Club News - February 2022

Meeting - February 18 @ 7PM - Zoom Only

Marsha Mekisich - Show Prep and Considerations

Our Kusamura show is just a few months away on the weekend of April 30 - May 1. In this presentation I’ll share what I have learned about preparing trees for display at our show.

Hopefully each of you are actively looking at your trees to decide what you may want to display. Once you decide which trees to show you next need to make them show ready. The first step is tree-clean-up but then expands to planning the entire display, such as the type of stand to use and accent plants or scroll to compliment your tree.

As with bonsai styling, display design is somewhat subjective, but there are some absolutes and best practices. At the conclusion of this meeting you should have a good checklist for what to do, and some good ideas on how best to prepare your display.

Some of you are new, some seasoned. All of us always learn together. I look forward to hearing your questions and ideas around this fun and important topic as we all prepare for another successful Kusamura club show in April.

If you are a member of our club then the Zoom information was shared via email.
if you are not a member and would like to attend as a guest, please use the Contact Us form to request the Zoom info.

2022 Annual Show Update

by Show Chairs Lynne O’Dell and Idris Anderson

Kusamura’s Annual Bonsai Show gives members an opportunity to take stock of their trees and choose a couple of favorites that they’d like to share with each other, family, friends, and the public. Our last show was in 2019, and we’ve sorely missed this satisfying and enjoyable annual gathering—and the fine attention to preparing our trees to show their best. Our newer members, who may never have been to a show or participated in creating one, will be amazed!

Show chairs Lynne O’Dell and Idris Anderson have identified Addison Elementary School in Palo Alto for our April 30—May 1 show, pending County Covid restrictions. At this month’s club meeting, Marsha Mekisich will focus on how to prepare trees for a show.

Although the space and layout will all be different, the format will be similar to previous years and include the following components:

• A formal display of trees including stands, accent plants and scrolls when available and appropriate. (Members can use club owned stands and scrolls.)
• Outdoor sale of donated and consignment trees and pots
• Children’s Corner guiding kids to create their own accent plants to take home
• On Saturday a Redwood demonstration by Bob Shimon of Mendocino Coast Bonsai
• On Sunday a demonstration by Kusamura members, a style-off competition.
• New this year: Education Space where, in keeping with our club’s education mission, visitors can join members to learn about and practice some of the skills we use in bonsai.
• Benefit Drawings for trees and pots and other items, both days
• Saturday and Sunday lunch provided by the Club

Our March newsletter will give specifics and an opportunity to sign up for some of the engaging tasks available. Our goal is to involve all members in one or more ways. We appreciate your time and willingness to try something new this year. We anticipate that our show will be a pleasure for us to create and for our guests to enjoy.

Beginner’s Workshop on Saturday, February 12

February’s Beginner’s Workshop will be an in-depth look at how to create a saikei hosted by Richard and Barbara Phillips. A saikei is a form of bonsai landscape that is especially well suited for beginners as it uses younger material and allows for a greater amount of creative latitude in design.

Richard and Barbara will discuss how several of their saikei were created and demonstrate the basic steps in construction, what materials are needed and how to find appropriate plants. The workshop will run from 10AM - 1PM. For more details contact Richard Phillips.

Club Potting Party on Saturday, February 26

This is our second party to prepare bonsai for sale at our 2022 Annual Show that will be held on April 30 and May 1. Hours for the party and workshop are 10AM – 4PM. If you missed the party in January, we hope you can join us at this one.

Club-provided bonsai pots, soil and wire will be available for you to use to style, wire and/or repot each tree you work on during this event. As an attendee, you would either work on a club-owned tree or a tree that you plan to donate to the 2022 sale.

Anyone who has been babysitting a club-owned tree should bring that tree to the February potting party if it needs to be restyled and/or repotted. Note that if you are donating cash or other items vs. trees, the club still needs your help with the club-owned trees. In order to ensure Kusamura’s future financial success, each club member is kindly asked to attend one or more potting parties each year.

Note that any club-owned tree or member donated tree can be purchased at the party after it has been worked on. If you work on it, you have first dibs at purchasing it that day. Charlene and/or Hal will price it for you.

Richard Phillips will host a Beginner’s Corner at the same time. The focus will be on repotting bonsai. Work on a club owned tree or your own personal tree that needs repotting. Your personal tree does not have to be a donation tree if you are participating in the Beginner’s Corner.

Recap of Our January Zoom Meeting

In Kyoto Leslie spent a month getting settled in and finding an appropriate fit for her apprenticeship. ”Owing to their devotion and skills, traditional gardeners are treated like brain surgeons by the Japanese public” says Leslie. And while she said that hierarchy amongst the pruners was definitely in play, as an “outsider” she didn’t have to contend with that as much which would have made her job that much more difficult.

She and the crew worked nine to twelve hours every day for six days straight every week. Once a job was started the crew did not go home until it was finished no matter if it was raining or not. The Japanese public had to have truly been awed by Leslie dressed in traditional gardener’s attire when they realized she was not only an “outsider” but a “female” high atop that ladder working away or swinging a scythe like one of the guys.

In the photo below note how the pine needles have been thinned on the left but yet not on the right.

