Fat Euonymous

This past fall Flex and I did some carving work on this tree. It was a great learning experience and the tree is now pushing buds out. Perfect time to re-pot, so I jumped on it. This was another that was over-potted and had good vigor last year. When I removed it form the pot the roots were extremely healthy and dense. Exactly what you want to see.

I cut the roots back moderately and stuffed it into a smaller pot with better proportions for the overall design I'm shooting for. The branch on the right will have to be reduced over time, but you can already make out a couple strategic buds that I'll develop into key branches in just the right place.

The tree does look top heavy, but the plan is to keep working the apex back over time to lighten the top...I'll do this while developing side branches so it all balances out. In the meantime, foliage covers all this mess during the growing season so it's still nice to look at.

Big Box Azalea

Re-potted my "big box" azalea...recall this was way over-potted with lots of extra root mass. So I took it down to what I think are about the correct proportions. It was a pretty hard chop but I think it should be ok. Still letting it fill in, build vigor and develop before I start really shaping it. But it's getting to the point where this tree needs to settle into a long term direction. After flowering I'll sketch out a form, then cut back the crossing branches and continue to pinch the crap out of it. We shall see...

That's a neat little Ron Lang pot I think will look really nice with the bright purple flowers. 

Flex your shari, sing the blues...

Spent this past Saturday at Flex's home. At the recent BSSJ holiday party Flex was asking around if anyone was into doing some carving work and I jumped at the chance. I brought 3 trees: my big fat maple project, a "blue mist" spirea I collected this past summer, and a euonymous I've had for a few years.

Flex took one look at my big maple project and frankly told me not to waste my time. I had my suspicions the tree would never become great bonsai, and Flex confirmed this. So I will just grow it and enjoy it, applying bonsai techniques and see what I can make of it.

On the other hand, Flex really took to my Spirea (caryopteris - pics coming soon)...I dug this up from a neighbor's yard when they were considering tossing it. I dug it out rather clumsily, and left too much foliage top-side and so it was rather an unnecessary battle keeping it alive for the first few weeks in the shade. But Spirea is a real trooper, so when I saw some new growth I started hacking back the big stuff and the new growth really took off. When I went to move it for fall cleanup I noticed roots had grown through the bottom of the plastic pot and that is always a good sign! Now this spirea had a lot of thick chunky bark on it, a perfect candidate for cleaning and carving.

Flex immediately pointed out some tiny fungus on the bark, indicating we definitely had some dead wood to work with. And so we began...carefully flaking off old bark with a small knife, dental pick and a soft toothbrush. While cleaning up the tree Flex pointed out some things that helped me get a good read on it's health and habit. Flex's analytical process was fascinating to observe, and itself taught me new approaches to looking at things. As we slowly revealed the "tree within", we discovered gorgeous twisting, undulating veins, subtle healing scars, old knots and other details that help create the "character" we tend to look for in great bonsai. By the end of the spirea's session, it's appearance had improved dramatically. My hopes have therefore improved beyond what I had originally imagined for this tree. Of course time will tell, but it's off to a great start as bonsai.

We also worked on my euonymous...this tree has patiently hung around my bench for the past few seasons, waiting for me to decide what the heck to do with it. Last year I hacked it down to the main trunks and a profusion of new branches erupted from the cuts. I've trimmed them all back to one or two buds for winter, leaving actual branch selection for spring. A few larger buds here and there show great promise...

Since there wasn't much deadwood carving to be done on this tree, Flex and I took a step back and looked at basic design. We soon revealed a long-ish branch that had a healing cut in just the right spot for developing an interesting uro. So, out came the power tools and Flex walked me through the detailed process for creating a realistic uro feature. It was all very "graham potter" and great fun. A bit of careful wiring and branch bending and the euonymous now has a defined future, again much better than what I had in mind initially.

Finally, Flex put his 200+ year old rocky mountain juniper on the bench for some jin work. I stood back and simply watched the master at work. He explained his intentions and talked me through the process so I understood exactly what he was doing and why. Fascinating stuff, and I am interested to keep an eye on that tree as accomplishes what he has in mind for it.

