Accent plantings in bonsai should not be confused with underplantings. An accent plant is any one of a vast number of small herbs, grasses, mosses, lichens, flowers, dwarf bamboos, etc. grown in a separate pot. Traditionally an accent plant is viewed along with a bonsai in the formal display discipline known as Keido. Bonsai shown at exhibition are almost always shown with a complimentary accent plant alongside it. The accent plant can evoke a certain mood, season, time of day, or perhaps contrast the image the bonsai establishes with its composition and style.
Accent plants are in and of themselves their own very enjoyable discipline. It is sometimes referred to as Kusamomo, a name most commonly used when describing plantings of grasses and dwarf bamboo but has now come to mean any accent planting. Kusamomo offers an enormous realm of possibilities to the bonsai artist. The overall feeling of accent planting is very free and informal.
I have become quite fond of accent plantings and have taken to putting just about anything in a pot to see how it looks. Miniature Hostas are wonderful accent plants, as you can see from the photograph below:
This particular variety is named 'Tiny Tears'. It's been in a pot for about four years now. In early summer it sends up tiny flower stalks about two inches tall, covered in pale lavender blooms with yellow anthers. After flowering, if the pot is becoming congested the plant can be divided and new accent plants begun. I use a freely draining mame bonsai soil mix of fine particled Turface, oak leaf, and a little peat. I generally fertilize with fish emulsion and occasionally Miracid. Other miniature hosta that work well as accent plants include 'Teenie Weenie', 'Masquerade', 'Venusta', and 'Uzo No Mai'. The pot above is about two inches in diameter.
Below right is a small planting of Japanese Painted Fern. I especially like this pot, a very rustic thrown pot by Maureen Jenigan of Deadwood Pottery. About four inches in diameter
There is an enormous variety of ferns that will do well in a pot.
Here is a lovely little planting of miniature Dianthus. The Dianthus family too has dozens of varieties that do well as accent plants. I especially like 'Rachel' and 'Frosty Fire'.
Accent plantings can be fleeting in their beauty. An early spring bloomer is Iranian Crocus, shown below.
I hope the variety of containers shown illustrates just how varied accent plants can be in their composition. There really is no 'right and wrong' only what is more beautiful or less beautiful. Tell us what plants you like to see displayed with bonsai, and which are successful!
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