04 Wednesday Jul 2018
Posted in Bonsai
Have you heard the suggestion to “repot your ficus on the hottest day of the year”? Well, it was cooler today than the last few (only the low 90s F), but it was so brutally hot AND HUMID the last few days, I was not about to work in the garden.
13 Sunday May 2018
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I confess, at times I am skeptical of the oft repeated notion that “bonsai is an art best undertaken with others.” (Credit Gary Reese for its repetition.) I am usually content to work on my trees in the quiet of my garden, and find the hours spent there to be very therapeutic. Then again, my office mates know full well that I love little more than “talking it out.”
21 Saturday Oct 2017
Posted in Bonsai
I love meeting people who are as tree and bonsai obsessed as myself, and today I got to spend a little time with a very new bonsai enthusiast.
Victor came to the October 14 meeting of the NVBS and managed to win some plants in our raffle. These two young Ficus were sharing the same tiny little pot and I was happy to help get them separated and into larger pots where they have room to grow and develop into future bonsai material.
We talked a little about wiring and Victor gave it a go to put some movement and character into what were a couple of long arced stems.
It was a pleasure, sir. Welcome to the club!
03 Sunday Sep 2017
Posted in Bonsai
The fall show for my bonsai club is coming up in a couple of weeks. Our fall show is open to any member who would like to bring trees to show, and it is not judged. It’s just a great opportunity to share bonsai with the public.
I know several of our most experienced members will have trees unavailable for the show because of another exhibition, so I really would like to show at least two bonsai. Looking over my trees though, I felt like there was only one in “showable” condition. Maybe I could get this San Jose Juniper (Juniperus chinensis ‘San Jose’) cleaned up and ready to show.
It’s a bit sloppy at the moment. Let’s see what I can do. First, I need to get the moss off the trunk. I want to get as much moss off the bark as possible without damaging the bark texture, so it’s careful tweezers work.
I’ve had a couple of branches held with guy wires for several months. New wire will go on today, so I am going to remove these first. If they are still needed, I can put them back on later.
Then it’s really all about wiring the branches so I can position them and clean up the shape of the tree. I’d like to do this while removing as little foliage as possible. The tree is doing well, but I don’t want it to lose any strength for this.
I wire the lowest branch first.
And gradually work my way up developing horizontal pads of foliage.
I find wiring and positioning the branches of the apex particularly difficult, but I was happy with the compact form I was able to achieve.
Since my goal is to show this, I also want to moss the surface of the soil. Not all in my club think this is important, but I like the way it looks.
For this Juniper, I went with a pale, bluish lichen and moss mix. I think it looks nice.
Ready for the money shot? First, here’s before…
…and after:
If you’d like to see it in person, come out to the Northern Virginia Bonsai Society (NVBS) fall show at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, September 16-17.
16 Sunday Jul 2017
Posted in Bonsai
Ficus Benjamina. Not always considered outstanding material for bonsai, but it is readily available and will survive indoors, so I suspect it is used as bonsai more than many species — even if by the inexperienced and curious.
Mine is not dissimilar as this is a tree I have had since my early years in the art. By my records, I’ve had this plant for a solid 20 years.
I’m going to skip any root pruning this year and see if I can get a fairly refined canopy before it has to go back inside for the cold months. So first, today, is defoliating.
I’ve been warned that F. Benjamina can die back if you don’t leave a leaf at each growing tip, but that creates an odd challenge. You see, I like to see the tree structure when I prune, and I don’t know which leaf will be at the tip until all of the decisions are made. So, here’s hoping for a strong growth response.
After removing the leaves I do some initial pruning.
And then wire to get the branches back into position.
I will have to watch the wire carefully. If I get the strong growth response I want, it will bite in quickly.
01 Saturday Apr 2017
It was great to spend the morning at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens with a few folks from NVBS: Xuan, Nick, and Sundar. A few of the bonsai there needed some attention. A bit of wiring and a couple of repots on a few small trees were completed quickly and we all turned our attention to this Juniper.
We wired the whole thing. At times it was almost comical when all four of us were wiring different parts, but it made for quick work.
Xuan was our expert of the morning, and with his guidance a new front was selected and the branches set into position.
I look forward to watching this tree develop further.
12 Saturday Nov 2016
Great bonsai society meeting today on wiring essentials.
Thanks to Chuck Croft and Jack Fitzsimmons for presenting the information and to Gary Reese for making a number of practice stands for everyone to use.
Once again, the meeting was extremely well attended. And many of our expert members were generous with their guidance.
Bonsai Iterate 