Taxus cuspidata ‘nana’, 10 years from nursery stock. This year it will be thinned and wired again.
Ginkgo biloba ‘chi-chi’, 7 years in development from imported raw material. Probably started as an air layer in Japan.
Yew and Ginkgo Spring Images
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Preparing Displays for Toronto Bonsai Society Show and Sale
Here is one display I will have at the Toronto Bonsai Society Show and Sale this weekend. I hope to see you there!
Collected Thuja occidentalis with moss accent.
Bonsai is (Usually) Not a Rescue Mission
The phrase “bonsai is not a rescue mission” is sometimes used to discourage eager bonsai enthusiasts from trying to make a bonsai from every plant they find. Instead, we should focus on the best material we can possibly get our hands on, thus increasing our chances of making something we can be proud of.
Sometimes, however, bonsai really is a rescue mission. Story time!
Last August I responded to an online ad where someone was selling their collection. Not knowing what to expect from the vague description and two blurry pictures of some tropicals, I arrived surprised to see a very old and once impressive bonsai collection in its final death throes. This elderly gentleman had been doing bonsai quietly in his backyard for 30-40 years, away from the clubs and shows, and now was in the predicament of having to sell everything due to failing health.
He had (understandably) put off selling them for years, but in those last few years the trees suffered greatly. To make matters worse, everything was planted in pretty much pure topsoil and was weak to begin with, therefore many were unable to handle the stresses of erratic watering.
Some of the tougher species were still hanging in there, but other more finicky ones like this impressive Japanese white pine had no chance.
Imported Japanese white pine.
After much haggling I went home with two larches, a ginkgo, and a Japanese maple – three very tough species that had managed to survive but were now in serious need of rehabilitation. This was August 2014 and some of the trees were already showing fall colours- A sign of definite stress.
I’m happy to report that all four trees survived the winter and were completely barerooted and repotted this spring. They seem to be doing well and I anticipate that they will have recovered their strength by the end of this growing season.
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- American larch, as purchased last summer. This was definitely the strongest of the trees I bought, but still was obviously weak.
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- Budding out nicely this spring. A cool tree that is begging to be planted on a stone slab.
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- Back view.
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- Second larch, as purchased. It is never a good sign to see fall colour in August. However, the tree had set winter buds so I though it was worth a chance.
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- A testament to the strength of larches, the tree is budding out nicely after transplanting. I have a feeling this might be Japanese larch based on the bark and needles. Regardless, it has been grown in a container for a very long time.
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- Ginkgo biloba, as purchased. Again, showing obvious signs of stress. You can clearly see the pure garden soil these trees are potted in.
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- Budding out after transplanting. It is extremely rare to see a ginkgo with any sort of movement in the trunk. While the movement is pretty monotonous and artificial looking, this tree is cool just because it is unusual. Definitely more of a penjing feel to this one.
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- Lastly, the Japanese maple as purchased, clearly extremely weak, already having lost most of the branches. Very, very root bound.
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- Budding out this spring. Fortunately the main trunk is throwing new buds… for a while I though it had completely died back to the first branch. It may be hard to see the value in this tree – certainly it is a long term project. But it has a nice trunkline and is not grafted. That along makes it worthy of some attention.
Larch Madness
If you follow the traditional guidelines, the best time to wire and repot Larix laricina is when the spring buds are just starting to open. This is usually the most practical time to unwire larches too, because around here it is the only time they are without needles and not frozen in the ground. This “spring buds just starting to open” window can be very short – often just two weeks in mid to late April. Needless to say, if you have a good number of larches like I do, spring gets pretty busy. Add to that repotting a couple dozen more trees, building a new bench set up in my yard, and a couple of collecting trips, and you have an insanely busy last few weeks.
Here is one larch that I recently worked on. This tree changed hands a couple times in the last few years, and I snatched it up almost exactly one year ago as soon as I had the opportunity. I was collected about 20 years ago yet has spent most of that time in bonsai limbo, without a coherent design. Most of the finer tertiary branches used to create this structure were grown last year.The tree was also gently repotted into a simple Yamaaki container that suits the semi-cascade style pretty well.
After a few more years of ramification development, this will be a killer chuhin sized larch, and I am proud to be its new caretaker.
Larixi laricina, approximately 25 cm from soil line. April 18 2015.
