Club News - March 2022
Meeting - March 18 @ 7PM - In-Person and via Zoom
Idris Anderson & Jenn Tan - Air-Layering Workshop
March, April, and May are the best months in the Palo Alto area to begin air-layers on your trees. This month’s meeting will begin with a discussion of air-layering basics followed by hands-on work on trees that members bring in.
Topics to be covered during our discussion include:
- How, why and when to use air-layering – improve an existing tree, create multiple trees from one, etc.
- Species that are good candidates for air-layering
- Demonstration of the mechanics of air-layering
- Recommended tools and materials
- Aftercare
- Pitfalls to avoid
For the workshop portion you can bring one tree you would like to air-layer.
Easiest to work on: wisteria, crepe myrtle, and bougainvillea
Good alternatives: Trident maple and camellia
Also bring:
- A very sharp grafting knife, boxcutter or picket knife
- A sheet of plastic / plastic bag to cover the table you’ll be working on
We will supply hormone powder, sphagnum moss, bottle or plastic to seal in, tape and wire to secure the operation.
For background information before this meeting you may want to review our Air-Layering Basics article on the club website.
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.
Monthly Tasks
March is one of the busiest months for the bonsai person. All heavy "work" is done during this time including styling, root pruning and potting of the collected material. This checklist is adapted from earlier work by Mitsuo Umehara.
This month: March Tasks
Time to Start Repotting
We’re in the middle of repotting season. If you haven’t made bonsai soil recently check out our article on Bonsai Soil Basics.
Fertilizer Recommendations
Warmer weather means more green growth and our trees need a fertilizer with more nitrogen. Refer to Fertilizer Basics.
Pest Control Recommendations
With new growth it’s likely that bugs will show up soon, especially aphids. Refer to Pest Control Basics.
Long-Term Member John Planting Passes Away
John Planting passed away over the weekend in his sleep. He leaves behind a long list of accomplishments relating to the club as well as clubs throughout California. Kusamura Bonsai Club could not have survived for over sixty years without John’s dedication and commitment.
As you know, John loved bonsai. He and his wife Sandy built a Japanese style home and filled the yard with their beautiful trees. From tiny trees to large trees he loved them all. Almost as much as his love of bonsai was a desire to be helpful to others with their bonsai by happily sharing his vast knowledge about the history of bonsai in the US, about horticulture, and about styling techniques. There was a cheerful “hello” when anyone visited, even unannounced, welcoming us into the garden, sharing stories, and providing trees and other materials. He was always teaching, a natural instinct for him on all occasions, often in quiet one-to-one conversations in idle moments.
We, as a club, will miss him dearly. We will miss touring the garden with him; miss sharing a cookie or cup of tea; miss seeing him lift a huge tree, in perfect bloom, from the back of his ancient white van, haul it into our meeting, and share the beauty with us; miss him piping up with an informational tidbit from the back of the room during our meetings; and miss admiring his trees in our shows. What John did, which is a tradition within the bonsai community, is to pass on trees to others. The Plantings' trees populate many members' collections now. We are now honored with the responsibility of caring for these trees that are John’s legacy to us.
Times have changed greatly since John embarked on the art of bonsai. Kusamura will be hard pressed to have another who is as dedicated, as enthusiastic, and as knowledgeable. We owe a huge thank you to John for bringing this enjoyment of bonsai into our lives.
John was 91 years of age. He will be missed by his family and many, many friends locally and throughout the US and Japan.
For additional information about John’s life, please see:
John and Sandy Planting – 50+ years in Bonsai
2022 Annual Show Update
Kusamura’s Annual Bonsai Show (April 30 & May 1) 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. We are at a new location this year - Addision Elementary School, 1045 Webster in Palo Alto. See map below.
Current Santa Clara County Public Health Guidelines will be followed.
Headliner: Bob Shimon
From Mendocino Coast Bonsai will be doing a demo Saturday at 1:30
On Sunday we will have a demonstration led by a club member.
