BonsaiNurseryman

Our Message for 2008

I just reread last year's message, and most of it is still true. Life still revolves around getting older, only with more serious consequences as our parents are very near to reaching the end. Susie lost her mother this year, and my parents are in their 80's and not in the best of health. Many of my aunts and uncles are gone, even some of my friends. This has increased my resolve even more. It's time to start doing the things that make life worth living whatever the cost. As my friend Jeff says, he's never seen a hearse with a trailer hitch on it.

On that note, I have been working on finishing projects like a man on fire this year. I have finished the new bonsai display area,  doubled the shade house, and made a heroic effort to at least reduce the Jungle area. I doubled the grafts this year, pruned nearly all the specimen plants and have plans to repot many of them this winter to get at least some of them up at the website this year. There is still plenty to be done, but at last the end is in sight.

The New Display Area encased in ice from the freeze protection

The new shade house is especially exciting. It will allow me to organize and clean out the old one because the plants will have some place to go after I prune and repot them. I have a plan to control 'blowover', and if it works, it will really lower maintenance and increase organization. I hope to get busy on this project when we get back from Florida later in January.

The new shade area before the shade cloth went up

A  couple of new sections of the  pine and juniper area will also go in this winter to take some more of the Jungle plants. Some of those plants are becoming quite nice Nursery Yamadori from the benign neglect of the last nine years. Graydon and George from Florida came and visited for a week in October and carved out a large section of the jungle plants that went into the ground growing area. I really appreciate their help and we had a great time of endless shop talk, good food and drink. The next step is to rescue the Jungle plants that need to stay in pots rather than go into the ground.

Hard pruning all the specimen plants has revealed some really nice trunks, which is now known as the 'field of trunks'. You really can't appreciate what is happening under all those branches and foliage until you chop all the way back to the trunk.  They are awesome, and with any luck, I should get a number of these potted up this year  and ready to sell. There are four to seven inch corky elms, assorted crabs, a few really nice Zelkova, and other odds and ends. I posted some pictures on BonsaiNut, and I hope to post some more here soon. This is very exciting work, the payoff of nearly twenty years of growing.

The field of trunks

One more addition to the display area will be dedicated to specimen plants that are ready to sell. So, as I pot up the trunks, they will go in this area where they can be tracked and properly maintained.  Hopefully that will also happen this winter. The water is plumbed in and I intend to use all of the old benches from the former display area. Just need to design another shade canopy. It's a challenge to provide shade and still deal with all the leaves and nuts from the walnut trees.

2007 was a good propagation year. Not a record number of plants started, except for pine grafts (nearly 500 this year), but enough to fill in the gaps for 2008. I started a good number of 'Evergreen's Roughbark' trident maples. The strike rate appears to be low, but I started so many that I may have enough next fall to fill the waiting list orders. Finally got enough wood to do a crop of Prunus blireiana, and most of them have rooted. Some folks have been waiting for that one for many years. I also managed to scrounge up enough wood to start a batch of Prunus subhirtella 'Autumnalis', which we have been out of for several years. I am continuing to experiment with Wisteria cuttings, and made a big breakthough on what wood to use. I hope to have some 'Cooke's Special' by fall, if not before. This is an excellent deep purple cultivar and one of my favorites. Also had a minor breakthrough on Hokkaido elm, and a limited supply of them are ready now, albeit a bit small. Syringa patula 'Miss Kim' will be back this year too.

I am continuing to experiment with cutting grown Acer palmatum cultivars, but there wasn't a lot of decent wood this year, so not muc to report. I had an excellent crop of 'Kiyo Hime' and 'Yuri Hime' last year, and these are all progressing nicely. I probably won't sell any of these until they reach one gallon size in about 2 more years. The one gallon 'Ao Kanzashi' from last year are getting very nice now, so if you want one of these you better act soon before they are potted up into 2 gallon size.