Winter 2013 as acquired.
New Pot for Japanese Maple
This fancy pot is branded Ejiri Taizan, which I learned thanks to Ryan Bell’s very comprehensive Chop, Seal, and Signature Resource.
I overwinter this tree in my insulated garage. It can handle the cold, but keeping it in the garage allows me to appreciate it throughout the winter. The disadvantage is it breaks dormancy about one month early meaning it has to be run in and out of the house throughout most of April, which is probably the most unpredictable month in the Toronto area, weather-wise.
Daily bud-pinching has been underway on this tree for about three days, even though the ground outside is still pretty much frozen.
Japanese Maple Root Arrangement
Way back in 2011 I remember seeing this Bonsai Tonight post of a Boon Manikitivipart workshop where a participant tried out a root arranging technique of the deciduous bonsai genius Ebihara. What a great idea, right?
Last summer I acquired a maple that turned out to be perfect to try this technique on. It already had several years of root training therefore a good number of flexible lateral roots were present. Still, a fair amount of prep work was needed. The base of the rootball needed to be completely flat and all unnecessary roots removed. Hopefully this will improve the nebari as I rebuild the branch structure of this tree over the next several years.
As a side note, Boon posted an update about the tree in the Bonsai Tonight post on Facebook. Apparently using plywood was a mistake as it rotted quickly. Keeping that in mind, I used pine.
Bonsai Society @ Royal Botanical Gardens Year-End Social and Sale
Tuesday November 25th at 7:00 pm marks an annual tradition at Bonsai@RBG – the year end social and sale.
I’ve made some good buys at this sale in the past and have also sold some good stuff. While it is primarily a social event, this year is special because two local bonsai vendors will have sales tables – The Bonsai Guy and Kim’s Nature. Their presence will ensure there will be no shortage of trees, pots, tools, and soil available for your buying pleasure.
The event will take place in the Cafe Annex at the RBG Centre.
Hope to see you there!
A Couple of Fall Images
Larix laricina
Acer palmatum
Siberian elm shohin
This small Ulmus pumila was displayed at this year’s Toronto Bonsai Society Fall Show and Sale.
Ulmus pumila shohin. Yellow pot by Sugiura Keisen, accent pot by John Pitt.
The tree was developed from a naturally layered low branch from a much larger elm that was collected from a hedge, along with many others.
The shohin elm was a low back branch on this larger tree (circled in red).
After separating the rooted branch in April 2011.
Summer 2011.
A Punishing Urban Environment
Finding worthy trees to collect in urban environments is just as difficult (if not more so) than finding worthy trees in the wild. The criteria is the same though – you are looking for trees which have been growing for a long time in an environment where they are repeatedly punished such that they develop the characteristics we are looking for in bonsai. It is therefore often helpful to first look for the environment. Once you’ve found that, finding the tree is easy (or easier).
I’ve noticed one particularly tough urban environment that is common in snowy climates: the perimeters of parking lots where massive piles of snow and ice accumulate after the snow plows come through. Any plants (particularly conifers) unlucky enough to be in a place where it is convenient to pile snow have a good chance of developing the characteristics we look for in yamadori.
After a few decades of this, most woody plants will either be dead or extremely damaged.
Common species planted on these borders are tough, low-growing conifers like yews, junipers, and mugo pines. If you see something you like, act fast to get permission and dig. Often these parking lots are managed by contract landscapers who will rip out these ugly plants during the spring cleanup. I learned that the hard way this spring when a patch of mangled junipers I wanted to get at was replaced by some lilies as I procrastinated over approaching the landlord.
I was inspired to write this post because recently I dug a mugo pine from a very similar situation.
The trees on the outside of the planting get the most punishment. This simplifies finding and digging potential bonsai material.
Much easier than digging a tree out of a pile of fist-sized rocks!
Large single trunk mugos like this are very hard to find on this side of the Atlantic ocean.
As this is probably not the ideal time of the year to be collecting a mugo, the tree was treated as a balled-and-burlapped nursery tree and planted in a raised bed with minimal root disturbance. If it doesn’t die, it will be planted in a container in Spring 2016.
Trunk detail. Nice job, snow plow operator! In my experience mugos backbud well so I’m not worried about the leggy growth. This is certainly a 10+ year project though.