The Bonsai News of H ouston A Monthly Newsletter of the Houston Bonsai Society Inc.

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A petrified wood vessel is home to a 20-feet evergreen forest at a Lunar New Year Bonsai Expo in Nam Dinh, central Viet Nam (Photo from a Vietnamese website)

The next meeting of the Houston Bonsai Society will be on Wednesday February 3rd,

2016 at the Cherie Flores Garden Pavilion in Hermann Park, off of Hermann Park Drive, Houston, TX 77030. Refreshments at 7 PM, meeting starts at 7:30 PM.

Wednesday, February 3, HBS monthly meeting: Root Development and Grafting Techniques, a presentation by Howard and Sylvia Smith of Dallas.

Upcoming Events February 13, Saturday Study Group at Quality Feed and Garden, located in the Heights, 9AM – 12 Noon. Free, refreshments provided. See ad for more directions.

Saturday, February 13, Basic Bonsai #1 Class at Timeless Trees Nursery, 9AM – 12 Noon, 60 per person. Students will receive a tree (a boxwood, yaupon or ficus), pot, soil, wire, handbook, and a pair of scissors. The tree will be repotted into a ceramic pot, and the initial branch selection made.

Saturday, February 20: Shohin Society of Texas - Bring trees from any of previous workshops or start a new bonsai. There will be Japanese maples to select for group plantings, root-over-rock, or little-plate plantings.

Saturday, February 20, HBS Club Dig headed up by Brian Gurrola at his ranch in Bedias, TX, starting at 8:30 AM. (Group limited to 15 people.)

Saturday, February 27, Shohin Study Group with Ray Gonzalez ($25). Focus on repotting. Soil provided.

March 19- 20 – Master Class Workshop: Advanced Techniques with Pedro Morales - 2 full day workshop, 9AM – 4PM ($250 per person), repeated by popular request. Focus will be on Building Kurama pots, deadwood carving, and Phoenix Grafting. Lunch provided.

Volume 45 Number 2 February 2016

IN THIS ISSUE

Upcoming Events

Root Development and

Grafting Techniques

Showcase of the Month

Lunar New Year Celebration Bonsai

February Bonsai Care

John Miller

President’s Letter

Special Bonsai What is the Monkey

Up to This Year?

Lunar New Year Celebration Bonsai

February Bonsai Care

Have you been enjoying the landscape this month? There is much styling info to learn if you look at the landscape while driving around. With all the leaves gone, you can see the branch structure. What pleases you and what is not so good? Notice the different ramifications for the various species of trees. Also it is just plain beautiful (if you ignore the trash on the ground). It’s not all gray. There are many shades of gray involved. Some trunks are black. The exfoliating bark on the sycamores leave the limbs stark white, looking like bleached bones hanging in the forest. And the twigs have various hues. Willows are red or golden, ash has a greenish hue. The evergreens give splashes of green and the possum haw decorates the landscape with its red berries. A great time of the year!

The timing of the spring functions, such as repotting, will depend on your microclimate in your backyard. If you have kept your trees from freezing, they will want to start growing much earlier than those kept outside all winter. Repotting can be done at any time during the dormancy but new roots are susceptible to freezing. So you must have some place to protect them after repotting. The ‘best’ time to repot the deciduous temperate zone trees is when the buds are just beginning to swell. Generally this will be before the last of the freezing weather. Trees that leaf out early, maples and elms, can withstand a few degrees of frost but if repotted, you must protect the roots. Sometimes this just means setting them on the ground, possibly with some mulch covering the pot. Some species such as the oaks and willows are naturally programmed to wait much later so that there is very little chance to get nipped. Typically, in my collection, the elms will be first, foliage showing about the end of February, along with the earliest maples. Then during March, the rest of the maples and most of the others. The deciduous oaks will come out around April 1. The live oaks and the cork oaks usually drop their leaves and get their new foliage during March.

The newer wisdom on azaleas is that you also repot them at this time. The roots will be reestablished by blooming time. This is much easier on the tree than waiting until after bloom when the temperature will be hot. (An aside note: later on, before blooming starts, you will be removing a lot of excess buds anyway to reduce the stress on the tree).

There are two kinds of pruning on bonsai. When the tree is being styled, you will be doing development pruning. Let the branches run wild to get thickness and then cut back severely then make angles for secondary branches.

