Bonsai Society of Dallas

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1 Bonsai Society of Dallas Monthly newsletter November 2009 Message from the President IN THIS ISSUE: Message from the President Andy Smith Mini-Convention November Bonsai Tips Link of the Month Bristlecones & More Calendar of Events Joshua Roth New Talent Competition BSD BOARD OF DIRECTORS Chuck Talley, President, Program Chair Ravi Sharma, Vice President, Program Chair Diane Lowe, Treasurer James Bonney, Secretary Jerry Riley, Member Relations John Miller, President Emeritus Sylvia Smith, President Emeritus Has your address changed? Comments? the editor at Would you like to get this newsletter via ? Become a member. Thank you to everyone who helped by planning, executing, donating, and participating in the October club auction. Thirty members and nine guests attended and twelve people donated material. Special thank you to Howard for the smooth auctioneering, to North Haven Gardens for letting us use the air conditioned room, and to Diane Lowe and Sylvia Smith for their behind the scenes planning and wrap-up. Both buyers and sellers were pleased with the quality of the material and values. We collected a total of $5,317 of which the club s share was $1,833. We will use that money for our 2010 operating expenses, to bring in guest artists, and to pre-pay hosting expenses for the 2012 state convention in Dallas. I m pleased to share with you that the Board has been working on ways to attract new members and also continue our own efforts to learn and share more about the art of Bonsai. To that end, we will be offering six Bonsai 101 sessions next year, held at the end of our regularly scheduled meetings. These will provide a very high level view of Bonsai, with the following sessions identified: Bonsai as a Hobby, Building your Collection, Care of Bonsai (part 1&2), and the Art of Bonsai (part 1&2). We are hoping to have two leaders for each of these sessions so if you would like to volunteer to co-lead a session please let me know. These sessions will be open to the public as well as to our membership at no charge. More details will be forthcoming, but we look to have our first session after the February meeting. Additionally, if you have any other ideas of how to attract new members to our organization please share those with me. We are ready for a weekend with Andy Smith from Golden Arrow Bonsai so be sure to join us at our meeting on November 7th. See page 2 for info on his visit. Also as you are well aware, it has been a rather wet fall so far, but hopefully your bonsai are draining well and responding to these damp conditions. John reminds us how to cope and prepare for colder days ahead in his November Bonsai article. Enjoy all the good details inside the newsletter and hope to see you on November 7 th. Chuck Club auction pre-registration; the trees roll in literally! Photo J. Bonney BSD Auction 09

2 BSD NEWSLETTER PAGE 2 Andy Smith Mini-Convention November Program, Nov. 6 & 7 th Part 1: Friday, November 6 th, 7PM Styling Demonstration The Fort Worth Bonsai Society invites the Bonsai Society of Dallas over to Arlington to see a styling demonstration on a Ponderosa Pine by Andy Smith, owner of Golden Arrow Bonsai ( in Deadwood, South Dakota. The pine was collected by Andy in October, 2008, from an elevation of 5,800 ft. and is estimated at 125 years of age. It has arrived in the DFW area safely and is in a handmade eggshell pot. There are sure to be collecting stories told by Andy. A short interview Andy gave to the Art of Bonsai is featured this month in the Link of the Month section. The meeting will take place at Mark Bynum s house (see address and map links below). Mark invites everyone over for beverages or cocktails beginning at 6 PM. Program to begin at 7 PM. The FWBS will provide the carbonated beverages, ice, cups and plates, coffee, etc. Mark will provide the harder drinks and beer; however, beer donations will be greatly appreciated! As this is dinner time, finger foods, such as small sandwiches, hot wings, small pizzas, chips and dip, desserts, etc. are asked for from each member attending from both clubs. Please bring enough for yourself plus one and there will be plenty for everyone throughout the evening. Of course, a microwave and oven are available. We expect people so be prepared for a good time! November 6 th, 7PM Conifer styling demonstration with Andy Smith Ft. Worth, Tx. (see more info in this newsletter) November 7 th, 9AM Noon Collecting Conifers with Andy Smith North Haven Gardens (see more info in this newsletter) November 7 th, 1PM 5PM Bring-Your-Own Tree & Tools workshop with Andy Smith North Haven Gardens (workshop currently full) December 5 th, 9AM Noon Repotting and Pot Selection with Sylvia Smith North Haven Gardens Link of the Month This month we take a quick look into the life of Andy Smith of Golden Arrow Bonsai, who will be coming to the Metroplex this month to give a demonstration, lecture and workshop. He sounds absolutely fascinating! Note: The demo tree will be raffled off. $5 raffle tickets available Friday night and Saturday morning to members of both clubs. Drawing to be held at the end of the lecture in Dallas. wtopic.php?t=356

