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The Bonsai News of Houston A Monthly Newsletter of the Houston Bonsai Society Inc.
Volume 51 Number 1 January 2020
The Metal Rat announces the coming of the Lunar Calendar 2020 (Photo : Pinterest)
The Houston Bonsai Society usually meets on the first Saturday of the month at Trini Mendenhall Community Center, 1414 Wirt Road, Houston, TX 77055. Board meeting starts at 9 AM, refreshments at 10 AM, and program at 10:15 AM.
Upcoming Events (more details in Calendar of Events)
January 4 HBS monthly meeting program: Jonas Dupuich, a talented artist who specializes in conifers and many other species. Refreshments at 10AM, meeting at 10:15AM.
January 4 afternoon Bring your Own Tree Workshop with Jonas Dupuich, Timeless Trees, 2 - 6 PM, $50. Bring your own projects to work together with Jonas in a warm place.
January 11 Saturday Study Group, Timeless Trees, 9 AM- 12 PM. Free, refreshments served. Bring your trees and tools to work with other club members.
January 18 Bonsai Basics #1 Class: Re-Potting, Timeless Trees 9AM-1PM $60 include a tree, pot, soil, wire, hand-out and a pair of scissors.
Friday January 24 Foemina Juniper Forest Class, Timeless Trees, 9AM-3PM Cost: $75 + the number of trees you choose. This Foemina Juniper forest class is the 2nd year of a two-year, two-part project.
January 25 Bring your own (BYOPT) Pine workshop, Timeless Trees, 9 AM – 1 PM. Cost: $60 per AM or PM session, or $110 all day.
January 25 Saturday - Bring your own (BYOJT) Juniper workshop, Timeless Trees, 1 PM – 5 PM. Cost: $60 per AM or PM session, or $110 all day.
January 26 Sunday - Junipers planted on a stone /slab class with Rodney Clemons, 9 PM – 3 PM. Cost: about $100-$120 each landscape, depending on the size and numbers of trees chosen. Stones donated by a generous student.
Upcoming Events Jonas Dupuich
Showcase of the Month
New Year Celebration flowers and bonsai
January Bonsai Care
Alan Walker
President’s Letter
Flowers and Bonsai used For Lunar New Year
Celebration
Jonas Dupuich blog on Root over rock pine
Lone Star Bonsai
Federation Bonsai Vision 2020
in San Antonio Early registration
information
Flowering kusamono
January Bonsai Tips
January's cooler weather means that your bonsai will more likely be subject to drying out due to wind and low humidity rather than temperature. A windy day with low relative humidity can evaporate just as much moisture from your bonsai as any hot summer day, so remember to check your bonsai's moisture daily. Do this even if it rained the day before.
You might consider starting some of your heavy pruning later this month. This would give the tree about a month prior to repotting to start
healing before the roots are disturbed, thus increasing its likelihood of survival. Keeping this delay in mind will help you to plan your potting schedule. Actually, this is a case where patience is prudent and the heavy pruning and repotting should probably be done in separate years except with young, vigorous material.
Since potting season in southwest (Louisiana) starts next month, this is a good time to be sure that you have your potting materials ready. Study your trees and make your choices for containers. Order the pots right away to make sure you have the right pot at the right time. Get your rooting stimulant and any time-release fertilizers you might want to use in your soil mix.
Prepare your potting soil making sure to screen out the fine particles to avoid soil compaction which can cause poor drainage and root rot later in the year. Get your soil components such as haydite, coarse sand (eg. #2 blasting sand), Turface, small pea gravel, aquarium gravel, clay garden soil, humus or leaf mold, and sieved pine bark or redwood bark.
As I mentioned last month, you should remove the majority of the flower buds on your azaleas as they develop, keeping only two or three per branch. You will not be able to do this in a single session, since
the buds don't emerge at the same time. Grasp the bud firmly at the base with your fingers or tweezers and give a quick twist to the side. Don't pull them off, because you may lose more than you bargained for. Also, remove spent blooms immediately after they fade, so that your azalea doesn't sacrifice the vitality it needs for development. Keep your azalea healthy and robust, feed it well into the fall with a high phosphorus fertilizer, and give it lots of sun. Your azalea will reward you with spectacular blooms if you do.
As in any month, check your wired trees for signs of scarring. Wire scars look very unnatural and are difficult to hide satisfactorily.