I couldn't get any 'Catlin Contorted' elm wood this year, so there will be a gap in the supply. But there are quite a few that will be ready in September, so you better get on the waiting list if you want one of these rare little puppies. New this year is Ilex serrata, Japanese Winterberry. We have both male and female cutting grown plants. You probably don't need a male plant for flowers and fruit, but it may improve pollination. These have small very red round fruits in winter on naked, almost black stems. This is a small shrubby species and is probably best for very small bonsai and winter accent plants. Also, my Princess Persimmon, Diospyros rhombifolia fruited this year, so in a year or so we should have cutting grown plants as well as our seedlings. It has very cute one inch orange persimmons.

Princess Persimmon

Susie and I will be in sunny Florida for a week on our annual pilgrimage to see the old folks, so no shipping the week of Jan. 7. Next ship date is Jan. 14. You can continue to place orders and send emails, but I won't be able to respond until after we get back.

The 2008 Online Catalgo is up!

REBS Show 2007

The Redwood Empire Bonsai Society's annual show is always the fourth Saturday and Sunday in August. It is without a doubt one of the best shows in the US. Each year I try to photograph the new trees, and even many of the impressive trees that appear year after year. It's remarkable to follow the changes. Following are this year's selection in no particular order. Following some photos you will find comments and critique. Enjoy!

A collected California juniper. There are many collected junipers at this show, many of them stunning like the one above. These are difficult trees to collect and the survival rate is quite low. This tree has exquisite branch detailing, a result of Kathy Shaner's workshops for club members, and the influence of Boon on members and others in California. More on this later. Interesting jin at the very top. It took me a few seconds to figure out what was going on here. The foliage of the tree creates a flow opposite that set by the deadwood, but the jin returns the flow set by the base. A very clever device.

This is Jim Gremel's signature cedar, Cedrus atlantica. I have photographed this tree many times over the years, and consider it the best cedar in the world. This year, there was a distinct difference in the foliage pads. They are much more refined and separated. The larger, lower branches carry unbelievably thin manicured pads which really gives you a feeling for a large mature tree in nature. Due to the scale of a large natural tree, the aspect ratio of limbs and foliage is very thin just like Jim has captured here.

Crape myrtle raft, Lagerstroemia indica. A very unusual composition but befitting of the growth habit of crape myrtle which has a tendency often to lose the main trunk and sucker from the base. You can see the remains of the trunk in the center. Excellent wiring of the smaller trunks. I think it could be improved by a fuller look of the middle trees to give a slightly stronger triangular outline, but this is probably coming since the branch work throughout is not very detailed yet.

This is an enormous olive, Olea europaea. It's hard to get the scale of the tree from the photograph; it is  about 18 inches wide. It literally makes a mountain scene with the branches reminiscent of trees growing on the mountain rather than branches of a tree. Observe how thin the root pad of this tree is compared to the mass of the trunk. This is accomplished by literally sawing off the base. Olives can withstand this kind of massive rootwork, but still, work on this scale shouldn't be tried at home.

Hawthorn,  Crataegus laevigata(?). This is a landscape collected hawthorn about thirty five years old, I should know, I collected it about twenty five years ago and sold it to its present owner. I notice this year it has berries. I don't remember seeing berries before, although this seedling tree is old enough to flower and fruit (20+ years). Frank told me the trick of getting it to berry, and of course I immediately forgot it! I just love getting old.

Japanese winterberry, Ilex serrata. This is a magnificent winterberry. All those little tan balls are berries and will be bright red in winter. Why is it leafless in August? I talked to the owner about it, and he defoliated it for effect, to show off those berries. This should not really affect the health of the tree since this is a very mild climate, but it's not something that you would want to do on a regular basis. The trunk is truly massive, and these are very slow growing shrubby trees, so this tree is ancient. I believe it is a collected tree from Japan. Flowering and fruiting trees are usually grown and styled for flower and fruit display, but this tree has a wonderful trunk and branches as well, something you don't see very often.

Japanese black pine, Pinus thunbergii. The trunk has been massively contorted and the wiring of the branches mirrors the contortions. It is full, but you can still see every branch of the entire structure, a not so easy feat. In a tree like this you want to see all the structure.

