More than a thousand years ago, the Chinese practiced the custom
of growing small trees which flowered in time for the Chinese
New Year festivities. This custom later spread to Japan where
boxes with a small pine, a bamboo clump or a flowering apricot
in each ___1___
to decorate the home during the New Year. After two or three
centuries, the growing of dwarf trees themselves have become a
specialized
___2___ and skilled form of
gardening in Japan. This art and the dwarf plants themselves are
known as 'bonsai'. A tree that is used for bonsai must be of
the kind that ___3___
for a few hundred years and that can be made into a ___4___.
It must also have small leaves and flowers. The largest bonsai
may be just over a meter tall and may be grown in a small tub;
the smallest, a tiny tree of about two centimeters high may be
grown in a pot no larger than a ___5___.
Professional dwarf-tree collectors usually search ___6___
for those trees growing from cracks and in rocks. Moving the
tree is done with special prayers and ceremonies. Sometimes, it
takes two to three years to move a dwarf-tree. Its roots are ___7___,
a little at a time so that new shallow roots are formed. When
the tree is at last dug out of the rocks, it is taken to a ___8___
to recover. After a year, it is then transplanted into a pot.
___9___, each tree was
grown alone. Gradually, bonsai planters became ___10___.
Today, a bonsai arrangement may have three or four different
types of trees, some stones and even a tiny pond all contained
in one pot. The whole arrangement can even be made to look like
a miniature landscape with mountains, lakes and very old,
gnarled trees. |