After the branch is developed, you will need to do ramification so you will have smaller leaves and tiny twigs. When new growth appears, keep it pinched so you keep the internodes short and develop a compact set of twigs on the branches. On alternate leaved species (i.e. elms) pinch when the shoot gets 4 or 5 leaves. Finger nails or shears can be used. If the twig gets too long, it will be tough and you need to use shears. On opposite leaved trees (maples), pinch the central shoot as soon as it can be distinguished from the two leaves. To do this really right, you need to use pointed tweezers.

If you have not used a horticultural oil, the time is fast running out. The oil would be used to kill scale and over-wintering mites and other boogers. When new growth starts, the problems to look for are the above mentioned mites but especially aphids and mealy bugs. These can be controlled as well as giving the plants the required fertilizer by using an organic spray (4 tablespoons each of

liquid kelp, liquid fish emulsion, 5% apple cider vinegar, and liquid molasses in one gallon of water. All these are available in any organic nursery.) If leaf spot, mildew or any other fungal problems appear, use a baking soda (Sodium bicarbonate), Potassium bicarbonate, or a commercial fungicide spray.

Spring flowering plants will have their buds set on last year’s growth, so pruning them will remove some flowers. Those that bloom later in the year will generally bloom on this year’s growth. Pruning them will reduce the amount of flowers. In some cases such as crepe myrtle, tip pruning of the new growth will result in no flower at all. In these cases, you must decide which is most important, ramification or flowers. A compromise would be to prune the branch shorter than you normally wood and then let it bloom on new growth which will at the proper length, at least for the first flowering of the season.

When the growth starts, the tree will need fertilizer. However, use one that has a small amount of nitrogen (the first number). The tree is naturally programmed to grow rapidly at this time, so you don’t need to encourage it further. Feed lightly to maintain healthy green foliage. Trace minerals should be added to help with both the foliage color and the color of blooms.

Wire removal: Anytime you work on trees, you should be noting if any wire is cutting into a branch. Repotting is a very good time to check all your trees for such damage. Sometimes you wire one or two branches to adjust them a bit and forget that you did. Start at the tip of the branch and completely remove that wire before going to the next, so you don’t inadvertently leave loops on the branch.

An important job which many neglect, saying they are not going to show any trees, is to detail their trees. This makes them look their best and that helps give you incentive to follow other good practices. Start by checking the branches. Prune any out of place or too long twigs. Remove any unnecessary wire, that is wire on limbs that have set in place. Treat any jin and shari that needs it. Then move down to the pot. Be sure it is clean and all lime deposits are removed. Steel wool works great to clean pots. A coating with a very light wax polish such as leaf shine will make the pot look good and help keep the mineral deposits from forming. Then check the soil. It should cover the outer roots. The surface of the soil must be clean of any fallen leaves or other debris.

What can you do on cold rainy days? Think about how to upgrade and improve your bonsai knowledge and your collection. Plan to register for the LSBF convention to be held in Corpus Christi in October this year. Do a

workshop or two. You cannot learn bonsai out of a book. You need to get the whys as well as the where-to-cuts. Other possibilities would be the opportunities your local club offers. An exhibition should be a learning event for you, not just a show. Each tree has a problem or two that have been cleverly concealed or the artist has drawn your eye away to some good feature.

John Miller

John Miller, who writes a monthly column for the Bonsai Society of Dallas and Fort Worth Bonsai Society, has agreed to share his column with us. We need to make adjustments for our warmer and damper climate, with earlier springs, longer summers, late fall and erratic winters.

A fruitful starfruit (Carambola) bonsai greets the New Year and the visitors at a Buddhist temple – Photo from a Vietnamese website

President’s

Letter

Friends, This New Year has started off with a few changes.

1. Our Saturday Study Group is changing slightly. We plan to rotate the Saturday Study Group between three facilities in an effort to make it more accessible to more members. We will no longer use Mercer Arboretum. We will be meeting at Quality Feed and Garden, centrally located in the Heights. Ken Cousino, has offered to host us in his new facility. He is located at 4428 North Main Street, Houston, TX 77009.

a. Maas Garden Center (March, June, September and December.)

b. Quality Feed and Garden (February, May, August and November.)

c. Timeless Trees ( January, April, July, and October)

2. One other major change is our annual Fundraising Auction. We have traditionally held it in September, but this year we are going to try something new and hold it on April 6th. The perfect time to acquire new material for the summer growing season.