Another Japanese black pine,  Pinus thunbergii.  This one is a completely different composition with a completely different feel. Where the first one is knotted and bound up, this one is soft and sweeping. The crown work is very fine, making what would be a rather boring trunk, a peaceful illusion. The front branch is not quite right for me. It fills the space under the trunk a little too much and has a counter motion feel to it, but this is a minor complaint.

Japanese white pine, Pinus parviflora. I looked at this tree for a long time. If it was in the show before, I can't remember it. Technically, this tree if very off balance, but the fact that I can't stop looking at it says something else. It really has very strong dynamic movement. I think what saves it and makes it work is the upper part of the tree. Follow this analysis with me. Starting at the base of the tree, there is a very strong right to left flow set by the severe angle of the trunk to the 'ground'. This sweep moves into and down the well placed first branch. But the eye doesn't stop there, it moves up the trunk nearly vertically in a couple of dizzying curves. The nearly vertical section is too long, but this is a minor complaint since you often get what you get. Then the trunk moves back again, strongly against the flow set by the base. This countermove creates great interest and also tension. Now if that angle into the section beyond the vertical section had been anymore to the right, it would have been spoiled, creating the dreaded 'C' curve that is the flow killer. But it doesn't do this, the apex comes back mirroring the same angle of the low trunk and preserving the original flow. A great composition.

Sierra Juniper, collected. This juniper has kept its wild native look except for a fairly well defined outline. The straight thick middle section of the trunk is a bit annoying, but again, with collected trees, you get what you get. I think some sort of deadwood treatment in this area could solve this problem. The thing you should notice about this tree (and most of the other junipers here) is that it is not styled with foliage pads at all. You can see right through all parts of the tree. This imparts a very natural look because this is exactly how they look in the wild. Maintaining this type of foliage pattern is difficult to do, but the result is so much better than the 'School of Green Donuts' that you so often see in classical Japanese styling. I have discussed this in length with Jim Gremel who is learning it from Boon, although Kathy Shaner is styling trees like this too, and I wouldn't be surprise if she has influenced the design of this tree.

I have written about this technique several times in the forums without much in the way of response. I don't know if this is going right over people's heads or they just think I am crazy. Briefly, pinching foliage pads to make 'clouds' results in unnatural dense clusters of foliage with a completely dead center. The pads themselves are opaque. The negative space comes from the open areas between the pads. This form of styling requires constant 'pinching' of the foliage and results in an ever increasing thickness of the pad. At some point, the process must be started over and the pad reduced. This means that the pad will only be in its prime for maybe one year in three or four. The open style of foliage formation (I don't even think it has a name yet) is accomplished just like the ramification of deciduous branching. It is done with sharp shears cutting small 'branches' that are just becoming woody. They are removed in a pattern. You lay out the foliage in your hand so you can see the joints close to the growing ends. There will be many points of growth forming the beginnings of small woody branches. You prune with your shears to achieve a pattern similar to deciduous pruning such as left, right, left, right, up, left, right, left, right, up, etc. Downward facing branchlets are removed. It takes a tremendous amount of work to do this throughout a juniper, but the results are spectacular.

Below is a closeup of the foliage in a branch of this juniper showing the kind of detail work that I am talking about. You can clearly see the pattern of the fine branching. If done properly, this tree will always look like this and never have pads. As the foliage areas get too long, you just work your way back into inside buds and branches to replace the outer areas.

Another collected Sierra juniper showing the same kind of foliage treatment as the one above. This is an ever 'wilder' tree than the other. Many junipers in nature form this kind of natural raft after the main stem dies. The multiple trunk treatment here is very good resulting in in excellent perspective. The left side needs more work to mirror the 'refined' wildness of the right side. The foliage is a little too heavy on the left, and the branches need to come down a bit. With just a little more work, this tree will be a real stunner.