3 BSD NEWSLETTER PAGE 3 Part 2: Saturday, Nov. 7 th, 9AM 11:45AM Lecture & Presentation The Dallas Club invites the Fort Worth Club over to North Haven Gardens to attend a slide show/lecture entitled The Natural Roots of Bonsai describing Andy s experiences collecting conifers in north central U.S.A. I ve been told this program is not one to miss! Members are invited to take Andy to lunch immediately following the lecture. Part 3: Saturday, Nov. 7 th, 1PM 5PM Joint Workshop This conifer-only workshop is a sellout! Silent observers are invited to attend at the regular meeting room in North Haven Gardens. Participants BYOTT (bring your own tree & tools). Directions Directions to North Haven Gardens: Directions to Mark s house: 2708 Chinquapin Oak Lane, Arlington, TX Cell: (817) Google Maps link to Mark s: +Lane,+Arlington,+TX &oe=utf- 8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox- a&um=1&ie=utf- 8&hq=&hnear=2708+Chinquapin+Oak+Ln,+Arlington, +TX+76012&gl=us&ei=-zbnSr6zCqOntgeV- P34Bg&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1 &ved=0ca0q8gewaa (If the link does not open correctly for you, copy and paste the entire link into your preferred browser or look up Mark s street address on your favorite map site.) Be sure to consult a map as the streets do wind a bit in this neighborhood. A FWBS sign will be posted on the curb. Parking is available in the driveway and the next door neighbor's driveway. Street parking is fine. Please be smart and courteous. Call Mark s cell if you should get lost. November Bonsai Tips and advice by John Miller November is the month to put your trees into winter storage. But what kind of storage? That answer depends on several things. And always remember that any rule may have to be broken because of work or other circumstances. First, analyze your collection. What is the amount of cold each can take? Remember that the tree roots are generally less hardy that the tops. Some species that are hardy in your landscape will not be hardy in pots. Most of our efforts will be to make sure that the roots survive. Most bonsai pots are impervious to water and therefore will not break from freezing if the soil is well draining. To determine which kind of protection your trees need, you must know what the minimum temperature extreme will be in your locale. My minimum temp will be about 10 degrees F. I do not want to expose even the pine roots to that. My rule of thumb is that all trees (except tropicals) get at least freezing on top of the benches. Southern natives like crape myrtle will need protection BSD Auction 09 Some of the lovely trees that were up for auction. Photo J. Bonney when below 25 F. Most deciduous (elms, maples) can get down to 20 F. I would let the pines and junipers get to 15 F. My situation is such that they can stay on the benches until time to go down. Then they get put on the ground below the benches deciduous and evergreen being separated. At some point I cover them with old

4 BSD NEWSLETTER PAGE 4 bedding (the result of 50+ years of marriage). Since the deciduous trees do not need sun, I do not uncover them until spring. That keeps them at a cooler temp on the warmer days of winter. Since the ground stays at a warmer and more even temperature, you can set your pots on the ground (a clean gravel bed is best) and cover the pots with a loose mulch. That was what I did for several years. An unheated garage may be pressed into service for winter quarters. Its major drawback is that the air will be very dry and could cause dieback or worse. Buyers preview the trees before bidding starts. Photo J. Bonney Whichever method you use, you must remember that the plants will need to be checked for water throughout the winter. I believe that more bonsai are lost in winter due to dryness than due to cold. If the rootball is frozen the tree cannot replenish the water lost from the wind and the hot rays of the winter sun. Winter parasites can be a whole other ballgame. Since the trees tend to be undisturbed for a good time rodents can be a problem. They can cut branches and strip bark quickly. I now keep outdoor bait stations out. A dormant spray either oil or lime sulphur should be applied when the trees go dormant to kill overwintering insects, especially mites and scale. Tropicals of course need to be kept warm. How warm seems to be a good source for an argument. I let my small greenhouse go to 40 degrees and the buttonwood doesn t seem to object. The Fukien tea doesn t want the air stream from the heater blowing on it. A larger problem is to keep it from getting too hot. Ventilation is a must and possibly a piece of shade cloth that can be tied over it sometimes. Keeping them in the house has its set of problems too. The air is usually very dry and bugs love the warmth. BSD Auction 09 The bigger problem is what to do with things like the pomegranate and crape myrtle. They should be sent into dormancy but keeping them dormant until the last freeze in the spring is hard. If they break you will have to work with them. My solution is to pull them into the garage on days below 32 or if the sun is hot and out most other days. You will have to use your imagination to come up with a solution that will work for you and still let you enjoy your bonsai. I think the deciduous trees are their best looking in the winter time when you can see their branching and twiginess. Putting you trees down for the winter does not mean you have no work to do. Winter is the proper time to do wiring. You can see everything and do corrective pruning and restyling if necessary. Just remember your trees are living things and they have been growing all summer and may not be as good as they were last spring. Fall is an ideal time to work on the evergreens since they are not actively growing. BSD Auction 09 Be sure to check local nurseries. They usually have good deals on things when they are getting cleaned up for Xmas or winter. You need to look at the base and ignore the sometimes not so good top. Your future bonsai is down there. Go on any digs possible, your old bonsai is out there waiting for you. Buyers preview the trees before bidding starts. Photo J. Bonney