3. Our State Convention, this year is being hosted by Corpus Christi, on October 14th to16th. Ed Trout and Jason Schley are two of the headliners I know of. The focus of the Convention will be on Cascade style. Having a fall convention should bring out different trees for the Exhibit. Make plans to attend.

This month’s stated meeting (February 3rd) will is a great program on “Root Development and Grafting Techniques”, a presentation from Howard and Sylvia Smith. They will expand on the program they did two years ago and we will examine one of the trees they worked on back then. They always address complex topics and cover them in laymen’s terms, which encourages us to try them. They are a pleasure to work with.

Brian Gurrola did the program for January on collecting trees in Texas. I truly thought it was one of the best programs we have ever had. (And I think that was his first time presenting to our group). His use of the GoPro Camera, and speeded up video of collecting a winged elm was terrific. I only wished we could speed up the actual digging and collection.

Brian is also hosting members of the club for a Dig at his family ranch near Bedias, TX. It will occur on Saturday, February 20th. There are more details in the handout at the next meeting. Hope to see you at the meeting, February 3rd! Happy Re-Potting, Hurley

Buddha’s hands Citron (Lemon), the most artistic citrus is cultivated to adorn most Buddhist temples around the New Year celebration. (Photo from a Vietnamese website)

Whatis the Monkey

Up to this year? In a few days, more than half of the world

population will be kicking the Old Goat out to

welcoming the New Monkey. To prepare for this

change in guards, new bonsai trends in the East,

especially Viet Nam, have taken a very exciting and

surprising turns.

Are these innovations here to stay forever or are they

just fads? You be the judge.

Go Big and… Go Home!

Up to two or three years ago, no one heard of Mr.

Thinh Pham in the city of Nam Dinh, north of Viet

Nam. Only those who visit the bonsai websites and

blogs would recognize this major player in the

bonsai world. Some call him Thinh Hai Phong,

Thinh Dollar or by other tycoon nicknames. His

wealth earned in construction materials and scrap

metals has provided this artistic entrepreneur ample

means to create a unique bonsai forest style

contained in petrified logwood vessels. Thinh

frequently travels for business along the coast of

Viet Nam, from North to South. He searches high

and low to gather thousand- year old logwood trunks

and ship them to specialized carvers in the South.

This rare wood rivals ebony in color and density,

and granite in strength and weight.

The first of such unique masterpiece was named The

Bach Dang’s river Victory. It depicts the ingenious

victory in which General Tran’s ruse destroyed a

large Chinese armada. Large boats were lured deep

into the river at high tides in the dark. By morning,

at low tides, they were sitting ducks in the stream,

hulls punctured by pickets and the crew easily killed

by skilled climbers.

The Bach Dang’s river Victory

During an interview, Mr. Thinh disclosed that upon

achieving substantial wealth, he wanted to give back

something of great value to the people. He presented

this most memorable work of art to the city of Ha

Noi for its 1000th birthday. This mesmerizing piece

conveys his pride as well as admiration for the

region’s most revered hero, General Tran who later

became an emperor.

Once satisfied with his sketch of the project, Mr.

Pham travels from village to village along the central

coast to buy up the best logwood deadwood he could

find. He lucked out while in the deepest jungles with

some exceptional deadwood logs that are a thousand

year old, a few even two thousand year old.

Each of the vessels in the bonsai armada carries its

own metaphor and meaning. The first, Ancient Trees

Breaking out of Stones, was built with 28 Water

Jasmines (Wrightia Religiosa). These trees reflect

the 28 galaxies in the night sky, often used by Feng

Shui masters in the past millennia to predict the

weather, the longevity of certain individuals and the

success of the harvest.

Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Another vessel, Five Dynasties & Ten Kingdoms,

depicts the numerous failed attempts of many

invaders to Viet Nam. This forest is made up of

Buddha’s pines or Podocarpus, one of the most

beautiful evergreens that maintain their deep green

year round. At high elevation, in the plateaus leading

to the Truong Son sierra, the jungles of central Viet

Nam are often ravaged by typhoons and deluges. Yet

for millennia, they all quickly bounce back within

months with stunning shapes and colors.

