FOG CITY BONSAI November 2015 Fog City Bonsai Newsletter of the Bonsai Society of San Francisco San Francisco County Fair Building, Lincoln Avenue Between 9th & 10th Digging Into Some Fall Work Fall can be one of the busiest times in bonsai, with many trees needing cleanup and work to look their best. While repotting during winter will take just as much time, it is not as much a part of the creative process as fall wiring and styling. March 2014, a year after being dug out of the ground I cut back and wired the tree. The initial styling of a tree is often one of the most exciting styling sessions; but it is the repeated styling and cleanup that really bring a tree from rough shape into a fully focused tree. If you have ever seen a multi-year progression of photos showing the same tree getting better and better you can begin to understand how the repeating of cleanup and wiring can lead to incredible results. Taking the time to fully wire a tree may seem like a chore, but the return on investment will be immense; you will take a tree from rough and uninteresting to flowing and persuasive. This fall I will be cleaning up all my conifers and doing a lot of wiring and cutback. For the younger and rougher trees each session will take only a little while because each tree only has a few branches needing attention. As the trees mature, the number of branches increases and the difficulty of working in between them increases as well; the more refined your tree the more time you need for styling and cleanup. Here is a progression across a couple years of one of my Monterey Cypress. October 2014, after letting the tree grow again I cut back heavily to reduce the crown size and force budding in closer.
Digging Continued... October 2015, almost finished! September 2015, the tree has finally responded to all the cutback with a more compact set of branches that are ready to wire. October 2015, reduced in size significantly in the last two years and now with better branch taper and a crown approaching completion, this fast growing tree may be ready for show in another year. I would encourage you all to seriously consider taking a day-long workshop in November or December. The club is offering two sessions with Matt Reel to fill the need for fall work, donœt miss this critical time of the year. October 2015, lower branches wired. Eric Schrader Page 2
2016 Program Preview Catherine Wolf 2016 will be an exciting year of new ideas in bonsai programs for BSSF. I want to offer you a preview of what is to come so you can join in my excitement and prepare to take full advantage of the benefits. In January, Eric Schrader will kick-off our new Bonsai Practicum on Junipers. A practicum is a graduate level course, often in a specialized field of study, that is designed to give students supervised practical application of a previously or concurrently studied theory. The Bonsai Practicum will give students supervised practice with the techniques required for long-term development of bonsai in a group setting so people can benefit from seeing how others are doing with the same material. At the beginning of the Practicum each student will purchase 1 2 Kishu Junipers (Juniperus chinensis) from the 25 that BSSF has procured from Telperion Farms in Oregon. The Practicum will consist of four meetings and five workshops between January 2016 and January 2018, all led by our own Eric Schrader, to cover the right techniques at the right time to develop these 25 trees. The Practicum is a commitment that stretches across two years, and students should be serious about completing the full program. See article by Eric in the Sep/Oct newsletter by Eric to learn more. year. Both Peter and Matt are phenomenal talents, and if you have worked with them both, you know they each have different approaches to working with bonsai enthusiasts and their trees. Members can chose to work with Peter, Matt or both, but it is recommended you work with only one person on a given tree. Space in these full-day workshops is limited to 6 persons each, so be prepared to signup when registration opens at the member meeting two months prior to each workshop. Member meetings in 2016 will present information on a variety of topics by many different exciting experts. Look for a program on Asian bonsai pots by Michael Ryan Bell in May. A partnership between BSSF and GSBF is brining Ryan to the Bay Area for this program from his home in Mississippi. Other topics during the year will include grafting, layering, bending and carving. Kora Dahlager who presented on the topic of kusamono and companion plants in January of 2015 will hold a full-day workshop on the topic in June. Two series of Bonsai Basics Classes are on the calendar. Planning is still in progress, but you can expect BSSF to also scatter a few guided tours to nurseries, collections and shows during the year. Are you excited?!?! I know I am. So, get ready for 2016. In 2016 we will also begin our Master Series of workshops. BSSF has made arrangements with two masters, Peter Tea and Matt Reel, to be our ongoing guides for work with our trees. In 2016 each master will conduct three full-day workshops for BSSF members. These workshops are timed to coincide with critical months for development of material in San Francisco. The Master Series affords members the opportunity to get consistent direction in styling and techniques for their trees year after Page 3
Ryan Nichols Principles versus Practice Catherine Wolf Ryan Nichols, our guest for October, gave us a way to think about bonsai techniques that helps clear confusion. Principles, he said, are unchanging. They apply universally. Practice, on the other hand, must be ever-changing to achieve or apply principles. Think about fertilizer. It is a principle that trees need fertilizing for optimum health. However, bonsai practitioners will debate all day long about which fertilizer when. This is practice. And Ryan emphasized that we can make sense of the conflicting advice given in bonsai by first trying to understand the principles underlying our actions and then think about the appropriate practice. One principle that Ryan described was the vascular cambium layer and its production of xylem and phloem cells. Your tree is using its phloem cells to move the sugar and energy created by photosynthesis around the tree to where it is needed. Energy is needed by all parts of the tree, including the roots. Your tree uses xylem cells to move water and nutrients around the tree. The cambium layerœs production of these cells is responsible for all growth of a tree, both upwards and outwards. When we graft a scion onto