5 BSD NEWSLETTER PAGE 5 Bristlecones & More by Dave Schleser At the beginning of September, with the days gradually shortening, Garrett (my anomalous friend) and I decided to take an auto trip out west to see a few of the sights. It ended up being a 3,900 mile journey that included the Petrified Forest, Grand Canyon's North Rim, Bryce Canyon, Zion, and Great Basin National Parks, plus Cedar Breaks National Monument. Because both of us love the driftwood style of bonsai we decided to plan the trip around visiting three groves of Great Basin bristlecone pines, (Pinus longaeva) those at Cedar Breaks National Monument, Bryce Canyon National Park, and Great Basin National Park. At all three locations these trees appear to be doing well, with good reproduction. These amazing trees can reach ages of over 4,500 years and generally grow on scattered mountaintops in Utah, Nevada and eastern California. Their wood is so hard and resinous that studies have proved it can last over 1,000 years after a tree has partially or completely died. The largest specimens are found in scattered groves just below the tree line where living conditions are unbelievably harsh. At the altitudes where they are found the growing season is very short and they grow exceedingly slowly. For trees this old they are not very tall. Most are less than 35 feet, but can be close to 10 feet in diameter. It should be mentioned that the Great Basin bristlecone pines are now considered a different species from those growing in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado (Pinus aristata). The first bristlecone pines we came upon were scattered trees growing near the rim of the absolutely spectacular Bryce Canyon National Park in south-central Utah. The elevation of approximately 9,000 feet is near the lower limit of their range and the trees are smaller and less long lived than at higher altitudes. Still it was great to see them growing in such an awesome setting. If you have never seen Bryce Canyon you are really missing something as it is a mind-bending experience! After leaving Bryce Canyon and making quick stops at the Coral Pink Sand Dunes and Zion National Park, we headed west on state highway 14 across the Markagunt Plateau. At the road s summit (10,200 ft.) is the turn off to the rather infrequently visited Cedar Breaks National Monument. Although this park is best known for its 2,000 foot deep, two mile wide, eroded coral-pink natural amphitheater, it is home to some of the most magnificent and huge bristlecone pines in existence. One is thought to be over 4,000 years old. From the small visitors center a one mile trail leads you along the rim of this canyon to this ancient grove. It is really amazing to be in the presence of these ancient survivors. The short growing season combined with the extremely harsh weather frequently kills large portions of these trees, but healthy, living lifelines still nourish thriving branches. One particularly amazing tree has a hole completely through the trunk caused by a combination of fire and erosion. From here we made a rocket-run across the bleak landscape of western Utah to Baker, Nevada, a town of approximately 60 people, near the entrance of Great Basin National Park. This is one of the newer parks in our national park system, and being off the beaten path has very few visitors a shame considering its beauty. Its two major attractions are the impressively beautiful Lehman Cave and the large number of bristlecone pines. To get to these trees you drive a well maintained twolane road past ancient groves of mountain mahogany (Cercocarpus ledifolius) to the trail head at 9,800 feet and then take a short 1-1/4 mile hike through a forest of limber pines and Douglas fir to the grove at 10,300 foot elevation. These trees are not as massive as those at Cedar Breaks but there are hundreds of them! They are growing on a rather steep, rocky mountainside and within talus slopes. Sharing this habitat are many sprawling common juniper (Juniper communis). In nearby Ely, NA lives James (Bill) Tingle, an exmember of the BSD and a good friend. He was kind enough to obtain for us permits from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Forest Service to dig up to ten trees (not bristlecones!!) in the forests around Ely, Nevada, for bonsai training. Needless to say we collected our limit. Clambering up mountains and through desert flats we dug single-needle pinon pines, Utah juniper, cliff rose, shadscale, and two species of sage. Many of these trees had to be bare-rooted in order to extract them from rock crevices (pickax and mattock work) so the day after arriving back in Dallas we built a mist house at my place to help these trees, survive. Now the waiting game begins. Having a mist house should also help with the survival of any Ashe junipers we get in this winter s club dig (you can see where our minds are at...) For anyone who loves trees in general and bonsai in particular, a trip to see the bristlecone pines should be a must. They are living inspirations. Maybe next year Garrett and I will visit arguably the most famous of the bristlecone pines growing in the White Mountains of California.

