Bonsai Accessories

Hanes Bonsai Tee Shirt
Decorative Landscape Pebbles
Humidity Tray Pebbles
Mini Pump
B. Drainage Hole Covers
Bonsai Turntable Indoor or Outdoor
B. Drainage Hole Covers
Watering Can
Mist Bottle
Fogger Indoor Water Fountain Fogger
Plastic House Label 1″x1″ writing surface

THE “WRAPAROUND” is arguably the most controversial of all bonsai techniques. The Japanese call the practice a tanuki, implying deception or a cheat. As you can imagine, this technique is frowned upon in Japanese bonsai. On the other hand, American bonsai artist Dan Robinson once coined the memorable phrase “Phoenix Graft,” which views the process from an entirely different perspective. The terms tanuki and phoenix graft clearly illustrate the difference in attitude that can and does exist—not only between East and West, but also between individual artists.

If you set out to make a tanuki—a deception—you will have no respect for your work, so you’ll take less care. But if you set out to create a phoenix graft, the implication is that you are embarking on a more noble quest. What could possibly be wrong with combining a magnificent piece of driftwood—nature’s art—with the living vigor and enthusiasm of a healthy young plant, to create an object of great dignity and beauty?


The wraparound isn’t a shortcut to achieving a “finished” bonsai—far from it! But it is a means of creating a certain type of image when you don’t have suitable material or when you have a wonderful piece of driftwood that you simply must use.

There are many so-called foolproof ways to persuade a living trunk to stick to a piece of dead wood. One is to carve a dovetail groove in the driftwood and insert a thin stem. As the stem thickens it becomes trapped and can only continue to grow through the opening of the groove. Once it has reached the outside world,it’s supposed to spread sideways and grow flat against the driftwood. Another suggests binding the living stem to the driftwood until, miraculously, it somehow sticks all by itself. I tried these and other techniques and found none that worked satisfactorily. However, amidst the ashes of apparent defeat stood one tree with hidden potential.

In 1986 I had stapled two Blaauws junipers to a beautiful piece of driftwood—weathered roots from a fallen spruce. The plants I used were too thick and impossible to bend, so I carved grooves in the driftwood to accommodate them and fixed them with brass staples. The growth was so strong that the healing edge of the bark grew into the unavoidable gaps between the trunk and the driftwood and eventually threatened to split the trunks away.

I gave up! It remained ‘in a wooden box for six years—the victim of contemptuous neglect in the hope that someone would take pity and take it off my hands.

More to come.