Club News - October 2022

Update about Workshops

We've had to make a couple of changes to our workshop dates in October and November. The events in our calendar have been updated, but below is a quick summary.

October Beginning Workshop - No change, October 23 as planned

October Intermediate Workshop - New location. See October Intermediate Workshop for details.

November Beginning Workshop - This will move up to November 6

November Intermediate Workshop - This will move up to November 19.

Valerie Monroe – Planning a Great Bonsai

October 21 @ 7:00 pm – 9:30 pm

The process of creating bonsai, requires technique, planning and time. Many of our programs at Kusamura explain technique but we don’t talk as much about planning our work over time.

Last month Jonas Dupuich showed us a tool to evaluate our bonsai and identify areas for improvement. This month Valerie Monroe will show a juniper she’s been working with Peter Tea for over 4-years to perfect and discuss the process they went thru. She will also bring along other junipers that are in a similar development process and discuss how to plan the changes that you will do to your trees.

This program about planning that work will be an important foundation to work we will do over several programs in the next year. We will show progress on both junipers and maples. Plans have to adapt to what the tree is actually doing, but having a plan, and outline of your final goal for a tree, is important if you are trying to create a great bonsai.

Monthly Tasks

Each month there are a number of tasks you need to do to your bonsai – from repotting, to fertilizing to spraying for pests. We have put together a checklist, customized for the San Francisco Bay Area to help you. This checklist is adapted from earlier work by Mitsuo Umehara.

This month: October Tasks

Beginning Workshop - Sunday, Oct 23

There will be two sessions: Morning from 9:30AM - 12:30PM and Afternoon from 1PM - 4PM at the home of Richard and Barbara Phillips. Rita Curbow will also be there to assist. If it’s hot that day, Richard will be setting up umbrellas but bring a hat!

At the September workshop we played hide-and-seek with passing rain and appreciated how Richard’s bonsai could enjoy a drink while we retreated to shelter. We still had lots of fun and learned about ideal characteristics in bonsai that create the image of an old tree with a history, and then explored the stories we tell with our trees. Then we split up into groups to repot young junipers and secure the roots on a distressed hornbeam, and finished off the day cleaning, pruning, and adding deadwood to several large junipers.

To sign up for the workshop, or for more details, contact Richard Phillips.

Attendees are encouraged to check the Timely Work Schedule included in this newsletter to decide what trees can be worked on that day. Even if you don’t have a tree to work on, you can learn by observing others at work or assisting someone with their tree. The best way to learn bonsai is by doing it alongside someone with experience. If in doubt, contact Richard.

Intermediate Workshop - Saturday, Oct 29

12:30pm to 4pm

Please see the Calendar Event for more details.

No Club Soil Making Event This Year

By Lynne O’Dell

Kusamura has enough club soil from last year to supply our upcoming potting parties and the beginning classes. We will NOT be having our usual soil making gathering whereby member workers can purchase soil for their own use. Here are a couple sources we’ve used in the past. Contact these directly as prices and availability has changed. We typically make a mix of 1/3 small hard akadama, 1/3 medium garden pumice or Huga (Japanese Pumice) and 1/3 red lava.

Maruyama Nursery has hard small akadama (but not as hard a Bonsai Tonight Shop), small red lava and Huga - a Japanese pumice with a better color than the white garden pumice. They have amazing trees for sale and are very friendly. A visit is worth your time. Tell them you are from Kusamura Bonsai Club. The only downside is that you must drive out to Sacramento to pick up your purchase.

Bonsai Tonight Shop is nearby and where we usually purchase our akadama, and white garden pumice. Check online first but it is best to email or call him direct rather than ordering from the website. His website may say not available, but you can put your name on a list when the shipment comes in.

Mountain View Garden Supply have beautiful mixed colored lava but to get the smaller size, we had to sift out the larger sizes to get what we wanted. When you arrive at the office, pick up a bag and shovel and then drive to the bin and spend time sifting the fines and larger particles out. Bring your bag to the office and pay per bag. Very economical but labor intensive.