Check the arrangement of your trees and compensate for the lower angle of the winter sun. What used to be the hottest and brightest part of your yard may now be shaded part of the day. Look over your deciduous trees and turn weak sides toward the south or southeast, so that the dormant buds in these areas will be the first to break dormancy and grow in the spring.
Alan Walker
Alan Walker who writes a monthly column for the Lake Charles Bonsai Society newsletter has agreed to share his column with Houston this month. We are in the same zone.
President’s Letter
I hope everyone had a chance to hear Scott talk about dormant season care for deciduous bonsai last month. By now the leaves should be off of your deciduous trees and you should be doing your dormant oil spray. Remember to wait at least 4 weeks and then do your lime sulfur spray just as the buds are beginning to break. I’ve had a lot of fun the past few weeks styling a large, three-trunked Procumbens juniper. There is something extremely satisfying about seeing the tree emerge from the bush you start with as you clean and wire it. I have about two more hours of wiring and then will fine-tune the set of the branches for a couple more hours before putting it back out on a growing bench for the season. I would like to thank Chris Rinaudo for organizing our club dig this year. On February 22, several cars full of HBS members will make the trip to MBP Bonsai in Pflugerville to dig Trident maples. MBP Bonsai Nursery owned by Mike Hansen is in Austin, at 601 Kay Lane, Pflugerville, TX 78660 - (512) 989-5831. Mike Hansen had planted these Trident maples for a couple of decades in the ground. Make sure you let Chris Rinaudo know if you plan to go: [email protected]. Don’t forget to register for Bonsai Vision 2020, which will be in San Antonio from May 15-17. Boon Manakitivipart, Arthur
Joura, and Roy Nagatoshi will be the headline artists. Now is also be a good time to think about what trees you might like to exhibit at the convention and what work you need to do with them between now and then. I would love to see Houston well represented in the exhibit again this year.
Pete Parker
The Year of the Metal Rat
The Zodiac animal of 2020, the Metal Rat, will come early this year, on January 24th. Once again, before Christmas gifts were all exchanged and before we ring in the New Year, the Asian markets and stores are already filled with flowering plants and bonsai, red lanterns and red envelopes used for the Lunar New Year celebration.
For those of you celebrating your birthday under this zodiac sign, this will be your Big Year. Metal Rats (or Mice if you prefer), by nature are full of curiosity, energy, charm and talents. Fast as lightning and quite resourceful, you will feel confident that you can overcome any challenge in a jiffy and emerge from all a victor.
How have civilizations viewed rats over the years?
A 2020 depiction of mice or rats as free spirits, well fed, well loved and joyous. Did Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse had anything to do with this unlikely adoration?
An ancient Vietnamese (but Chinese styled) gouache on papyrus print from the village Đông Hồ depicts a procession of rats on a Spring day. Soldier rats shown as a foot army walking in a straight line under the general’s watchful eyes. (This mean cat represented the emperor or king). The high ranking mandarin rat is carried in a palanquin on an official Spring tour of his district. The mandarin’s protector, the knight on horseback, always rides in the forefront of the procession, followed by the town cryer announcing the arrival of the important official with his super-sized badge made into a flag. Another lowly rat carried an umbrella to protect the knight from the rain or hot sun. A few steps behind, the kitchen staff with fowl and fish follow, while the musicians last in line, entertained the crowd.
Come December of the Lunar calendar, flowers and bonsai literally flood everywhere in Viet Nam and Asia. From front to back gardens , from front doors and throughout the home interior, offices and shops, bold happy colors of yellow, orange, red and green adorn. Where the flowers bloom, there is good fortune.
Vietnamese New Year Day or Tết is the most important celebration of the arrival of the first day of the New Year, based on the Lunar calendar. This is also the longest holiday for the locals and may last up to a week in the cities, or a month in rural areas.
Now to the flowery part of the celebration. Most cultures around the globe gather colorful flowers, plants and fabrics, decorations of all medium to adorn their homes, temples and castles around the holidays. In Asia, the Lunar New Year Day is the most important day of the year, celebrated with more pomp and noise than July 4th, Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Year Day combined. Most families with meager income save all year long to afford a set of clothing, the one and only one, for their children.
We have airlines, cruise and cargo ships, and modern trains to thank for the disbursement of Asian cultures to the four winds and corners of the Earth. Casinos and hotels in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, everywhere in the US, joined in with all the casinos in Macau, Shanghai and the Orient to attract wealth and wealthy folks to come spend their time and money in their establishments. Along with 200,000 flowering bromeliads or flowers of all colors, many bonsai have been displayed along with the figurines, props of the year’s zodiac animal.
