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I am going to talk about some bad words… the F word and the B word. That’s right my bonsai friends, I want to talk about Ficus benjamina.

Ficus benjamina as displayed, spring 2019

F. Benjamina is a Ficus variety that gets little respect in the bonsai world, and I get why. The leaves are big and the internodes are long. It’s not an easy species, but I’m willing to bet there are a whole lot of enthusiasts who have one. Maybe it was an early purchase before they knew better, a gift from a well- meaning friend, or a survivor from a house plant experiment. Owning one is not a crime, so let me share mine with you.

This Benji has been in my collection since 1997 by my best figurin’. I started in bonsai in 1996, so whatever its origins, I have cared for this tree for far too long to consider discarding it now. (And please don’t judge me for not getting it further along in the twenty plus years since. Remember, I was just wingin’ it for most of that time.)

It wasn’t in horrible shape after the winter months inside, so I decided to show it this spring. At top is how it appeared in the NVBS Spring Show.

Below is how it looked this morning. Getting a bit bushy.

Ficus benjamina before work

It has been enjoying the summer heat and pushing new growth. So, of course, I decided to cut all the leaves off. Well, all but a couple on the end of a branch that needs to thicken up. Leaving those will give that branch a head start on the rest of the tree.

After defoliation, before wiring

As I clipped each leaf, I also removed any growth beyond the first two leaves on new extension growth. With some luck, I will get two new branches on each of these tips (one from the base of each leaf) and continue to improve the ramification.

I am happy to report that this maturing tree in this small pot is maintaining fairly short internodes – relatively speaking. Many of these were just a half inch or so. Not bad for a Benji.

After this pruning, you can see that the shape is still reasonably controlled, but the branches have crept up from where they were last wired. To avoid the potential for wire scarring, I decided to make a tie down ring and use guy wires on most of the major branches. (Note the ring of wire with loops under the lip of the pot, and the rubber tubing wrapped over the tops of several branches.)

After wiring

Some additional wiring was required on some smaller branches, as well, to get everything back in order. I should see new leaves on this tree over the next couple of weeks.

This will never be a world class Ficus bonsai. There are many varieties that do better, but this little Benji has been there through my bonsai journey, and I don’t intend to stop working with it.

If you have a Benji too, I’d love to see it. No judgement here!