So big thanks to Flex for his time and generous teaching this weekend. I would encourage anyone to learn what they can from him as his technical expertise and vision combine to offer valuable lessons from which we can all benefit. Thanks Flex!

Partay at the veeps house

cross-posted from www.southjerseybonsai.com:

Greetings Bonsai Enthusiasts!!!

If you'll indulge me...

I am priviledged to be the first to say our Holiday Party was a smashing success!!!

We all gathered at Dr. Karen's lovely creek-side house in Mt. Holly, each of us sharing our holiday cheer and a covered dish. The evening was spent chatting, laughing, eating and drinking, and much merriment was had by all.

Great thanks to Dr. Karen and her husband Mike who were absolutely perfect hosts, and made us all feel thoroughly welcome and comfortable! Sincerest thanks to you both!

Additional thanks go to all those who brought covered dishes to share. The numerous and varied hors d'oeuvres were fresh and tasty, and I believe everyone could find something that suited them. The various entree's (with special mention of the barbeque pork sandwiches, perfectly baked ham, and home-made lasagna!) were so great they will likely be raved about as the season progresses.

The desserts were fantastic, too! The trifle! The creampuffs! homemade pizzelles and on and on.

But of course none of these compared to the company of our fine friends of the South Jersey Bonsai Society. Everyone was so cheerful, healthy, smiling and bright. Here there and everywhere were intriguing conversation, great stories, random outbreaks of cheerful laughter, and thoughtful well wishes.

It was also a great pleasure to meet some of the friends and spouses of members who each brought their own charm and smiles to the occasion.

So, I am sure Tom will want to post his official message about the holiday party, and hopefully some great pictures, too. I'll place those here as soon as they are available. In the meantime I hope everyone won't mind my taking liberty on the front page here to express my appreciation to all for a wonderful evening and excellent company!

Happy Holidays!!!

Alec

Dombrovski Retrospective - Season I

I've spent a good portion of the past six weeks with Dombrovski and have no idea where to begin describing the experience. Alas, I will try...

I started in October with basic bonsai knowledge and skills, a good set of tools and an open mind. The plan was to assist Dombrovski through fall re-potting and winterization of his exquisite collection of roughly 150 trees, some of which have been training almost 40 years.

On the very first day, Dombrovski sat me down with a hinoki cypress in a plastic pot, told me to have at it. It felt like one of those expository writing assignments college professors use to determine the skill level of new students. It took me about an hour and a half to wire the tree and prune it out to make it look like something resembling bonsai.

"That is 100% 'by the book' - so, you know what you're doing, that's good..." was teacher's comment. Pretty proud of that. Next thing you know I had re-potted half a dozen crab apples and was being invited to assist at the upcoming Bonsai exhibit at Longwood Gardens. Of course, I would have to join the Brandywine Bonsai Society, and by the way Ron Lang was giving a lecture on pot selection at the next meeting...

I was qualified to become the man's student. Rock on.

Over the next several weeks, we re-potted, pruned, wired and mossed dozens of trees. The secrets of soil composition, root maintenance, branch development and ramification were revealed to me. These were and are as a series of puzzle pieces I needed to assemble for myself with a good memory and thoughtful interpolation. I studied the meticulous records and notes he kept, which documented his daily practice of bonsai over the past 10 years. We discussed and debated the particular merits and criticisms of the masters; Yoshimura, Kimura, Murata, Naka, Pall, Lenz (arguably), etc. We shopped for pots, went "yamadori hunting" and did our best to capture some fall foliage on film. We made plans for spring.

And yet, we have only scratched the surface...and I fully intend to continue learning everything I can from this particular man's interpretation of bonsai, which I find expert, distinct and uniquely sensitive ~ all these to a degree I have not yet seen matched in the Mid-Atlantic region.

They call me "Mr. Moss"

Hahahaha! Looks like I've picked up a nickname at the BSSJ..."Mr. Moss" Hahahaha!