Maruyama Nursery
Yuzo Maruyama
1423 47th Ave., Sacramento
Phone: (916) 421-6888
Hours: 8:30-12:30

Bonsai Tonight Shop
Jonas Dupuich in Alameda
Jonas@bonsaitonight.com
Phone: (510) 915-2025

Mountain View Garden Supply
50 Centre St., Mountain View
Hours: Sun 8-3, Mon-Sat 7-5

Show Chairs for 2023

by Charlene Fischer

I am happy to announce that Idris Anderson and Marsha Mekisich have agreed to be our show co-chairs for 2023. I am very grateful to have such experienced show chairs! They will be establishing leads for the various tasks (plant sales, show setup, children’s corner, dining, speakers, reception, advertising, etc.) that need to be accomplished in order to pull off a successful and fun show. More information will be coming from Idris and Marsha as they need our help. Thank you both for doing this.

Meeting Recap - Jonas Dupuich – “Evaluating Junipers”

by Rita Curbow

Charlene started the meeting with a few announcements, first a reminder of the Beginner Workshop held on Sunday, Sept 18 and the first “second meeting” intermediate workshop scheduled to for Saturday, Sept 24. The next board meeting will be Sept 29.

Jonas started out by answering some questions about the Pacific Bonsai Expo (PBE). There will be seventy trees in the exhibit. Lots of great vendors some who were handpicked from out the area so visitors will have access to other options in person. They are planning a program on Saturday afternoon and two special programs on Sunday, with more details to follow. Jonas said he has been working on this about 20-40 hours a week so he’s been busy. He also shared that competition between the categories and submissions was interesting, and around 40% of the submissions were selected to be displayed. He estimates that about a third of the trees are from bonsai professionals, another third are from devoted or hardcore enthusiasts and the final third are passionate hobbyists. Ryan Neil, Bjorn Bjornholm, and Bill Valavanis acted as jurors to review all the submissions with the direction to select trees that demonstrate excellence and will make for an interesting overall show. Everyone who will be displaying a tree will judge the trees and determine prize winners, and they will ask contestants to start their judging at various spots in the expo to try and overcome skewing results with recency bias.

Prizes will be awarded for best in these 5 categories:

Large Conifer

Large Deciduous

Large Broadleaf Evergreen

Medium Display

Shohin Display

One of the category winners will also be awarded “Best in Show.”

Then we turned to the topic at hand, evaluation of junipers and goals of why to evaluate in the first place, quiz and scoring of trees, What you learn to do to evaluate a tree makes you more informative about what to look for when selecting a potential tree for purchase.

Aspects to look for in quality juniper bonsai include:

Lifeline that you can see. When they grow in a harsh environment they can have both dead and live tissue on the tree. The interplay between live and dead tissue creates interest.

Movement in the tree. Junipers tend to demonstrate crooked wood or crazy wood, especially when found in the wild. We want twisted movement and will work to create that in developing trees.

Junipers can have dense foliage pads which indicate longevity of the tree. The size and shapes of pads indicates health of the tree and provides contrast in the relationship of pads to the trunk. For example, a large number of small pads will make the tree look bigger while a small number of larger pads make the tree look smaller or younger.

The branches on junipers emerge from the trunk higher up than other species. Branches have steep angles coming off the trunk. The trunk is the heart and soul of the tree. The defining character of the tree.

For roots, we want to see a smooth transition from the trunk to the roots. So we don’t want to see exposed roots that are larger than the trunk of the tree. Surface roots aren’t considered in the scoring because desired junipers look like they grew in a small crack in the wild.

Jonas indicates how the live vein swirls up and around a juniper trunk.

The presentation included award-winning examples of junipers that displayed differences in species, styling, and expectations for quality. A fabulous tree Jonas showed us was a needle juniper, which naturally grows in a formal upright style unlike other juniper species but still includes beautiful deadwood and live veins, manicured and highly ramified foliage pads, and powerful nebari. You can read more about this Taikan-ten award winning tree on Jonas’ blog, Bonsai Tonight.

