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 15th 2012

President Rita Curbow 408.732.4957 Vice President Charlene Fischer Recording Secretary & Contributing Editor Dave Curbow Treasurer Suresh ‘Mo’ Mohan Corresponding Secretary & Publisher Bang Vo Librarian Zoltan ‘Z’ Gulyas Benefit Drawing Lynne O’Dell Hospitality Bang Vo Past President Jerry Carpenter BOARD OF DIRECTORS Michael Greenstein Lynne O’Dell Helen Reist Stephanie North Jim Thompson Mark O’Brien

The Bonsai Corner

Refreshments June: Rita & Dave Curbow July: Kim Dang & Laurel Dent Hospitality June: Stephanie North July: Mark O’Brien Services Benefit Drawing—Open Library—Open

June Program Our June meeting will be a workshop led by bonsai artist Ted Matson from Southern California. Ted has received numerous awards for his trees and work including the 1999 JAL 100 World Best Bonsai award, multiple John Naka awards, and a lifetime service award from GSBF. He is a co-founder of the California Shohin Society and a past president of GSBF. Ted says a primary goal in his lectures and demonstrations is to help people improve their abilities to recognize potential bonsai and help people understand how to realize that potential through creative design and proper styling techniques. Ted's bonsai are known and appreciated for their proportion, refinement and detail. Members are asked to bring in one established/advanced bonsai they need assistance with. Maybe you know there's something "wrong" about your tree but you can't quite put your finger on it. Maybe you haven't selected the right "front" for it. Maybe it's "leggy" but you can't figure out how to get it to create ramified branches. Maybe you need to fill in a "hole" in the canopy of your tree but don't know if you should go the route of grafting or simply rewiring existing branches. This can also be an excellent opportunity to get expert advice on one of your 2013 or 2014 show trees. For members who don't have an established/advanced bonsai to bring, this is still a great learning opportunity. Beginners in particular will benefit by learning what to look for when choosing bonsai material. Everyone is encouraged to ask questions. The more questions, the more we all learn. For those of you new to bonsai and to refresh everyone else's memory, included is an excerpt from the July, 2010 Kusamura newsletter that discusses the general guidelines for good tree design. Show and Tell: June-flowering trees, sub-tropicals, shohin, etc. ----- CLUB NEWS Welcome New Members The club happily welcomes Desmond Johnson, Marsha and John Mekisich, and Danny Poon who joined at our May meeting! Library Update Zoltan 'Z' Gulyas has returned from his travels and has volunteered to take over as librarian! I know all of you will want to show Zoltan how much you appreciate his efforts by stopping by the library table at our June meeting and possibly checking something out for further perusal.

Dolor Sit Amet General Tree Design Guidelines (First appeared in Kusamura's July, 2010 newsletter courtesy of Jerry Carpenter) There are a number of guidelines intended to help understand or learn what makes a good or bad design. Guidelines aren’t written in stone, but are best practices. By understanding, and mastering these you’ll know when it’s appropriate to “break the rules” and create a unique bonsai. The following are some guidelines:

• The trees' outline should be roughly triangular when seen from the front. (Drawing by Alex Loughry of a maple in our recent show)

• There should be a greater mass of foliage behind the tree than in

front so as to create a sense of depth. This should be roughly triangular when viewed from the top.

• Trees should be three-dimensional and not appear flat when viewed from the side.

• Generally, tree trunks should not lean backwards or forwards although the top (apex) should lean forward. This has been described as “bowing toward the viewer.”

• The trunk must taper from its thinnest point at the apex to its widestpoint at its base. A gradual taper is preferable to an abrupt one. Half to two-thirds of the trunk should be visible from the front to reveal the structure of the trunk.

• Trunks that slope in any direction should begin to slope at ground level. It looks odd to have an upright trunk that suddenly starts to slope to one side.

• Informal forms should have turns or bends that diminish in size and length as the eye travels from trunk base to apex.

• Branches usually don’t grow at the very bottom of the tree. They normally start about one-third to one-half of the way up the trunk.

• The first branch should point towards the left or the right when the tree is viewed from the front. The second branch should be on the opposite side of the tree, and remaining branches should alternate

Timely Work Schedule Based on San Francisco Bay Area Climate by Mitsuo Umehara

Early June

1. Watering is the most important task now Train yourself not only to see, but to able to FEEL the degrees of dryness on each tree and water appropriately. Tag the trees needing special attention as a reminder.