6 BSD NEWSLETTER PAGE 6 Photos (all photos copyright D. Schleser unless noted) 1. The magnificent panorama of Bryce Canyon National Park. 2. Small, struggling bristlecone pines at Bryce. Note literati specimen in foreground. Photo G. Larson. 3. The ancient bristlecone grove at Cedar Breaks is located below the arrow. A rim trail leads to it.

7 BSD NEWSLETTER PAGE 7 4. A few of the younger Cedar Breaks trees. 5. Garrett and me in one of the Great Ones. Probably shouldn t have climbed into it but it called to us 6. One of the Ancient Ones. Photo G. Larson.

8 BSD NEWSLETTER PAGE 8 7. Fire and erosion due to weather has eaten a hole completely through this tree. Yet it survives. 8. This is the ancient specimen below the arrow in photo #3. 9. Garrett and one of the gnarled mountain mahoganies at Great Basin National Park.

9 BSD NEWSLETTER PAGE Part of the Great Basin grove at 10, 300 ft. 11. Garrett ready to collect on mountainside in background. 12. Me and a great cliff rose. Unfortunately, after working on it for close to an hour we decided its roots were too poor and we left it in place the breaks of the game.

10 BSD NEWSLETTER PAGE 10 Joshua Roth New Talent Bonsai Competition Supported by ABS at MABS The New Talent Bonsai Competition that was featured for the first time at the 2002 American Bonsai Society Symposium in Milwaukee has become an annual event. The Joshua Roth Company of Albany, Oregon now sponsors the Competition. The 2010 Competition will take place at the MidAtlantic Bonsai Societies 2010 Spring Festival, which will be held at the Hudson Valley Resort and Spa, Kerhonkson, New York on April 16, The competition is aimed at discovering and promoting new talent in the art of bonsai and is the first of its kind to be held in North America. The concept of the Competition is very simple. Phase one judging of previous work is used to select the contestants for the second phase. In the second phase, each participant will be given eight hours to create the very best bonsai they can produce from specially selected material. After the entrants have completed their work, four of the Festival headliners will judge the bonsai that have been created. All full registrants at the Festival will also have the opportunity to vote for their choice. The winner will be announced Saturday night at the banquet. The Grand Prize for the Joshua Roth New Talent Bonsai Competition is an exclusive course of study with an approved bonsai teacher and hotel accommodations if the teacher is not in the winner s home town. The winning artist will also be profiled in the Journal of the American Bonsai Society under the title Best New Bonsai Talent of We are very excited about this competition, and hope that it is exciting to you as well. We look forward to seeing the work of your club members in the competition. Information and registration forms are posted on the ABS web site at If you have any questions please contact Harold Johnson directly: Harold Johnson Competition Coordinator Joshua Roth New Talent Bonsai Competition haroldjrntbc@yahoo.com

11 BSD NEWSLETTER PAGE 11 Pegasus Pottery By Sandi McFarland Specializing in carved stoneware Cups, plates, bowls, etc. And now creating small bonsai pots! Let me make something special for you! 1405 Limetree Ln. Irving, TX % Discount to BSD Members! Howard and Sylvia Smith Cultivators of fine trees Collection maintenance Tel# (972) Private instruction Fax# (972) Classes, lectures & demos Generous Businesses Give Discounts to BSD Members Present your BSD membership card at the following participating businesses for a 10% discount on merchandise: The Bonsai Smiths Ray Hernandez s Bent Tree Bonsai Pegasus Pottery Sanderson Creek Bonsai We are so grateful to these businesses for their generosity to BSD members! If you have a business and would like to offer a discount to club members, please contact James Bonney at amy.james@gte.net.