Critiquing or scoring a tree proved to be a harder exercise than most people thought it would be, but we had fun reviewing our results.

You can use these evaluation parameters on your own trees:

The evaluation form includes one category worth 10 points and four categories worth 5 points each – the approach developed by Boon Manakitivipart for Bay Island Bonsai. The categories focus on key aspects of the tree: trunk, branches, surface roots, pot selection and overall aesthetics.

Trunk – the trunk is the most important part of a bonsai. The trunk conveys age and defines the main character of the tree. For collected bonsai, it can tell the story of the tree’s original environment. For all of these reasons, it is worth twice the number of points of the other categories.
Key questions: Is the taper appropriate for the style? Are there unsightly scars? Is the movement compelling?

Branches – the branches and foliage reveal how well developed a tree is and whether or not it is healthy. Most, but not all, flaws in branching can be addressed given adequate time and effort.
Key questions: Are the branches in the right place? Are they too thick or too thin? Can I fix the flaws?

Surface roots – the surface roots, or nebari, ground the tree. This is important for formal styles but less so for bunjin or collected bonsai.
Key questions: Do the roots extend all around the base of the trunk? Do the roots look big or small compared to the trunk? Do the roots look natural?

Pot selection – this category is more important for judging exhibits than it is when shopping.
Key questions: Is the style of the pot appropriate for the style of the tree? Is it the right size for the tree? Does it show age?

Overall aesthetics – this is a catch-all category that lets you incorporate more of your subjective experience of the tree into your score. The score in this category is often in line with the above scores. Key questions: Is this tree a good representation of the species? Would it look good in my backyard?

The above categories are a good starting point for thinking about the relative merits of different bonsai. It takes a lot of practice and good feedback to produce consistent results. Keep at it!

Criteria	Tree #1	Tree #2	Tree #3	Tree #4
Trunk (1-10)
Branches (1-5)
Surface Roots (1-5)
Pot Selection (1-5)
Overall Aesthetics (1-5)
Total

Prepared by Jonas Dupuich. Learn more at bonsaitonight.com

Intermediate Workshop Recap – Junipers with Michael Greenstein

by Charlene Fischer

Our first intermediate workshop was held on Sept 24 with twenty members attending. Thank you to Michael Greenstein who provided a variety of mature juniper bonsai for everyone to see variety and hidden flaws and challenges.

Michael introduced junipers with different development goals and stories, and laid out a display of various tools useful in juniper carving, bending and wiring.

Michael was assisted by Rita, Charlene, Lynne, Dave and Hal. Attendees included a full spectrum of members from those who recently joined to those who’ve been with us for a several years including David, Austin and Lucas Knick, Richard Murray, Henk and Susan Harkema, Ajit Narayanan, Idris Andersen, Jenn Tan, Katherine Glassey, Alan and Linda Merrifield, Mitu Bhargava, and Galina Ilchenco.

Michael discusses juniper owned by David and Austin

It turned out to be a hot Saturday and we are fortunate to be able to move our tables as we chased the shade. Members focused on adding twists to trunks, heavy bending, and adding jin and shari to their designs.

Our next workshop will be in October and be led by Michael Greenstein again. In November we will have a workshop focused on Maples. This one will be led by Gordon Deeg. So, look for those maples, either Japanese or Trident, in your collections that need work.

Ajit, Jenn and Lynne get to work after receiving feedback from Michael on their trees

Michael appreciates the trunk taper and healthy foliage on Charlene's juniper

Photos by Linda Merrifield.

Bjorn Bjorholm and the Juniper Care Calendar

On Sept 19 the Golden State Bonsai Federation (GSBF) hosted a zoom presentation with renowned bonsai artist Bjorn Bjorholm on the annual cycle of care and development for Junipers.