The 10 Magnificent Citrus grafting extraordinaire

In the past decade, the southern growers have

perfected grafting citrus. They often start with a

fruitless wild lime stock and add grafts of 10 fruits

in the same genus. The Ten Magnificent Citrus

completed with Buddha’s hands citron, lemon, lime,

white, pink and red grapefruits, pumelo, orange,

tangerine and kumquat have been THE preferred

high-end potted gift in high society.

Due to its very religious and auspicious name,

Buddha’s Hands Citron (French for Lemon), this

very multi-fingered fruit can take on so many shapes

and forms. No two are alike. Their cultivation has

reached the highest scientific level as well the most

uniquely artistic shapes, to command exorbitant

prices.

The Mummies Bonsai

With year round growth near the Equator, ficuses in

Viet Nam became the easiest plants to transmute into

Chinese calligraphy or lately, into human figures.

Most of them take on odd shapes that resemble

mummies. Branches and roots can be easily grafted

onto a stock. Some parts can even be molded to look

like scary voodoo dolls, muscular ginseng men, or

benevolent spirits believed to inhabit the ghostly

banyan trees.

A Mushroom Tree

A Japanese wonder, the Linh Chi mushroom, has

been used across the East as a cure all for most aging

diseases. Some claim they have the same magical

powers as certain Ginseng roots. For the last decade

or so, it has become a well-recognized symbol of

good health, another favorite gift for seniors around

the Lunar New Year.

Instead of feeding off of decaying wood or wood

shavings, Linh Chi mushroom has a root like trunk

and produces branches from which the mushroom

caps grow. Hence its name, Magical Branching

Mushroom. Their rapid growth allows a daily

harvest for personal consumption.

To each its own!

Its own pot, that is! More intriguingly sophisticated

pots have been designed as dedicated pots to extend

certain movements from pots to plant. There is no

longer a definition line where the bonsai ends and

where the vessel carrying it starts.

Which ones of these fascinating and historical

bonsai trends do you believe will be important

landmarks for the bonsai Renaissance? Which ones

are passing fads that will soon disappear from the

international scene? In retrospect, hope you enjoy all

of these creative works of art as I have as well as

those the Monkey of the New Year standing at your

front door. will bring.

Beware of this mischievous Monkey God famous or

rather infamous for his tricks, his disappearing act

and his multiplying act. He can clone himself by

blowing on a string of hair. Wishing you and your

loved ones a wonderful New Year!

Shawn Nguyen

Calendar of Events

2016 FEB 3 HBS monthly meeting Root Development and

Grafting Techniques, a presentation from Howard and Sylvia Smith at Hermann Park Garden

FEB 8 Happy Lunar New Year of the Monkey!

FEB 13 HBS Saturday Study Group at Quality Feed & Garden in the Heights, 9AM – 12 Noon. Free, refreshments provided. See ad below for more info.

FEB 13 Basic Bonsai #1 Class, Timeless Trees Nursery, 9AM – 12 Noon, $60 per person. Focus will be on repotting. Students will receive a tree (boxwood, yaupon, or ficus), a ceramic pot, soil, wire, a handbook, and a pair of scissors. We will repot the trees into a pot, and make initial branch selection.

FEB 20 Shohin meeting at Persimmon Hill Bonsai, Austin, TX. Bring back previous workshop materials or start with new trees.

FEB 20 Club dig at Brian Gurrola’s ranch. To sign up for transportation or for more details, contact Brian.

FEB 27 Shohin Study Group with Ray Gonzalez at Timeless Trees, Rosenberg, TX, 9AM - Noon. Cost: $25. Focus will be on repotting. Soil provided.

MAR 2 HBS Monthly Meeting at Hermann Park Garden

MAR 5 HBS Saturday Study Group at Maas Nursery, Seabrook, TX, 9AM – 12 Noon. Free, refreshments provided

MAR 19-20 Master Class Workshop: Advanced Techniques with Pedro Morales ($250 per person, limit 10 people). Focus will be on Building Kuramas, deadwood carving, Phoenix Grafting and adding a Prosthesis. This is a full 2-day workshop, 9AM – 4 PM. Lunch provided.