Pinus parviflora 'Zuisho', Japanese white pine. Not quite the classic formal upright of 'Zuisho' but close. The informal upright and the 'bend' in the branches make it more pleasing than the 'stiff arm' look of the the formal upright, at least in my opinion.

Collected  California  juniper. This tree has a very beautiful trunk, but as you can see it is just in the beginning stages of foliage and branch development. In a few years it will be a very beautiful tree. Not sure  about the jin in the apex. It's a bit long and distracting at this point, but without the full foliage pattern it's hard  to say  how it will work out in the end.

Ficus retusa. I'm not a tropical guy, but I really love this fig and have photographed it many times over the years. It's strongest attraction is of course the trunk. The branches could use a little refinement.

Yet still another  California juniper. Wonderful trunk with an incredible live vein. The straightness in the live vein near the top is a little disconcerting, but again, this is another case of you get what you get in a collected tree.  The movement in the branches is very nice in the  lower part of the tree, but becomes a little confused  in the apex area. This could be easily corrected.

And finally, some shots of the show floor. Hope you enjoyed the photos. If there is any way you can attend this show, you should. There is also a fabulous vendor's area and free munchies. How can you beat that? For more information on the club and the show, here is their website: http://www.rebsbonsai.org/

Pines Part 'n', Rain and Winter

We had first real winter rain last night; it poured, it blew, and in a couple of hours it was gone, leaving behind almost an inch of the liquid gold. This is my favorite time of the year; the heat and busyness of summer is gone, and the long slow slide of nature's sleep begins. The garden turned to limp brown stems after the first frost a week ago, the apples, pears, and pumpkins are in and safe from further onslaughts. Susie rescued the pumpkins just yesterday as dusk changed the grey spitting to windy torrents.

Still lots to do despite a heave of relief that we've survived another summer. The shadehouse project needs a few more days, grafting hasn't even started yet, and then there is the seemingly endless task of leaf cleanup. I think I am probably even busier in the fall than in summer, but somehow it's different, invigorating rather than opressive, uplifting rather than drudgery. It's the nostalgic bite of sweetness and tartness of the just picked apple, taking months to reach its crunchy peak of perfection. Harvest time is reflection time, even in the nursery business. With leaf drop I can at last see what nature and my efforts added to the trees this year. I can stop worrying about feeding and watering and dream about future masterpieces, each year another little step on that road.

...

And then there is the seemingly endless squabbles of the internet forums. I just came from BonsaiNut, keeping up with the latest Will and Al/Chris show. How sad it is that the only attraction of such a potential educational resource is the daily soap. I think these folks need to ask themselves why it is necessary to flog each other publicly. Not that it offends me mind you, it's about the only action you can get these days, but I just wonder if these threads would last fifty to sixty posts if all the insults/responses were PM'd instead of publicly broadcast. I think all parties need to step back and ask themselves why this is necessary and what it does to this medium. One good thing though, the lack of any substance has me writing again to try to offer some of my own.

...

Another chapter in pine development, I've lost count, so call it part n, as in nth. Someday, all this will be organized at the website instead of just in the blog, maybe even this winter. 2005 blogs have already disappeared and I don't know if I can get them back into the archive or not, but I will try. The blog is nice for a quick and easy post to stay in contact, but I know that finding things later and grouping topically is a nightmare. My old customer LE contacted me recently about one of my grafts he purchased, and I thought you might be interested in seeing how it developed and what the next step should be:

LE:

I went out and took a couple pictures this evening of my P.T. 'Brocade' that I bought from you. I think I got it in Spring '05.  Here's my question - should I prune away the unnecessary secondary branching this November? The tree is looking pretty bushy to me, but I didn't want to make a mistake. I'm also including a shot of the tree after I removed the main leader in the fall of 2005, I know you've seen it before, but it shows how much the thing has grown in two years.

As always, thanks for your time.



[Readers may remember this pine from Pines: Removing The Leader ]





Brent: LE, It is looking very nice and healthy. You have now reached the point where you have to pay attention to final branching. I probably would have performed this procedure in mid summer and had new breaks by now, but you can do it in mid or late winter and get new breaks next spring.