Traditional flowers for Tết celebration Similar to red poinsettia flowers and pine or fir used as Christmas trees, wreaths and garlands for home décor during Christmas holidays in the West, Chinese and Vietnamese also use many flowers and plants to decorate homes, altars, temples and businesses, even cemeteries to celebrate the arrival of a new year.
Abundance of yellow, red and gold fill a New Year altar at home or at business. These are colors of joy, passion, happiness and prosperity.
The most popular flowers in northern or colder regions of Asia are peach blossoms, narcissus bulbs, gold citrus or orange nipple fruit. In Viet Nam, the most desirable four were Mai or Đào, Lan, Cúc and Trúc. Yellow Mai (flowering apricot, Ochna intergerrima in the South) or red and pink Đào (peach, plum blossoms in the North), Cúc (chrysanthemums in rainbow colors but the most popular are yellow), Lan (orchids ranging in all colors of the spectrum) and Trúc or bamboo are used to symbolize great health, love and happiness, abundant wealth and growth. In the South, kumquat and the entire family of citrus fruits can be used for decoration, offering on the altars and also for snacks.
Nipple fruit in colder China, Kumquat and Mandarins in South of Viet Nam are good luck fruits.
Besides the common rich gold color representing wealth, prosperity and good luck with kumquats,
the nipple fruit (Solanum mammosum) is cherished for their meaning: 5 generations in the same room! The name suggests that the family would produce 5 generations of boys to carry on the family name (or the family trade secrets). Asians are well known to prefer sons to daughters.
Peach blossoms in China’s and Viet Nam’s cold regions are replaced by yellow flowering apricot Mai and Surinam Cherry in the warmer South..
In Japan, quinces and Sakura provide the pink and red of Spring colors.
Peach or red blossoms, in La Vie
en Rose’s colors, symbolize romantic love and longevity, which combined mean long lasting romance. They are the super-favorite choice for singles hoping to attract a significant other, during the festivities of the New Year.
Orchids in all colors are often given as gifts to build up good interpersonal relationships. They light up living rooms and dining rooms with their beautiful shapes and colors, especially their dark and shiny green leaves.
A rainbow of colors that bring joy to all décor.
Pussy willows name sounding a lot like silver coin, like the gold counter-part, also signify wealth and good luck. In the past few years, believe it or not, a few grocery stores’ floral shops in Houston started selling the pussy willow trees as bonsai for the New Year.
Bamboo also in miniature size has also been an old favorite décor in a home. A relatively new type of green plant, called Lucky Bamboo, (Dracaena sanderiana or braunii, no relation to bamboo at all), made its appearance in all places where plants
and flowers are sold. Due to its incredibly easy culture in water, these Lucky Bamboo canes can be
arranged in infinite styles – trellises, twisted shapes
and twisted into Chinese characters, their meaning can also be infinite besides the most desired wealth, happiness and longevity.
Cúc or Chrysanthemum, preferably the large yellow ones, are a must have for the New Year. One of the most celebrated flowers with the most unique beauty and fragrance is the Chinese Sacred Narcissus (Thủy Tiên or Water fairies).
While most commercial florists sell these bulbs forced in water, few and rare artists carve them
to keep their growth compact and their leaves and blooms curled into basket, cascade style, or teapots, and even peacocks or roosters. Depending on the weather, a carved narcissus bulbs will start blooming in 4 to 7 weeks. Most of the artists have already started so that on the week leading to the New Year Day.
In the next issue, I will report on the newest craze started only a decade ago in Viet Nam: Lunar New Year bonsai exhibits, in every large city from the North to the South. They seem to gather more of following than the flowers and plants shown here.
In the mean time, take an excursion to Houston Chinatown and Vinatown to enjoy the decorations and celebration. There will be a lot of dragon, lion dances and entertainment to watch in the first 3 days of the New Year. You may pick up a few exotic flowers or bonsai too. Don’t forget to hang on to your wallet when mingling in the crowd.
Shawn Nguyen
Jonas Dupuich is coming to Houston Bonsai Society in January.
He sent ahead an early gift, Bonsai Tonight Post.
Refining a young Root
over Rock Black Pine
I’ve been working on a root over rock black pine for the past two years. The tree was created by Eric Schrader (phutu.com) and is thirteen years old.
