several tillandsias to the ficus. here was one in bloom...
pic from last year...
needs more cowbell.
ideally everyone should have some sort of ethical responsibility or economic incentive to maximize the diversity of their bonsais, balconies or back yards. it's the least that we can do, with so much loss of life in rain forests, dry forests and temperate forests around the world.
in my thread about eliminating advertisements @BrightsideB said, "I think the answer is just more cowbell honestly". it's a funny snl skit if you haven't already seen it. one of the cowbells i want a lot more of is life. so when i see a typical bonsai i think it needs a lot more cowbell (life). this idea rubs most bonsai people the wrong way, but nearly everybody else appreciates it.
imagine a typical bonsai show. everybody at the show spends an average amount of time in front of a bonsai, let's say it's 2 seconds (what is it really?). if each bonsai had 1 epiphyte on it, then the average "linger time" would go up to 4 seconds. add a 2nd epiphyte and the time would go up to 6 seconds. and so on. logistics aside, ideally various critters could be added to each bonsai and the linger time would go up even more. the winner of the show would be the entry/exhibit with the longest average linger time.
naturally, linger time really wouldn't be an effective way to judge shows if everybody knew that it was being used. therefore... donations, of course. every show should be a fundraiser.
back in 2003 at ucla, i saw a mature ficus rubiginosa that had numerous aerial roots. what particularly caught my attention was that the aerial roots were also on relatively small branches, which i thought was rather unusual. i borrowed a couple small branches and potted them. here was one of them...
i put maybe 1' of roots in the pot and left the rest of the roots exposed. i suspended the pot from an old clothes hanger.
same tree in 2007...
the root crown was at the lowest branch. i attached an oncidium at the base.
in 2013...
not sure what happened to the oncidium but by 2018 i had attached a couple small orchids and several tillandsias to the ficus. here was one in bloom...
pic from last year...
needs more cowbell.
ideally everyone should have some sort of ethical responsibility or economic incentive to maximize the diversity of their bonsais, balconies or back yards. it's the least that we can do, with so much loss of life in rain forests, dry forests and temperate forests around the world.
