My Favorites

In this section, I will show you some of my bonsai plants and how I have worked on them since I got hooked to this hobby.

1. Aguho (Casuarina Equisetifolia)

Meet PINA, a native tree known locally in the Philippines as Aguho (Casuarina Equisetifolia).

This plant is often mistaken as belonging to the pinus family (gymnosperms) but it is not.  “That is not the case at all,” says Juan Armengol, a bonsai enthusiast from Bogota,  Colombia (email communication, July 22, 2011). “Casuarina looks like pine and its leaves are needle-like; even the fruits resemble pine cones, but pines are gymnosperms, as cypresses, spruces, cedars, larches, etc. Casuarina is an angiosperm with modern flowers and all the reproductive and physiological characteristics of angiosperms. Casuarina belongs to the Fagales order, which comprises the beech family (Fagus), the chestnut family (juglans), the birch family (betula), other families and, of course, the Casuarinaceae (casuarina, she-oak).”

Casuarina thrives in coastal areas in Southeast Asia and Pacific, including Hawaii, Australia and Florida (USA). It has also been growing wildly in elevated areas and mountain sides in Palawan and Mindanao islands.

Training of Pina

This bonsai plant has been under training for thirteen years.  It’s actual age may probably be about twice, half of that was spent in the ground before I found it. Its history is unique. I saw it growing as part of a root system of an old Aguho tree on the playground of Mindanao State University at Iligan City. Impressed of its curved natural formation, I dug it in September 1999, hoping to save it and turn it into a bonsai plant. Pina has a sister, a clump, which I got from the same source. Bearing the same history, this clump has three trunks.

Before I took Pina from its natural habitat, it had lived under the most traumatic conditions one can ever imagine. It was constantly trampled upon by ROTC cadets marching during their Sunday drills. Luckily, it survived. But years of punishment have left on it indelible imprints – its trunk is warped, and branches mangled. Pina, as I call this plant, is unable to rise beyond one foot from the ground. When I saw this plant, I pitied it and could not resist saving it from routine “torturing” by student marchers, who are oblivious to the plant’s predicament.

Pina has now found a home in my bonsai garden, living in harmony with other bonsai trees

PINA’s Vital Statistics

Height – 12 inches
Trunk diameter – 2″
Style – twisted trunk
Preference – likes moderate amount of sunlight and plenty of rain
Sexuality – grows from seeds and roots

2.  Balete (Ficus Benjamina): AGA

This is AGA, the first and oldest among my bonsai collection. She belongs to the family of wild balete (Ficus Benjamina).  She stands two feet tall, and is now about 40 years old (est.).

Aga has been under my care during the last 32 years (have trained her since February 1980). Aga’s name derives from Aga Khan Museum, at Mindanao State University in Marawi campus.  I plucked her from the walls of this museum thirty-two years ago.  At that time, she was estimated to be about 6 years old, according to the testimony of people who had seen this plant before. Her trunk then was just a little larger than a pencil at 8 inches tall.

When the time came to prune her branches and twigs, I decided to plant the trimmings. To my surprise, they grew and became another set of bonsai plants. Since then, Aga has “begotten” several offsprings, mostly by cutting (cloning), some of them are now more robust and bigger than Aga. As they grew, I thought it was proper to give these siblings their own identities. The names Dagol, Yang, Djang, Bangky crossed my mind, so there they are – all displayed in Bonsai Gallery 1.

Wild balete comes in many variants, judging from the size of its leaves. I like this type, called by the scientific community as Ficus Benjamina, whose leaves resemble those of a mango tree. It is sturdy, fast grower, and easy to manage. Unlike other plants, it is resistant to most pests. Aphids don’t like to stay underneath its leaves, just as worms stay away from this plant. At certain times of the year, however, this ficus sheds off all its leaves as if it is dead, or undergoing winter.

This plant is very easy to propagate and grows rather fast. The balete bonsai plants in my collection testify to Aga’s prolific  nature. Wild balete is also easy to tame. In 3-5 years, one can have a masterpiece out of it, with all the deformities and twistings of the trunk or branches that an artist would do on the specimen.

3.  Balete (Ficus Benjamina): DAGOL

Meet DAGOL, a full-grown bonsai plant in my collection. She is one among the oldest siblings, at 32 years old, of Aga, my earliest bonsai specimen (ABOVE). Like her mother, Dagol is a wild balete (Ficus Benjamina), which has received bonsai training since 1981. Dagol stands at two feet tall, a cutting from her mother Aga.

Dagol is actually a clone, from unwanted twigs I cut from Aga when I gave her the first “haircut”. Apparently, she is the most robust and massive of all Aga’s siblings. Her trunk and branch formations are unique, reminding one of how old balete trees in the wild scare away people by their eerie looks. According to folk wisdom, balete trees are the favorite abode of mysterious characters, or bad spirits, who lay in wait for their unsuspecting human victims whom they cause sickness or harm. Aga’s multiple vines and massive trunk seem to suggest this possibility, but don’t fear her.

If she ever harbors unseen spirits like kapre, dwende and tikbalang, (terms for those mysterious, often malevolent spirits), they must also be very “small” for you to be intimidated about. It seems these scary creatures, if any, have instead given me many blessings. By keeping these frightening bonsai plants around, I have insulated my home from other “bad” elements eagerly trying to sneak in.

At certain times of the year, this plant sheds off all its leaves, as if it responds to Fall season, making it completely bald. She looks dead, but don’t worry.  In a couple of weeks, new shoots will spout all over again.

This second photo of Dagol shows her in a state of rejuvenation, that is, like a snake that sheds off its skin, Dagol “dies back” as her leaves disappear completely. This happens three to four times a year, then new shoots grow again as a sign that she is alive and well.  Dagol’s old pot was replaced with a clay container during 2003, matching her bulky size.

Below is another photo of Dagol with Mimi. Photo taken sometime in 2001.

4.  Balete (Ficus Benjamina): BANGKY

Meet BANGKY, one among the oldest siblings of Aga (see above photo).  She is a 32 year-old wild balete (Ficus Benjamina) which has received bonsai training since 1981. Bangky is actually a clone, from unwanted twigs I cut from Aga when I gave her the first “haircut”. She is the loveliest of Aga’s children. I also call her “2-Lovers” because of her unique double trunks, as if two lovers are in their most intimate moments, oblivious of others around them.

At the time this photo was taken, Bangky was two feet tall, with a trunk diameter of about three inches.  She is lovely, isn’t she?

Here, she displays her new, yellow green leaves after a short “winter” break. This is one fascinating characteristic of wild balete. It becomes totally bald at certain times of the year as if it is about to die, as another photo of Bangky (below) shows.  New leaves are now springing forth from the branches.