Root over rock black pine The basic branches are set, but need refinement. The new apex needs to thicken. To improve the branch structure, I thinned areas where more than two shoots emerged from the same spot. I also thinned the large sacrifice branch (currently the top half of the tree) as I want to encourage the future apex to grow larger.
Here's the tree after cutback. And here's the tree after wiring the main branches. Close-up of the future tree - 14" to top of new apex.
After thinning Styling complete Although it's easy to see the future silhouette, the apex will need to thicken before I remove the main sacrifice branch. The work on this tree will be similar for the next few years - cut back, wire, repeat. For those who are interested, Eric sometimes sells trees online - you can see them at phutu.com/trees-for-sale. If you like reading about how to grow bonsai and care for them, please subscribe to Jonas Dupuich’s blog on Bonsai Tonight.
REGISTRATION IS OPEN FOR THE 2020 CONVENTION at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2020-texas-bonsai-convention-registration-77963704539.
All paper documents can be found at http://www.sanantoniobonsai.org/2020-bonsai-convention and http://www.lonestarbonsai.org/2020-convention/ Thank you,
Ryan O Publicity Manager/Editor San Antonio Bonsai Society www.sanantoniobonsai.org/ / Facebook: @sanantoniobonsai / Twitter: @SATXBonsai / Instagram: sanantoniobonsai Treasurer The Texas State Bonsai Exhibit www.ttsbe.org / Facebook: @TTSBE.org / Twitter: @TXStateBonsai
Calendar of Events.
2020 JAN 1 Happy New Year!
JAN 4 HBS monthly meeting: Jonas Dupuich. Refreshments 10 AM, meeting at 10:15 AM. Jonas specializes in Conifers and many other species. JAN 4 afternoon BYO Tree Workshop with Jonas Dupuich, Timeless Trees, 2 - 6 PM, $50. Bring your own projects to work with Jonas in a warm place.
JAN 11 Saturday Study Group, Timeless Trees, 9 AM - 12 PM. Free, refreshments provided. Bring your trees and tools to work on with other HBS members.
JAN 18 Bonsai Basics #1 Class - Re-Potting, Timeless Trees, 9 AM – 1 PM, $60 include a tree, pot, soil, wire, hand-out and a pair of scissors. Focus: Re-potting the tree into a ceramic pot and make initial branch selection.
JAN 24, Friday, Foemina Juniper Forest Class, Timeless Trees, 9 AM -3 PM. Cost: $75 + the number of trees selected and size (small $20, large, more). This Foemina Juniper forest class is the 2nd year of a two-year, two-part project. Year-One: Select material, wire and prune it, and reduce the roots to a shallower, wider root ball. Year-Two: Refine the previously wired trees, and put shallow tray in a forest planting.1 gallon of Boon Mix is provided as part of the class fee. More soil is available for purchase. New students are welcome to start Year-One.
JAN 24 Happy Lunar New Year of the Metal Rat!
JAN 25 Bring your own (BYOPT) Pine workshop, Timeless Trees, 9 AM – 1 PM. Cost: $60 per AM or PM session, or $110 all day.
JAN 25 Saturday - Bring your own (BYOJT) Juniper workshop, Timeless Trees, 1 PM – 5 PM. Cost: $60 per AM or PM session, or $110 all day.
JAN 26 Sunday - Junipers planted on a stone /slab class with Rodney Clemons, 9AM - 3PM, with junipers, Procumbens Nana or Prostrada, on stones donated by a generous student that has a ranch in Wimberly. We will make muck in the class. Everything will be provided, bring your tools. Cost: about $100-$120 each landscape (depending on the size and number of trees chosen).
JAN 31 – FEB 2 2020 California Shohin Society Shohin Seminar: The CSS is hosting their biennial seminar from January 31st through February 2nd in Santa Nella, CA. The event is among the top shohin-themed events in the country.
Visitors come for the Friday demos, the Saturday workshops, and the Sunday presentations. Satsuki azaleas workshop: Saturday afternoon. Presentation on shohin development: Sunday morning. To register for the event or sign up for a workshop, visit the 2020 Shohin Seminar website. FEB 1 HBS monthly meeting FEB 8 Saturday Study Group FEB 17-19 2020 Louisiana Bonsai Society Mid-Winter bonsai workshop at Baton Rouge Garden Center, 7950 5 Independence Blvd., Baton Rouge, Louisiana. FEB 22 2020 Club Dig: Chris Rinaudo will lead the 2020 Club dig with Ken Cousino’s assistance. Please let Chris know if you plan to go at [email protected]. Location: MBP Bonsai Nursery owned by Mike Hansen. 601 Kay Lane Pflugerville, TX 78660 (512) 989-5831
FEB 29 – MAR 1 21st Noelanders Trophy in Genk, Belgium featuring Ryan Neil, Minoru Akiyama, Tony Tickle and others. More details to come.
