KUSAMURA BONSAI CLUB

3rd Friday of the Month

7 pm Techniques Workshop

8 pm General Meeting

St Mark’s Episcopal Church

600 Colorado Ave.

Palo Alto, CA

JUNE 2011

Meeting Date:

June 17, 2011

President

Jerry Carpenter 408.823.9525 Vice President

Michael Greenstein Recording Secretary

Dave Curbow Treasurer

Helen Reist 650.324.1445 Cors. Secretary/

Newsletter

Bang Vo Librarian

Zoltan Gulyas Benefit Drawing

Mo Suresh Hospitality

Bang Vo Past President

Charlene Fischer

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Jane Iki Janet Refvem John Planting Stephanie North Jim Thompson Mark O’Brien

June Meeting: Pine Workshop

Pinus, Matsu, and Pine are Latin, Japanese, and English names for all pine species. This month we will have a Pine Workshop. Our Pine Workshop program is similar to last month. Bring in your pine and we will have various members help share and guide the candling process, needle pulling/cutting.

Show and Tell: Various pines, junipers, spring flowers, and leaves.

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CLUB NEWS

Installation of Officers and Board of Directors: This month we will hold the installation of Officers and Board of Directors elected last month for the 2011–2012 term.

• Rita Curbow—President • Charlene Fischer—Vice President • Mo Suresh—Treasurer • Dave Curbow—Recording Secretary • Bang Vo—Corresponding Secretary and Hospitality • Stephanie North—continuing board member • Jim Thompson—continuing board member • Mark O’Brien—continuing board member • Michael Greenstein—new board member • Lynne O’Dell—new board member • Helen Reist—new board member

Library: The library will be open. Please return any item checked out for three or more months so that it can be made available to other members for checkout.

Upcoming

July Meeting: Workshop on Olives, Bougainvillea, Boxwood, Ficus, and other subtropical trees August Events: Club Garden Tour and Redwood Empire Show Car Pool (More details will follow)

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The Bonsai Corner

Refreshment

June: Barbara Murray and Stephanie North July: Lynn O’Dell and Thanh Phan August: None Hospitality

June: Charlene Fischer April: Janet Refvem August: None Show & Tell—Open

Raffle—Open

Library—Open

Dolor Sit Amet Due to limited space in

last month’s newsletter,

I published half of the

letter “From the

President”. You have

read a poem written by

Jerry reflecting the last

two years as Kusamura

Club President and the

nominee for 2011–2012

Officers and Board of

Directors. Here is the

rest of his letter.

From the President

Soon it will be time for a changing of!the guard. I will cherish these two years as president and reflect on all that I have learned. I thank you for your patience and your willingness to do some new things. I know I have veered away from the conventions of the past but my goal was to try to invigorate the club and mix up the format. We introduced more!workshops, more guest demonstrations, tree critiques, show tree review, certificates of merit for show trees, updated logos, changes to our social media approach with Facebook and web updates. Some things worked and some will need improvement. Overall the goals I set at the beginning of the presidency have been attempted and some executed. Jerry Carpenter

COLLECTING NURSERY MATERIAL by Jerry Carpenter

A nursery is one of avenues to collect material for bonsai. For many of us, this is where our collections begin as urban collecting or collecting in the wild is far from reality. Sometimes we can purchase a bonsai that has already been trained for years by going to shows, auctions, and special sales but as we are patient people who like to learn the art of bonsai and have patience to watch them grow, the nursery is our heaven. So what do we look for in that plant material?

Our first premise is species. What species are best suited for our collection and bring us joy. I, for example, like deciduous trees like Trident Maples, Beech, and Elm. I have a special fondness for Olives but I dabble with Junipers as well. This means that when I approach a nursery or growing ground that I RUN to the maples! I am prepared to get dirty then because it will take much lifting of pots, turning of trees, removing of old leaves and sometimes getting down on hands and knees to view the material.

Next we look at the nebari, which is the crown and surface roots, of the plant. It is the hardest thing to find; roots that spread, have substance and radiate around the trunk of the tree. We do not want roots that wrap around each other or grow strong in a circular pattern.

For me, the trunk of the tree is the next goal. Looking at thickness of the trunk, movement, health, bark, height, and taper are key. Once you have the trunk, you move to examining the branch structure. Find the ultimate apex and then find the number one and two branches. Look for a front and if the tree provides for good back branches. The number one branch is usually one-third the height of the tree and not as heavy as the trunk. The branches should be thicker at the bottom and thinner at the top. Thick top branches will most likely have to be sacrificed. The number two branch should not be directly opposite the number one or directly behind the trunk. You may have to choose a branch that will take many years to grow out.