I really felt it today at Dombrovski's. He wanted to take some pictures, but needed to run out and get some film so I asked what I could do while he was gone...he asked me to moss this bonsai:

This bonsai is a pair of Acers growing over a smattering of dramatic rocks with some ferns.  Ski said he did not moss at the most recent re-potting and, after looking over last week's crab apples he really liked the attention to detail I paid on the moss. (They don't call me Mr. Moss for nothin')

So I offered to collect up some moss from the ground, (the stuff grows like crazy on the ground at his place), but he suggested I take nice bits from all the other trees so as not to risk contaminating the tree with either carpet grass or likewise. So I gathered up a handful from various trees. Now you have to understand I'm just a little bonsai grasshopper. How dare I rip up moss from the timeless green velvet laying under masterpieces I would otherwise dare not touch without an extremely good reason...and here is Ski telling me "just chunk some moss out of there and put it in this one."

 Easy for you to say, pal...

So with a deep breath I pluck and pinch and scrape carefully from various trees until I have a good handful. I put the first couple pieces on and instinct quickly took over. For the next hour or so, I placed dozens of tiny dime-sized clumps of moss on the surface; distributed evenly but without any discernable order. Keep in mind there's a process, you can't just slap it on there. Do it right, and your eye is never attracted to focus a single clump. In this way, a bit of "perceptual closure" occurs such that the moss appears to be growing naturally, but not exactly covering the whole surface like a carpet. That's just not how moss grows in the forest, and if it were done that way you'd say "a person did that" which is what, in many cases, modern American bonsai tries to avoid at all costs.

Anyway, over the next several weeks, the little clumps will grow vigorously and spread across the surface of the bonsai soil and grow together, forming a natural looking network of moss clumps you'd swear took years to grow there.

So today I mossed a masterpiece...in some small way I am now part of that bonsai and it is part of me. Sure Dombrovski could have done it in his sleep, but he didn't....I did. And I don't have words for the pride I feel... not for having done it, but for having been trusted to do it by a guy who really doesn't like anyone getting near his trees, let alone touching them, let alone digging in them.

It hasn't taken Dombrovski long to let me know he appreciates what I've brought to the table. That, in having selected him I honor him; and having agreed, he honors me even more.

He gave me "the book" today; the notebook containing his daily notes for the past 10 years. It's all there: soil compositions, pot selection, fertilization routine, sketches, bench plans. Odd little scribbles with no relation to bonsai, stains, water damage. The damned thing used to be a spiral notebook, now it's held together with duct tape. 10 years of living bonsai, every day, all day with so many trees there is always something to do and you can never really "catch up".

What a freakin' life! No wonder he doesn't have a phone, that would just complicate things unnecessarily.

Ron Lang, master potter

I was privileged to meet Ron Lang this weekend at the Brandywine Bonsai Club meeting. Ron is a ceramics artist, expert, professor and wouldn't you now it, a bonsai potter. He gave a really insightful presentation to the club about what constitutes a method in terms of bonsai pot selection. Did I say that right? The point being that any bonsai enthusiast can chuck a tree in a pot...but to raise that choice to a considered and complimentary statement in harmony with the overall expression of that particular bonsai is, well...important. At least to me it is...at least to me it's something I am interested in learning about as I progress.

Ron Lang, master potter, gave a presentation on how to do that...not in terms of hard fast rules mind you...but in terms of things to consider when selecting the right pot to help us along the path towards making the statement we want to make. As with all things bonsai, there are technical considerations that influence the range of possible choices we have, yet, ultimately those choices are aesthetic. Ron covered the technical points with good detail, then demonstrated how consciously varying our choices on these technical parameters (overall size, shape, wall profile, color, texture, etc) play into the aesthetic outcomes we, and others, see.

So that was interesting...interesting enough for me to drop a few bucks on some new pots and consider Ron's pots for bonsai. It also looks like his smaller semi-cascade pots could be nice for orchids as well. I potted up an orchid in one of the pots I bought, so we'll see how it goes.