May the jolly rats bring you and your family great health, great wealth and happiness in
the 2020 Lunar New Year.
Go to Timeless Trees’ website and subscribe to weekly Current Events to stay in the know about weekly events and classes offered locally and about HBS activities. For a decade, Timeless Trees Nursery and Bonsai has provided novices and serious bonsai students a very wonderful environment to further your knowledge in the Art of Bonsai with workshops led by local artists and teachers, or on occasions, with one-on-one study with visiting bonsai masters. You can find all sizes of bonsai, of all varieties, great pots and display stands, supplies, fertilizers, soils, tools and books as well as gift certificates for your bonsai lovers and you. The resident bonsai guru Hurley is also the go-to man for all bonsai questions.
Quality Feed & Garden and the resident Dr. Ken stand ready to help you with fruit trees, bonsai trees, basic tools, pots and soils like Akadama, Lava, Pumice, Kanuma, and “Dr. Ken’s Special Bonsai Soil mixes in 10 lb. & 50 lb. bags.
There are 2 separate nurseries at this location, one for garden shade and fruit trees, a second for decorative trees and bonsai.
Free bonsai classes are offered every 3 months for the Houston Bonsai Society study group. Newbies are welcome. While you explore this unique store, you can also pick up a few pet birds, chickens and ducks and their feed. HBS members get a 10% discount.
If you are looking for auspicious flowers and plants to decorate your home, garden and ponds for the Lunar New Year, or just for gifts to friends and families, JRN II got them all. The greenhouses are home to countless rare plants and exotic tropical bonsai, and the most unusual gifts for all occasions from birthdays, anniversaries, grand openings, house warming parties, Christmas, as well New Year celebrations. Take a stroll in the shop and around the garden to check out the bonsai figurines, boats and pagodas, bonsai supplies, tools and soils as well as bonsai pots, garden statues and Japanese lanterns. You will never know what kind of surprises are waiting for you to take home.
For advice on all plants and bonsai, please ask Thuy Doan.
Visit artist Andrew Sankowski at the Mossrock Studio & Fine Art Gallery for the finest gifts and uniquely beautiful bonsai pots in every shape, form and color. If there is a potter who knows bonsai pots, it’s Andy. He also keeps a greenhouse full of a beautiful bonsai collection.
As a master potter who offers weekly pottery classes, Andy also mixes his own proprietary clay blends and over 100 of his own colored glazes. Bring your unusual trees for him to make unusual personalized pots. Pots as gifts for the upcoming holidays for friends and families, or just for yourself, can be commissioned now. While you are on the tour of gallery and studio, check out the masterpieces of many talented local artists.
Andrew Sankowski 26002 Oak Ridge Drive Direct (281) 684-4411
The Woodlands, TX 77380 Fax (281) 363-9032
Houston Bonsai Society, Inc. P. O. Box 540727, Houston, Texas 77254-0727
www.houstonbonsaisociety.com
HBS Board Members
President Pete Parker [email protected]
1st Vice President Scott Barboza [email protected] in charge of Education 2nd Vice President Hoe Chuah [email protected] Secretary Ryan Vollert [email protected] Publicity Ken Cousino [email protected]
Treasurer Eldon Branham [email protected]
in charge of Membership Webmaster Anthony Cutola [email protected]
Member at Large - O Gale Childers [email protected]
Member at Large - O James Kelly [email protected]
Member at Large - O Ryan Vollert [email protected]
Member at Large – E Soon Cheah [email protected] Member at Large – E John Williams [email protected]
Delegates Past President Hurley Johnson [email protected]
LSBF Delegate Hurley Johnson [email protected]
LSBF Alternate Pete Parker [email protected]
BCI Ambassador
TTSBE Representative Alan Raymond [email protected]
Refreshments
Website/email Anthony Cutola [email protected]
Newsletter editor Shawn Nguyen [email protected]
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 $10 per month, and $75 per year (12 issues). A full-page ad is $50 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 HBS Board.