Look for trees with small leaves and considerable branching. Some trees can be trained to develop smaller leaves but some species cannot and you must choose the species carefully. After choosing your material, bring them home and sit with them for a while. You can trim braches, remove leaves, do some basic wiring but wait until the winter months to repot and cut roots. This will require patience. I like to begin removing branches to reveal the trunk, plan the movement and design that will be when the time is right

Jin and Shari from Bonsai Society San Francisco by John Boyce

To jin or not to jin. That is an idea to think about. First of all there needs to be a reason for a jin. It has to be believable and it has to be in the correct place. Remember, a jin does not make a tree look older unless it is old.

You would not find a jin on a young tree. While bending the branches down and giving movement to the branches helps to age the tree, mature bark is necessary to make the picture believable. Next, should jin be above a branch or below it? Did the lower branch die from lack of light, therefore it was a small branch and a small jin? Or did the storms and snow slide and/or rock slide hit the top branch and leave the lower one alive? The story must be believable. The two cannot both be present in the same tree. Another question arises: How many jins should there be? If it is believable, then do it. But remember, once a branch is jinned, it is dead.

Dolor Sit Amet Usually jins inside the tree are short because they are from weak branches, because there wasn’t enough light to make them strong. Even so, give them movement. Do not be satisfied with straight jins. Usually they are about a half inch to three-fourths inch long. They should stand out like little jewel points. They represent where branches were once but have died.

Longer jins are usually on the top or all on one side—wind effect, etc. There can be a lot of jin then, and close together. If jin on the top is curly on one side, the other side must have the same movement. Top jin might be due to weather or slides. Here the inner branches are alive because the top has protected them. These branches must have movement because they have struggled to survive, and can even poke up a bit above the top jin to see the light. In real life, top jin are twisted because of slides.

Shari is created by similar factors. An inner branch dies from lack of light, and when it falls off it tears some of the trunk bark off. Maybe a rock slide hit the middle of the tree, causing a wound in the trunk. A sharply bent trunk could have a rotten spot in it and lose the bark, causing shari. Lightning can strike the trunk, and animals can do damage. Insects, disease, etc., can all cause shari. So shari does not look right on young trees.

When you carve shari in the trunk, follow the line of the trunk and give it movement. Sometime after the shari has healed, remove the cambium again, which will produce a second rollover on the edge of the shari.

Short jin can be quite white, but larger jin and shari should be more gray.

Dolor Sit Amet Events

Jun 11-12 Oakland, California Bay Area Satsuki Aikokai: Annual Satsuki Azalea Show at the Lakeside Garden Center, 666 Bellevue Avenue. Hours are Saturday, 10AM-5PM, and Sunday, 10AM-4PM. Demonstrations at 1:30PM, featuring Rick Garcia on Saturday, and Johnny Uchida on Sunday. Sales area and benefit drawings. Free admission to the show. For more information contact Ron Reid, 925-831-2500.

July 13 East Bay Bonsai Society, Lakeside Garden Center, 666 Bellevue Avenue. Preview

at 7:00pm, Auction at 7:30 pm : 2011 Annual Club Auction of trees, pots, and bonsai items, For information, contact John Nackley at 510-693-242-

.August 27-28 Santa Rosa, California Redwood Empire Bonsai Society (REBS): 28th

Annual Show at the Veteran's building, 1351 Maple Avenue. Hours are Saturday from 10AM-5PM and Sunday from 10AM-4PM. There will be 200 trees on display, a large vendor area, a members sales room, a demonstration by Kathy Shaner at 1:30PM each day and a benefit drawing and silent auction. Admission and parking are free. Contact Bob Shimon at shimon@mcn.org or 707-884-4126 for additional information.

September 18 San Mateo, California San Mateo Bonsai Club: 48th Annual Bonsai Show at the San Mateo Gardener Association Hall, 503 E. 5th Avenue. Hours are 10AM-5PM. Demonstration at 2PM. Bonsai sale. Free admission. For more information contact Sam Tachibana, 650-548-9470.

October 8-9 Oakland, California East Bay Bonsai Society: 50th Annual Show at the Lakeside Garden Club, 666 Bellevue Avenue. Hours are Saturday, 10AM-5PM and Sunday, 11AM-4PM. There is an entrance fee to the park, but show entry is free and donations are welcome. Silent observers are welcome to the club's workshop on Saturday from 1PM-4PM. A demonstration by Kathy Shaner will from 1-4 PM, Sunday, followed by a raffle of bonsai and related items. A large selection of club member consignments will be for sale throughout the show. Contact Janice Dilbeck, 925-458-3845, or John Nackley, 510-693-2423 for more information.

October 27, 28, 29, 30 Riverside, California GOLDEN STATE BONSAI FEDERATION CONVENTION XXXIV, Bonsai Full Circle at the Marriott Hotel and Convention Center, 3400 Market Street. Headliners are: Kathy Shaner, Ryan Neil, Roy Nagatoshi, and Pedro Morales. Demonstrations, seminars, critiques, workshops, benefit drawings, vendors and more. More information available at: www.gsbf-bonsai.org.

Kusamura Bonsai Club

3580 Butcher Drive Santa Clara, CA 95051