the trunk of another tree, we are causing their cambium layers to come in contact with each other and fuse so that the scion Otakeso and begins growing. The discussion of water was very interesting to me. Ryan described the properties of water in the tree and soil. Water both adheres to things and is attracted to itself. The property of adhesion causes water molecules to attach to something other than itself, for example to a dry bit of soil or to a part of the tree that is less wet. Then the property of attraction causes more water molecules to follow the first; thus moving the water throughout the soil or throughout the tree. This is how water that enters through the roots can move up a tree to its leaves, and if you have ever watched drooping leaves recover from a bit of water you know it can move pretty quickly. Water and nutrients can enter the tree through its foliage as well as the roots. A member asked about the benefits of foliar feeding and cited material that says it is a myth. Ryan believes in foliar feeding, and practices it with his own trees. In fact, he described a tree in his own collection that suffered from spider mites. One branch in particular seemed resistant to treatment, and that branch suffered more than the rest. Once Ryan was able to rid his tree of the mites, he applied foliar feeding to the one branch that was most affected to help this branch recover and catch-up to the rest of the tree. I am pretty sure we must bring Ryan back again to discuss the principles behind foliar feeding in more detail before the skeptics will be won over. Page 4
Practice Continued... I think it is a fair reflection of the evening when I say that Ryanœs lecture intended to give us a better and more scientific understanding of bonsai principles. He would be hard pressed to give us satisfactory answers to many questions of practice, especially here in San Francisco which we all recognize is an ecosystem unto itself. But the merits of understanding bonsai principles cannot be denied. Many myths persist in the advice we get about bonsai care, even about the basic principles. Science can clear this confusion making us all more successful with our trees. Ryan has just recently moved his Back To The Roots Nursery from Southern California to the Bay Area. In addition to maintaining the nursery, he travels throughout California giving seminars on horticultural aspects of the art of bonsai; doing tree-styling demonstrations, and teaching species-specific classes for bonsai cultivation. You can expect to see more from Ryan in the BSSF program calendar in the months to come and maybe even a trip to his nursery and collection. Photograph Courtesy Eric Schrader Page 5
BSSF Meetings and Workshops Nov 12, 2015 Thomas Arakawa, Potters, Pots and Bonsai. BSSF members will be the experts in November for our guest, Thomas Arakawa. Members are encouraged to bring bonsai pots they love and hate to this meeting to discuss with Thomas and the group. Thomas has been a functional potter since 2009, but has only recently started to work on bonsai pots. He is very anxious to hear what you like and need for pots. See the other article in this newsletter to learn more about Thomas and the two programs in November that include him. Nov 21, 2015 Half-Day Workshops with Thomas Arakawa - Make Your Own Pots. Fill in those hard to find gaps in your pot collection by making them yourself. Thomas returns with all of the materials and instruction you need to create three free-form pots and will fire and return the pots to you after the workshop. Two times are offered; 1PM to 4PM and 5PM to 8PM at the County Fair Building in the Recreation Room. The half-day workshop fee is $80 per person. You are welcome to register for both workshops. Register by sending an email to catherine.wolf(atsign) wolfwerk.com or call/text her at (415)299-7061. Dec 10, 2015 Holiday Party for members and family. Our December member meeting is always a party. Members, family and friends are invited to enjoy a pot luck dinner. A silent auction will be held to raise money for the Curator Fund at the Bonsai Garden at Lake Merritt. Meeting is half-an hour earlier than usual at 7PM in the Recreation Room at the SF County Fair building. Page 6
Deadwood in Utah* Photos by Christina & Scott Piatanesi * Normally this page is dedicated to Northern California Bonsai Events, but there are not any scheduled on the Golden State Bonsai Federation Website. Fog City Bonsai Newsletter Deadline The deadline for the Fog City Bonsai Newsletter is the 3rd Saturday of the month. You can submit articles, photos to: spiatanesi@yahoo.com. Page 7
BSSF Announcements 2015 Board Members and Officers President: Vice President: Treasurer: Secretary: Webmaster: Newsletter Editor: Librarian: Eric Schrader 415.823.7984 eric@phutu.com Catherine Wolf Marge Casey Diana Lum Eric Schrader Scott Piatanesi Bernard Marque Board Members at Large: Dan Casey, Cheryle Kawamoto, Harlan Kawamoto, Robert Smith, Thom de Cant, John Dale, Brian Schindler. Past President: Robert Smith. BSSF General meetings are on the 2nd Thursday of the month at 7:30PM. The memberœworkshop is the following Thursday ( 3rd Thursday of the mont at 7:00PM. BSSF Board Meetings are held on the 4th Mondayat 7:00PM. All of the meetings occur at the San Francisco County Fair Building, on Lincoln Way, between Ninth Ave and Tenth Ave. Enter through the parking lot at Tenth Ave and Lincoln and walk along sidewalk behind the building to the doorway to the garden club meeting room. Bonsai Garden at Lake Merritt The GSBF collection in Oakland needs volunteers to be docents on every 3rd Saturday afternoin each month. It is a fun and educational opportunity for all bonsai hobbyists. No matter your skill level, you can help care for these wonderful trees and educate the public about the art of bonsai. Please sign up at a meeting, check the docent calendar at http://www.gsbf- bonsai.org/lake-merritt/ NewDocent.htm or call Kay Hardy at (952) 933-9543. Membership Dues 2015 membership fees are $30 for individuals, $50 for families and $20 for seniors. Bonsai Sales at Monthly Meetings Please remember that any time during the year you wish to sell bonsai trees, the BSSF welcomes you to bring the trees to our monthly meetings or workshops. The club will receive 20% of the purchase price. BSSF Bonsai Library The BSSF has on hand a large assortment of books, magazines, and other literature about our favorite hobby. To access the library, arrive early at either the monthly meeting or the monthly workshop and speak to Bernard Marque. Checking out materials requires a $5 deposit per item. Page 8