KUMTA: He doesn’t look up at the trees, he looks down. A retired forest officer, who mastered the art of ‘bonsai’ cultivation techniques, has been experimenting, and educating people about saving the environment.
Tending tiny trees requires skill and patience. The growers treat the trees with love and care. The pot-grown mini wonders represent a philosophy, of nature itself.Bonsai is the art of cultivating miniature trees in pots, where the plants get the shape and scale of a full-sized tree. This art was developed by Japanese. People especially those who face space crunch in their houses and can’t grow big trees like the banyan, have been opting for bonsai trees that can be cultivated in small pots on their terrace, inside or outside their houses, or even on staircases. Such bonsai trees can be kept alive for more than hundred years. There are those which are more than 1,000 years old in the world.
Lakshminarayana R Hegde, 62, the range forest officer, retired from forest service about four years ago. Before that he had planned to spend his retirement life by setting up a small bonsai garden at his house. And since then he started soaking up information on bonsai cultivation so that he could make his dream come true.
After retirement , he settled at his village Kallabbe, which is about 11 km from Kumta town of Uttara Kannada. Next to his house, in a small piece of land, he developed bonsai garden which is named ‘Kubjavruksha Kalaniketana’. The garden boasts of 36 types of more than 220 bonsai trees.
Hegde says many people dream of having their own garden or plantation of big trees near their house. Due to space problem, they are forced to give up. “Therefore, I decided to use my knowledge of conserving trees that I gained during my service as a forest officer, and educate people on bonsai cultivation at homes. Keeping greenery in and around home is good for people and nature too,” he says.
He also conducts workshops in schools and colleges about the various techniques.Hegde specially developed Navagraha Vana (where nine trees representing each astronomical body as per Hinduism are grown) and Rashi Vana (again trees representing each of the 12 zodiac signs are grown in the garden), apart from growing medicinal and commercial plants. He suggests to people to cultivate bonsai according to their zodiac sign as it is widely believed that it will give them good health.
In his garden, the miniature trees have shapes that include formal and informal, upright, slant etc. Some trees are like groves and others cascade down.He has given the shape of a heart, animal, human, Lord Ganesha etc to his trees. Most of these are banyan trees. After collecting trees from various places, like in old buildings or from forest areas, he cuts the roots and branches to give them shape. Over a period of time, the bonsai tree grows as per the shape and attract people. There is a huge market for such trees.
He believes that cultivating bonsai is not only a science, it is an art. “We have to feed water, fertilisers and keep track of the scientific growth of the trees. At the same time, we can give shape to the trees, and so it is an art,” he says.
MAKING POTS
Hegde doesn’t buy pots needed to grow bonsai.. He makes his own pots by using household items like a bucket, vessels and sometimes cement. He says he hardly invests on any material. His pots vary in shapes like round, square, triangle, hexagon, a boat etc. He says he has to spend a lot of money if he were to buy such different-shaped pots and transport them to his house.
GOING ORGANIC
Kallabbe is surrounded by forests in Western Ghats. Therefore, Hegde collects dry leaves and prepares organic fertilisers. He has not used chemical fertilisers for bonsai. He advocates organic fertilisers as they give sustainable strength to any plant. He spends about 4 hours per day in making and maintaining his garden.
HIS COLLECTION
Some of the trees at the bonsai garden Calotropis procera, Ficus religiosa, Achyranthes aspera, Ficus racemosa, Butea monosperma, Acacia catechu, Cynodon dactylon, Prosopis cenneraria, Imperata cylindrica