Unique hobby of playing with pine trees in Chi Linh

December 26, 2022 14:00

Bonsai enthusiasts in Chi Linh City have created a unique hobby with pine trees, making good use of the strengths of the hills and forests, contributing to the local socio-economic development.

Mr. Nguyen Van Uy bends young pine trees to create many artistic shapes and positions.

Conquer

Mr. Nguyen Van Uy (born in 1966) in Thach Thuy residential area, Pha Lai ward (Chi Linh city) "fell in love" with pine trees nearly 20 years ago. This is a type of tree that is easy to grow, easy to care for, has a straight posture like a gentleman, suitable for planting as an ornamental tree, so he hired people to cut hundreds of small pine trees from the forest to sell as well as create shapes for the trees.

The turning point in Mr. Uy's journey to conquer pine trees was the time he "went all in" to own a pine tree that he named "Van nien tung" which was hundreds of years old. In 2007, seeing this pine tree in a garden, Mr. Uy spent 50 million VND to buy it. At that time, the garden was in the process of "domesticating" the tree, so Mr. Uy could not bring the tree home. Then, something happened at home, Mr. Uy had to get his money back, accepting to return the tree to the previous owner. When he finished his household chores, Mr. Uy bought this pine tree back for 80 million VND.

“The most difficult part of conquering old pine trees is creating new roots for the tree. This is a taproot tree, so if you want to bring the tree from the natural environment to plant as an ornamental tree, you need to gradually remove the taproot so that the tree can grow new roots. With pine trees that are several hundred years old, this process takes at least half a year to a year,” said Mr. Uy.

Owning a pine tree that is several hundred years old, but at this time the tree is just like a "rough gem", not yet in a beautiful shape, many people laugh at Mr. Uy for "spending a lot of money to buy firewood". But after many years under the hands of the artisan, the original "rough gem" has become sparkling, becoming the dream of many people with a passion for bonsai. The tree is about 4 m high, about 40 cm in diameter, with thick, cracked bark. Initially the tree had a simple horizontal shape, Mr. Uy painstakingly created a set of branches leaning in one direction for nearly 10 years, making the overall tree not only strong and resilient but also soft and delicate. This pine tree is becoming more and more known, especially since he participated in a bonsai exhibition in Bac Ninh in 2020. At this exhibition, someone offered to pay nearly 4 billion VND for the pine tree, but Mr. Uy did not sell it.

"Aglaonema" tree

Develop

Mr. Nguyen Sinh Ngo (born in 1989) in Pha Lai ward is one of the people who was inspired by Mr. Uy with pine trees. Mr. Ngo said that from 2005-2020, the buying and selling of pine trees at garden houses in Chi Linh city existed but not much. When the "Van nien tung" tree appeared at the bonsai exhibition in Bac Ninh, the hobby of growing pine trees gradually became much more vibrant.

Since 2020, many ornamental plant enthusiasts in neighboring provinces have also been interested in pine trees. Many people have built Japanese-style Koi fish tanks, suitable for that space, and pine trees are increasingly sought after. Grasping this trend, gardeners in Chi Linh City have sold hundreds of pine trees to customers inside and outside the province at prices ranging from 15-300 million VND/tree depending on the shape and age of the tree. Thanks to pine trees, many gardeners earn from hundreds of millions to billions of VND/year.

Along with providing ornamental plants, gardeners here have found ways to bend trees to their liking to create works of art with high artistic value. Mr. Uy said that bending trees is quite simple with small pine trees, but large trees with a diameter of 20-25 cm can still be bent to their liking.

“For large trees, I use car or motorbike rims, place the rim on the tree trunk, put the tensioner into the clamp, and clamp a section each day to gradually bend the tree, making it easier to shape and replace the tree,” Mr. Uy shared.

This method has been successfully applied by many bonsai enthusiasts in Chi Linh City, and has even been praised by many people abroad when they have the opportunity to exchange and learn. After the pine tree has a satisfactory shape and form, caring for this type of tree is quite simple, just needing airy soil and enough water to sustain the tree's life.