WORKS ARE on the way for the establishment of a Bonsai School in the university where students will be taught and trained to propagate aesthetic tiny trees for commercial purposes.

President Miriam E. Pascua said the school will be the first of its kind in the country envisioned to provide livelihood for home gardeners. She has ordered the renovation of the former Agrometeorological Building located south of the University Nursery to be used as classroom that can accommodate 25-30 enrollees. Classes are targeted to start next year.

“We will just use our existing facilities so that we can start right away,” she said during an optical inspection of the site last Oct. 17 with Ilocos Norte Governor Imee R. Marcos.

Governor Marcos also expressed support to the project saying there is a bright prospect for bonsai plants in local and global markets. She added the Province of Ilocos Norte (PGIN) through the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPAG) will help MMSU in sourcing out materials for bonsai with the assistance of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

“There are so many forest areas in the province where we can get as many materials as we can,” the governor said during a luncheon meeting with Dr. Pascua and some MMSU officials and personnel at the FEM Hall Conference Room.

The governor is allowing the exploration of the Dungon-Dungon areas of Burgos, Ilocos Norte because the place is reportedly rich of high value forest tree species for bonsai. These include agoho, camuning, tamarind, guava, duhat, bougainvilla, carmona, bugnay, and kamatsile, among others.

Bonsai, or tray gardening, is the art of growing trees and plants kept small in a shallow clay pot. Through skilled pruning, a bonsai raiser can create an aesthetic shape and the illusion of age.

For a start, Governor Marcos and President Pascua designated professors Maura Luisa S. Gabriel and Joselito I. Rosario of the CAFSD, and Luz Ortal of the OPAG as project managers of the Bonsai School with funds and support from both MMSU and PGIN.

Records show that the art of bonsai originated in China some 2,000 years ago, where it has been called “penzai” and later on, “hanzi”. The art was brought to Japan some 700 years ago and was called “bonsai”. This unique style of tray gardening is intended for outdoor display.

A bonsai is not a genetically dwarfed plant. It is kept small by shaping its canopy and pruning its roots. It is claimed that a properly maintained bonsai can outlive a full size tree of the same species given the much needed care.

The art of bonsai-making requires a collaboration of a sense of aesthetics, care, and patience. The plant, the shaping and surface of the soil, and the selected container come together to express “heaven and earth” in one shallow container.

Bonsai experts at MMSU said that one way to make the plant remain small is to correctly prune it to stunt its growth. To make the plant look exactly like a miniature and to have the right proportions, it is further shaped using a variety of methods that will be taught at the Bonsai School.