Enjoy of the following:
- Over 60 formal displays of trees in the Japanese style, including stands, accent plants and scrolls
- Outdoor sale of over 100 bonsai trees and pots
- Children’s Corner guiding kids to create their own accent plants to take home
- Saturday at 1:30 - Demo by Bob Shimon of Mendocino Coast BonsaiBob will be styling a redwood that will go to the winner of a benefit drawing
- Sunday at 1:30 - a style-off competition/demonstration by Kusamura members. Three trees will go to winners of a benefit drawing
- 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
Location
Multipurpose Room at Addision Elementary School, Palo Alto
1045 Webster Street.
Parking is on street
February Potting Party Thank You
We had twenty-five attendees at our potting party on February 26. A few members came out just for the wire sale and couldn’t stay but most members hung around and participated in repotting and styling all the trees available that day.
The club thanks Christoph Dressel and his wife Laura for hosting the party for the second month in a row. Their son Arik reminded us what it was like to be a kid again and Laura treated us to some homemade bread.
The club extends a special shout out to Barbara Shahinian who donated quite a number of bonsai pots that day. If you didn’t get a chance to purchase one of them at the party, you will see them for sale at our show. Thank you Barbara!
As before, a number of members worked tirelessly to make this potting party another success. Those members include Lynne O’Dell and Charlene Fischer who schlepped bonsai pots, wire and other materials to-and-fro. Lynne with help from Maryann and Bob Hinden also took on the task of weighing, tagging and labeling a supply of bonsai wire that was then sold at the potting party. And of course club Treasurer Hal Jerman collected money from the tree sales and pot sales that occurred that day.
The list of attendees in alphabetical order were: Idris Anderson, Rita Curbow, Bill and Annette Daniels, Christoph Dressel, Charlene Fischer, Michael Greenstein, Tom Grossi, Maryann and Bob Hinden, Hal Jerman, Suresh “Mo” Mohan, David Moreno, Richard Murray, Ajit Narayanan, Mark O’Brien, Lynne O’Dell, Joe Peter, Richard Phillips, Nathan Schager, Barbara Shahinian, Jenn Tan, Christine Weigen, Ren You and Jiecheng “JC" Zhang
It was a fun party! Thanks to everyone who participated.
Beginner’s Workshop on Saturday, March 12
The subject of the March 12 workshop will be all about getting your trees ready for the show. The criteria for an “In Development” tree are more lax than for a mature show tree, but we still want to show the public our best work as beginners in the art of bonsai. Bring your tree(s) to this workshop to get individual help in prepping for our show.
- Choose a tree you feel has the most potential to become a show tree someday. This can be a more mature tree that you are rehabilitating, or a nursery stock tree with great fundamentals that is undergoing its first styling.
- Choose a tree that you’ve done work on that you are proud of. This could include a tree that you’ve neatly wired, cleaned up and pruned, and/or repotted. Showing trees with this kind of work on it will help the visiting public understand how various techniques are used to transform a tree into a bonsai.
There will be two sessions: Morning from 9:30AM - 12:30PM and Afternoon from 1:00PM - 4:00PM at the home of Richard and Barbara Phillips. Rita Curbow will be there to assist also. To sign up, or for more details, contact Richard Phillips
Recap of Our February Zoom Meeting
Marsha Mekisich did a wonderful presentation on how to prepare our trees to look their best for our upcoming annual show. From “How to choose a tree” to “clean the bottom of your pot” she left no stone unturned.
Here are some of Marsha’s most important guidelines:
Wiring
Remove any structural wire that is no longer needed. Where wire is left on the tree, make sure it is neat and consistently applied. By all means, it shouldn’t be cutting into the bark. Also remove any loose wire (aka, caged wire).
Clean Up any Cut Paste
Be sure cut paste is applied neatly and not a glob - make sure it is fresh by reapplying only a light covering on the desired area.
Clean your Pots
Clean the pot with a soft cloth. Include the bottom of the pot because debris can be seen when viewing the tree from a distance. Use a tooth brush versus a wire brush or anything abrasive. Richard Phillips recommended using a rag soaked in a 1% vinegar mixture to remove calcium deposits on the pot. Be careful though, as vinegar can kill your tree.
You may apply a light coat of walnut or olive oil to the pot to make it look darker and shiny. Use only small amounts - a little goes a long way. Wipe any excess oil away.
Top Dressing the Soil
Use good moss if you have it. Place underneath the shade of the tree's canopy, not just around the trunk. Alternatively use a single component dressing of akadama, red lava or black lava. These should be sifted and one-eight of an inch in size. Do not use white pumice as that will stick out like a sore thumb.