All supplies Included for: 1. Making Kuramas – (includes all supplies to make your own kurama, wire mesh, waterproof concrete, colored grout, etc.) 2. Deadwood Carving - (includes a Black and Decker, 3 speed grinder for each person, and misc. bits) 3. Phoenix grafts and adding a Prosthesis – (deadwood and juniper whips provided) Come and join us for this advanced techniques class, and go home with a kurama to use, a new grinder, some newly carved deadwood, and a Phoenix Graft or Prosthesis ( added to one of your trees). We provide almost everything for this class, (Grinder, Kurama materials, deadwood, Shimpaku whips, glue, etc.) Students need to bring a pair of gloves, and safety glasses.

Check out timeless-trees.com for weekly classes with very knowledgeable artists and masters. Stop by the nursery on Friday and Saturday to see the huge selection of bonsai, pots, tools, supplies, books and soils to select from. Make sure you get on the mailing list to be updated on Houston Bonsai news.

Quality Feed & Garden and Ken stand ready to help you with bonsai selection, bonsai care, pots and supplies. He will also personally have free classes for HBS every 3-month to help you start with your first bonsai. Check the Calendar of Events for dates. Ask for 10% HBS discount.

Come stock up on bonsai soils, pesticides, fungicides, fertilizers and other supplies. The plant doctor is always on duty, so bring your unhappy bonsai for a free thorough check up. Don’t forget to ask for a 10% HBS discount.

The New Year is upon us and JRN II is ready to greet the 2016 with thousands of seasonal flowering plants, rare tropical plants and exotic bonsai. They are styled and well maintained by our resident bonsai artist. Remember to ask for 10% discount.

Visit artist Andrew Sankowski at the Mossrock Studio & Fine Art Gallery for the finest gifts and most uniquely beautiful bonsai pots in every shape, form and color. Personalized pots or gifts can be commissioned year round.

Andrew Sankowski 26002 Oak Ridge Drive Direct (281) 684-4411

The Woodlands, TX 77380 Fax (281) 363-9032

andy@mossrockstudio.com

Houston Bonsai Society, Inc. P. O. Box 540727, Houston, Texas 77254-0727

www.houstonbonsai.com

HBS Board Members President Hurley Johnson hurley@all-tex.net

1st Vice President Scott Barboza markyscott@me.com in charge of Education 2nd Vice President Dean Laumen drlaumen@bechtel.com Secretary Barbara Adams adams.barbara1@embarqmail.com in charge of Membership

Publicity Ken Cousino

Treasurer Wayne Malone wayneamalone@gmail.com Webmaster Quyen Tong quyenctong@gmail.com

Member at Large - O Nandita D’Souza ndas27@gmail.com

Member at Large - O Vern Maddox vmaddox1@comcast.net

Member at Large - O Sharon Barker

Member at Large - O Clyde Holt cmholt11@comcast.net

Member at Large - E Brian Gurrola bgurrola@gurrolareprographics.com

Member at Large - E Ron Ahles carolahles@sbcglobal.net

Delegates Past President Alan Raymond amraymond@suddenlink.net

LSBF Delegate Peter Parker peteparkerbonsai@yahoo.com

LSBF Alternate Terry Dubois tdubois1@comcast.net

BCI Ambassador

TTSBE Representative Alan Raymond amraymond@suddenlink.net

Refreshments C.J. Everson c.j.everson@comcast.net

Website/email Gary Teeter houstonbonsai@gmail.com

Newsletter editor Shawn Nguyen hbs.news@yahoo.com

The Bonsai News of Houston is a monthly publication of the Houston Bonsai Society, Inc. Copyright © 2011. The contents of this publication may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the consent of the editor or a member of the Board of Directors. Exceptions exist, however, for certain not-for-profit and non-profit bonsai organizations or associated bonsai and bonsai nursery newsletters, including without limitation the American Bonsai Society. HBS participates fully with reciprocation of contents and material between other LSBF member organizations and others. Authors who submit articles for this newsletter thereby give permission to such organizations to reprint, unless they expressly state otherwise. Space for advertising in The Bonsai News of Houston can be requested by contacting the newsletter editor or a member of the HBS Board. The rates for a business-card-size ad (approximately 3 1/2" x 2") are $6 per month, $30 for 6 months and $50 per year (12 issues). A full-page ad is $25 per month. Rates are subject to change without notice. 3½" x 2" classified ads are run free of charge for one month once per 12-month period for non-commercial members. For special requests or questions related to The Bonsai News of Houston, contact the newsletter editor or a member of the HB