Connection Between Garden and Bonsai Techniques

The natural pruning techniques taught at Merritt College are based on traditional Japanese bonsai techniques. Leslie took us on a journey where we learned how those techniques are practiced both in the traditional gardens of Japan and within the art of bonsai. As in bonsai, the goal when pruning Japanese gardens is to make them look as natural as possible and not touched by human hands. Most of us probably think of Japanese gardens as highly manicured with many azalea bushes providing lots of color and heavily pruned. Leslie was surprised to find that the majority of gardens in Japan actually look very natural like they were part of the natural forest that existed before urbanization of the landscape.

While the central theme of a Japanese garden is to look as natural as possible, it is common to have a sheered shrub or hedge in the garden to make the beauty of the natural parts of the garden stand out. This could be compared to how a bonsai pot shows off the beauty of the tree itself. The bonsai pot is not the main attention but rather enhances the beauty of the tree.

Connection Between Garden Design and Tokonoma

Japanese gardens are designed to draw the viewer’s attention to a specific area of the garden during each season. For example, a Japanese maple in fall color would really stand out amongst its’ background of green provided by the evergreen trees in the garden. This can be compared with setting up a tokonoma for a bonsai show. You would never put two trees together in the display that would fight over the attention of the viewer’s eye. One tree is the main focal point and the other objects in the tokonoma are there to enhance the main tree. In a large garden of course, you would want the viewer to experience a perfect pairing of trees and plants, i.e., a tokonoma, with each turn they make along the pathway in the garden. This is achieved in a bonsai show by placing a stalk of bamboo between the displays to act as a break for the viewer’s eye. As in bonsai, Leslie pointed out that the garden pruner is manipulating the visitor’s eye and direction along the path in how they style the direction of the tree.

Seasonality is Important in Japanese Techniques

Leslie reminded us that Japanese gardens are a slice of nature, not a miniaturization. I think a good bonsai will leave you with that feeling too. And as the seasonality of material of plants are considered when designing a Japanese garden, bonsai enthusiasts should always consider seasonality when selecting accent plants and other materials for use in a bonsai show.

Leslie let us in on a secret to how maples in fall color can be easily cleaned up to always look their best. Just grab ahold of the tree at its trunk or an individual branch if it's a larger tree and shake it until all the brown leaves fall off leaving only the colored leaves on the tree. I don’t do this on my maple bonsai but after reading Leslie’s book I started shaking the branches of our maples in our yard.

Leslie showed us photos of gardens she pruned in Kyoto plus the garden of her teacher Mas Imazumi here in California. The gardens included Shugakuin, the garden of Emperor Go-Mizunoo, one of Kyoto’s most prestigious gardens. During her presentation Leslie would read a passage from her book as we viewed some of the photos allowing us to imagine what it would have been like to have been their ourselves.

Being an Apprentice Requires Focus, Dedication and Hard Work

Referring to the Japanese pruners she worked with Leslie said, “They didn’t care how well I did, they cared how hard I tried which is a fantastic ethic to bring home”. Leslie spent a total of four months in Japan and it wasn’t until she looked at her journal three years later that she realized how much she had learned during her time there. Leslie attributes how well she did in Japan as a reflection of the training she received from Mas Imazumi and Dennis Makishima.

Another Connection with the Bonsai Community

Leslie shared this motto from her teacher:

The tree knows if the person has a love for it. If you talk to it and care for it, it will survive for you.

Mas Imazumi

Leslie first met her teacher Mas Imazumi when Merritt College Pruning Club was responsible for installing the rocks / boulders and landscape plants in the garden at Bonsai Garden Lake Merritt (BGLM). The largest of the rocks weighed two and a half tons. Leslie remembered helping pull on the chain to lift and position the rock in place.

Members of Kusamura were involved in building the wood structures at BGLM. They included the late members Jim Ransohoff, Tom Refvem, Lonnie McCormick, and Dave Flynn, all of whom are fondly remembered by many Kusamura members today.

It was a delight to meet Leslie and everyone enjoyed the many insights into her experiences in Japan. For more information about Leslie and her work, refer to her website at www.lesliebuckauthor.com.

Lending a Helping Hand

In early January some members of the club who have known John and Sandy Planting for many years got together and repotted some of their favorite trees for them. It was a very rewarding day and beautiful out. John and Sandy actually came out and watched us and said it felt like old times. Both of them had a smile on their face as they enjoyed their afternoon in what was a very special day for everyone involved. Thanks for the memories John and Sandy.

Remembering Desmond Johnson

Desmond Johnson, a former Kusamura member passed away on January 2, 2022. Desmond was smitten with bonsai and participated in the club for a number of years. Many of us remember Desmond as he always had a cheerful demeanor and embraced his newfound hobby with gusto and enjoyed interacting with Kusamura members. When he could no-longer continue with bonsai because of his failing eyesight, Desmond donated his trees and bonsai pots to the club for fund raising efforts. The last of Desmond’s bonsai pots were offered for sale to club members via our online auction in 2021. Desmond was an inspiration to all who knew him.

For more details about Desmond’s life and legacy, please refer to:
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/mercurynews/name/desmond-johnson-obituary?id=32410064

Newsletter Editor: Rita Curbow