The original video will be available as course content on the Bonsai-U learning platform. The full calendar and updated care articles are coming soon to the Kusamura archives, but if you missed the broadcast here are some notes:

Juniper Physiology

Juniperus” is the genus, part of the cypress family.

There are over 50 species, naturally occurring in both old world and new world.
They are considered gymnosperms, producing cones instead of flowers.
Foliage follows alternating leaf pattern, but branches also sometimes emerge in opposite or whirling pattern.

2 growth general types, elongating or upright.

e.g. Juniperus chinensis elongating version is Itoigawa, but has tightest foliage, while Kishu juniper tends to “ball up” more.

Needle-type foliage, e.g. procumbens nana (“Sonare” in Japanese), rigida/communis

Old Japanese prints are referring to "rigida" species, but the characteristics match for "communis"

"Communis" is found in the ENTIRE Northern Hemisphere, on all continents!

In a colder climate foliage will turn purple-brown during coldest season. This change might not be seen in warmer climates.

Species highlights:

Juniperus chinensis (aka Shimpaku) or Rocky Mountain Junipers
- Can easily handle 30-40% root reduction during Spring repotting
- Remove all elongating tips across the tree in Summer
- Cut back to the next side/lateral shoot to fill in - allow those to elongate throughout the year
- Prune 1-2 more times, potentially 3-4 flushes of growth in a growing season

Itoigawa (variety of Juniperus chinensis)
- Often used in approach grafts to change out foliage
  - During summer, carve out a channel in the trunk and insert the whip into the groove and secure it
  - Typically takes a year to fuse cambium layers
- Pruning more than 40% of foliage causes reversion to juvenile growth (needle foliage), but with revert back to scale foliage in 3-4 years
- If reverted, leave growth alone. It will add a longer internode but but this is fine

This Itoigawa is pruned is too far, the remaining branchlets are too weak to fill in

Procumbens Junipers
- Different than itoigawa or kishu
- Can handle more aggressive pruning
- Able to pinch the tip ends with your fingers! (but recommended to cleanly cut instead.)

Sabina Junipers
- From Spain
- OK to bare root using water - only conifer recommended to remove all the soil during first repot
- Strong roots but weak foliage - don’t take back all the growing tips at once
- Just trim the longest tips in early June or after growth has harden off, later on in the season prune back secondary shoots

Needle Junipers
- Make sure they’re fully flushed out (shaggy dog) before first pruning
- Cut anywhere in the shoot where it’s still green, and will it backbud
- Can leave remaining shoots ½ inch long or 1 mm long and it will still bounce back
- Allow secondary flush to harden off before pruning again
- Usually prune 2 times, rarely can prune 3 times

Fall Care Tips

Watering

• Still lots of foliage transpiring, still check 2x daily.
• Back off on foliar watering.
• Make sure the soil is getting soaked in every go; make sure you’re watering the core of the tree.
• Tree will start tapering down its water use as it approaches dormancy

Fertilizing

Last application should be 4 weeks before they go dormant (first average frost date)
- e.g. if frost happens in Nov, last time you foliar feed also in early October

Pruning & Wiring

Last pruning 6-8 weeks before frost date
- e.g. mid-Sept, allows one more flush to harden off before frost
- Juniper foliage shouldn’t die off if not hardened by then, but definitely safer

Ideal time for major styling - once temperatures cool down
- Removing whole branches.
- Branch splitting, raffia, heavy bending

Pests

When temps drop to 45-50 degrees, fungal issues are a problem

Watch for tip blight from Phomopsis
- Remove the affected foliage (pull off or cut)
- Treat with Mancozeb (Bonide)

Cedar apple rust galls - cut them out so they don’t become pustules in spring that spread spores

Continue to treat preventatively with systemic pesticide 1-2x in the season

Grafting

Scion and Veneer Grafting

Wait until the last couple of weeks in winter, and move recipient trees to a protected area to wake them up early. Meanwhile, leave scion material outside until ready to break dormancy

Scions adhere as they wake up because the recipient tree is already active