If using moss, remove all weeds from the moss and other debris. Look for moss growing in shaded areas on bricks and other hard surfaces in your yard or neighborhood. Remove the dirt on the underside and moisten before applying to the top dressing.
Marsha discussed how collected moss finely blended with New Zealand sphagnum moss could be used as top dressing on a newly repotted tree that would eventually result in moss growing naturally on the soil. Naturally growing moss not only provides beauty but also promotes better surface roots and water capillary action, thus ensuring more consistent moisture throughout the pot. Before blending you would finely grind both types of moss with a sifter.
As we’re talking about moss, remember you always want to keep moss off the trunk of your tree. It will cause the bark to separate from the trunk.
The Display Itself
While your tree will obviously determine what type of space you will need, you decide if you want to include a scroll, an accent plant or a figurine as an accent to the tree. Your tree also determines what type of stand you should use and even the color. Remember that stands for any accent plant or material should complement the stand for the tree. They should not have the same characteristics such as both are round, rectangular, are a root stand, etc. The overall color of your accent should also complement the tree. The color of the pot used in an accent should NOT be the same color as the bonsai pot for the main tree.
The orientation of the tree, i.e., which direction is it leaning, is the most crucial consideration in your display. The tree should orient toward the accent plant / figurine and vice versa. So, if the main tree leans right to left, the accent plant should visually flow from left to right.
For multiple displays set up across multiple tables, each display on the outer tables should be oriented inward toward the other displays. This draws the viewers eye further down the path or row of tables or signifies the end of the path. The person in charge of show room setup will be taking this into consideration when selecting a table for your tree.
A tree or accent plant should always have a stand placed under it, if it would be sitting directly on the table otherwise. The stand is there to complement the tree or accent versus outshine it. Without a stand, the tree or accent would look “naked”.
Stands
If a stand has a margin, the bonsai pot must fit inside the margin. You can push it further back on the stand if is too wide for the stand. Trees are styled to be seen at eye level. Be aware of table height as well as stand height for large trees. A tall bonsai should always be placed on a low flat stand.
Darker stands tend to look older and blend better with bonsai and don’t distract from the tree.
The stand should always look strong enough to support the tree. So use a heavy looking stand for a strong/heavy tree. Use a more feminine daintier stand with a feminine tree such as a flowering bonsai.
Cascade Stands
Use a cascade stand for a semi or full cascade bonsai only (shohin allowed to break this rule). The cascade stand can be displayed on top of another flat stand but not required. The flat stand could have an accent plant on it or be used just to show case the shohin cascade stand.
The height of the cascade tree also determines the desired height of the stand. The stand used should position the tree such that there is 50% of height added to the height of the cascaded tree from its apex to the location of the tip of its lowest branch. So visually the tree occupies two-thirds of the overall height of the display as the stand alone occupies the lower one-third.
Placement of Accents
The accent plant or figurine should not be placed on the same axis as the main tree. It should be further forward on the table. Again, the accent is there to complement the tree which is the star of the display. Note that accent plants should look established versus just planted days before the show.
Shohin Considerations
Shohin are shown in groups in special stands. Each tree on the stand should be of a different species and each pot should be of a different style or color.
A stand can be used to elevate the height of the tree within the shohin display where needed to fill an area with too much negative space otherwise. A tree on the shelf of a shohin display may or may not have a stand underneath it. It is not required.
Put the strongest tree on the very top of the shohin stand.
Orientation guidelines still apply in the overall shohin display but orientation is considered across multiple shelves when placing trees below the strongest tree on the top of the shohin stand. So if a shohin stand has two rows of shelving, the tree on the upper right and the tree on the lower left would be oriented toward each other; while the tree on the upper left and the tree on the lower right would be oriented toward each other. In other words, their orientation could be imagined as forming a large X in the display.
Scrolls
Some thirty or so scrolls donated by Sandy Planting will be made available for members to use at our show. When selecting a scroll, seasonality should be considered. Our 2022 show is a spring show. If the scroll has a tree, it should be of a different species than the tree in the display.
Again, I know everyone will agree that Marsha Mekisich did an awesome job. Thank you Marsha!
A show tree checklist created by Charlene Fischer in 2021 can be found at Show Tree Checklist.