2. Inspect and treat your trees for insects Look for the Juniper Twig Girdler that kills juniper branchlets. See http://capitalbonsai.wordpress.com/2012/02/29/juniper-twig-girdler/ Caterpillars eat deciduous leaves. Scale insects, pine bark aphids, chermis, moths (primarily a concern for Satsuki azaleas), and red spider mites will attach your trees. Keep watchful eyes for them and spray as they appear before they do any harm. Ultrafine or similar sprays will handle most pests, but may not be effective on Juniper Twig Girdler. Pyrethrin spray may work better, and is fairly safe – except you need to avoid exposing cats, fish and bees. You need to spray twice - in early June and mid-July to kill Girdlers.

3. Scion Grafting Now is an ideal time to graft Satsuki, maple and needle juniper. The scion is grafted on the trunk or along a branch where further branching is needed. The method of grafting is called "side-graft". Be sure to select mature, new buds. Cover with a plastic sandwich bag to protect the scion

Dolor Sit Amet sides. • No branch should lie directly above another. • No branch should cross another, or the trunk – when seen from the

front of the tree. • All branches should exhibit taper from trunk to tip. • All branches should be shaped similarly to each other and should

reflect the movement (or lack of) in the trunk. • Branches pointing directly forward, towards the viewer, should only

appear in the upper third of the tree. • No two branches should appear from the same place on the trunk. • Group plantings or trees with multiple trunk forms should have an

overall triangular outline; this triangular shape should not be symmetrical.

• Generally, an odd number of trees are preferable in a group, although two is also acceptable. For example, 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, and 9. Four trees are considered unlucky in Japan and are avoided.

• The tallest tree should be planted highest in the pot. • Roots/nebari should run flat along the surface of the compost and

not be raised out of the soil (except for trees grown in a true exposed-root style).

• Root spread should reflect the form of the tree and appear to anchor the tree firmly into the soil. For trees with upright forms, the roots should radiate evenly from around the base of the trunk. For slanting forms or cascades, the roots should appear stronger on the opposite side of the trunk to the direction of the lean.

• Space in the pot should be left to imply a natural expanse of open ground.

• Multi-trunked trees should have all their stems rising from ground level and not from part way up the trunk.

May Meeting Recap In addition to adding four new members to our club roster at our May meeting, we had some additional guests who we hope to see again in the future. Everyone was feeling relaxed after our April show and ready for a fresh perspective and apparently a new tree. John Thompson provided us with a very informative demonstration on a fabulous cork bark oak. Good job John! Ticket sales were up and we even thought we were going to run out of tickets before the drawing. Dave Curbow provided us with the final humor of the evening when he realized he had thrown his winning ticket into a trash bin. It was a fun evening and congratulations Dave! And special thanks to everyone who helped set up and clean up at the end. Upcoming July: Pine workshop led by Lonnie McCormick. Members will be asked to bring one of their pines in. August: No-meeting. Club garden tour on August 18 or 19 and a car pool trip to the REBS show in Santa Rosa on August 25 or 26. Details to follow. September: Demonstration by bonsai master Kathy Shaner.

after the grafting.

4. Wire new growth on deciduous trees This type of wiring is done only where it is needed for the sake of looks. One month is all that is needed to train such young branchlets; so don't forget to remove the wire.

5. Eliminate yellowed needles from Shimpaku, cut back, work on jins and wire.

Mid June 6. Early summer is the second season to transplant. a. Five-needle pine: When the needles on new candles start to open, you may begin to transplant and can continue transplanting for a month after that. Remember to mix in some micorrhizae (white root bacteria) from old soil. b. Follow spring instructions for transplanting other plants missed during that time. Later part of June: 7. Cut back overgrown grasses, Zebra grass, Blood grass, etc. It will look nice in the fall, perfect to appreciate the colors. For SASA bamboo, pull the core/center out to control its height. 9. All transplanting of Satsuki should be done by the end of this month. Some Satsuki varieties bloom late. Do not transplant these until next spring in March. However, after care must be given in same manner as the other.

Dolor Sit Amet

Election / Installation of Officers and Board of Directors This month we will hold the election and installation of Officers and Board of Directors nominated last month for the 2012–2013 term. The nominees are: • Rita Curbow — President • Charlene Fischer — Vice President • Mo Suresh — Treasurer • Dave Curbow — Recording Secretary • Bang Vo — Corresponding Secretary, Publisher, and Hospitality • Michael Greenstein — continuing board member • Lynne O’Dell — continuing board member • Helen Reist — continuing board member • Barbara Shahinian — new board member • Jim Thompson — renewing board member • Mark O’Brien — renewing board member The club thanks Jim Thompson and Janet Refvem for contacting people and providing our slate of nominees. During the business part of our meeting we will hold our election and then swear in those that are elected. Prior to the vote, we will open the floor for any additional nominees from the club at large. Events

The calendar for June is pretty sparse – nothing locally in the Bay Area. See GSBF Calendar for updates

Kusamura Bonsai Club

3580 Butcher Drive Santa Clara, CA 95051