Here is what you have to do: Notice that the last extension on virtually all the branches (leading to terminal buds) is now TOO LONG for a shohin, or even somewhat larger bonsai. This has to be corrected now before the inner internodes get any older and you lose the needles in the next to last internodes. The older they get, the less vigor they have, and the harder it will be to get internodal budbreak.

Before you begin this process, you must do the difficult task of identifying sacrifice branches, if any, because you DON'T want them to be pruned SHORTER. The difficulty is seeing the tree with all the foliage before pruning, but it has to be done; pruning the tip of potential sacrifices will set them back considerably. So, first, clean out the the oldest and dead needles right next to the trunk, but don't remove needles farther out. If you can't see what you are doing after this clean out, take sharp shears and cut the needles in half but DON'T shear the needles on the last internodes since you want that strong growth on the ones that will be sacrifice branches. This should allow you now to see inside and the positioning of all the branches.

Identify and even label with colored tape, which branches would make potential final branches and which branches you want to keep as sacrifice branches. I caution you against making final judgments about simply REMOVING branches, thinking they will be neither. Try to keep your selection process simple: sacrifice or final branch. Unless a branch actually interferes with the growth and shaping of a BETTER choice for a final branch, leave it and train it just like the other final branches. As the tree develops, you can later make final decisions about what to remove. Training a branch as a final branch restrains it so that rarely will it adversely affect the tree.

Once these decisions have been made, and the sacrifice branches have been clearly labeled so that you don't accidentally prune them, prune out the last branch extension of ALL the remaining branches. This will be the last shoot and terminal bud, but leave the node or whorl at the base with its branches and buds. After you do this, the tree will really start to look like something. You should be getting an idea of the final shape, size, and branching. You can actually stop at this point if you are uncomfortable proceeding to the next part below. New buds should open in the last remaining node/whorl as well as new breaks from dormant buds in the last internode. This will happen next spring and summer.

OPTIONAL: It is also important that you carefully analyze the tree for two things once you have done the pruning above. This is a good time to do it because you have cleaned out the tree so you can see everything clearly. The first thing to look for is the completed trunk line. Does it exist yet? Do you have good branching and decreasing internodes up to the apex, or to the last trunk extension? Do you have taper, or can you get it with the remaining sacrifice branches? This is a tough call, but it is best done now. If you are not happy with ANY of the trunk line options at this point (remember that you can trace a potential trunk line through ANY of the existing branches and you should analyze them ALL), then you need to choose a branch which will give you the next trunk extension and prepare for treating it to give you future extensions and branches (either now or later). This kind of careful planning takes the happenstance out of pine design and converts the process to tightly controlled planned design that will give you a perfect apex and perfect taper up to it. You can actually build in imperfection to suit your whims.

Secondly, you should examine all the final branches. At this point you have only removed the last extension, but you can remove than that as long as you don't endanger the branch or the tree by removing too much material. Now, just like examining the trunk line, you want to examine each branch for the same qualities, that is, proper internode spacing, taper, and secondary branching. AFTER this point, it will be much easier because you are going to completely control the branch training using Naka's two famous rules, removing all the candles longer than one inch during midseason, then reducing the resulting secondary growth to a forked branch in early winter. If you have a short internode right out of the trunk, then a long internode next as the tree gained strength (a common occurrence), then at some point you are going to have to either prune out the secondary branches at the first node (which will probably make the first extension too long), or remove the second internode essentially starting the branch over at this point. This will help you select the the FINAL final branching because now you are looking for GOOD branches, not just final possibilities. The one rule that keeps coming back to me on this process is 'coarse to fine, coarse to fine'. A good ramified branch will get more and more delicate as it proceeds to the tips. So when you are pruning, always try to go to a small delicate branch and remove the coarser, larger option.

That should get you started.

Brent

P.S.  I did it! If you scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on Archives, you can see all the posts since day one. This should make it much easier to find old posts. 

BW