Bonsai tree: Bonsai Bark’s Weekly Wire #5

Loud and clear. This magnificent Fukien tea and it’s perfect pot speak for themselves, so I won’t say anything. Except that it’s from Taiwan Bonsai World (facebook), the botanical name is  Carmona microphylla and the artist is HUANG, Qing-Quan.

Post your upcoming events here (in the comments below) and we’ll feature them in our next Weekly Wire. Most calendars on bonsai sites only run through this year, and don’t have much in the way of events this time of year anyway. It would be good if people would start putting up next year’s events (a few have begun, but the pickings are quite slim) so we’d have more to tell you about.

A sweet fall color larch planting from the North American Collection

(Les bonsaïs nord-américains) at the Montreal Botanical Garden.

The North American Collection is one of several world-class bonsai collections at these fabulous gardens.

Tradition in bonsai. Our old friend and colleague Andy Rutledge (The Bonsai Journal) puts the following question to five prominent bonsai artists: What is the role of tradition in the art of bonsai? Andy also has an excellent, in-depth article titled Life at a Bonsai Nursery about time he spent working at New England Bonsai Gardens.

Roy Nagatoshi’s colorful floral pattern shirt at a Bonsai Society of Greater St Louis workshop. Roy is the proprietor of Fuji Bonsai and a much loved bonsai teacher to many.



The Ottawa Bonsai Society website features galleries, articles and calendars of upcoming meetings and events.


Bay Area Bonsai riches. You can enjoy a ‘bring your own bonsai’ workshop at the Bonsai Garden at Lake Merritt (Oakland CA) the 4th Sunday of each month. Kathy Shaner, one of the West’s most distinguished bonsai artists, is the curator, though it’s not clear if and when she ever leads the monthly workshops.

Stay posted for more on this excellent bonsai garden. Their site is exceptionally rich with events, photos and more, and worth continued exploration.



Bonsai Detective Art Contest Winner. Congratulations to Dave Piemme, the winner of our Bonsai Detective Art Contest. We’ll have more to say about Dave and the contest in our next Weekly Wire, so stay posted.

Fall Color: In the Foliage, In the Garden, and In the Collections.

At the US National Arboretum. November 5.

Another worthy Bottlebrush. In our last Weekly Wire we featured a Bottlebrush from the National Bonsai & Penjing Collection of Australia, which led me to comment that I didn’t think I’d ever seen an impressive Bottlebrush bonsai before. Now, thanks to Bruce Winter (Volcano Hawaii), I’ve now seen another even better Bottlebrush bonsai. Too bad it’s not flowering in this photo, but still…. BTW, there’s an article about Bruce in the Redwood Empire Bonsai Society newsletter.

It’s a mystery. Neea buxifolia, root-over-rock. You don’t see too many of Neea bonsai.

I’d like to tell you who this one belongs to, but lost the link and artist’s name. Anyone?

It’s about time. Stone Lantern’s immensely popular Okatsune Sharpening Stone is finally back in stock. It’s popularity derives from he fact that one side is rounded so it’s perfect for sharpening round blades. And like all things Okatsune, the quality is unrivaled.

Kevin Wilson’s handiwork from a bonsai carving demo in Croatia last month (bonsai4me). I’ve been a fan of Kevin’s daring approach to carving every since we ran Styling and English Yew in Bonsai Today 106.

Spain’s bonsai hotspot. This google map shows ten bonsai destinations around Madrid. I haven’t been there, nor did I check to see if each one is legit, but still, Madrid looks like a pretty good place for bonsai lovers.


A peaceful autumn day. From the Rosade Bonsai Studio newsletter.

Source: Bonsai Bark Read more!

Seasonal bonsai

The charm of the wooden tree is not only to its full splendor color of its crown, but also in the nude forms of the seasonal trees, which offer excellent decorative solutions, especially when the selected tree style represents aesthetic achievement, commendable.
To grow these trees in a container, you must know the characteristics of each instance, collect data that it requires and that it prefers, while being in the natural environment. For example, Birch (Betula Sp.) requires a lot of light and water in a dry and cool environment. Hornbeam (Carpinus Sp.) needs to be in the shadow, at least in the summer, and large quantities of water, not too hot and any dry climate. In the same time, to Willows (Salix Sp.) humidity must be permanent, it leaches flooding satellite water and prefers solar space with sharply continental climate.

Most of these species have a varied range of requirements that are broadly similar for all. Work on trimming a certain size of wood branches should be done in late winter when vegetable juice have not yet come up, and young shoots should be particularly frequently in spring and autumn to regulate the growth of leaves and twigs.

Typically, in each tree specie, there are several types suitable for containers, and you should choose those which have special nature for becoming a bonsai.
To the recommended eligibility requirements include: slow growth, small size and tiny leaves, while by aesthetic criteria (color leaves and flowers, appearance or crown form) they may not be suitable.
The specie that receives the necessary nutrition and attacked by pests or disease is more likely to survive than the plant grown in the wrong circumstances. Despite this, in each species there are specific diseases, which you need to know and recognize before they appear.

Other problems are because of overcrowding ornamental plants occur in the area of growing, which are transmitted from each other. Other causes are the conditions and lack of ventilation of abnormal moisture in plants. Selectable style cultivation of any kind of seasonal tree must be implemented on the basis of the extent prescribed by the nature.
The most practical and the recommended way to acquire new instances of a bonsai are already seedlings into close on the development of the grown plant in container. Particular pleasure represents cultivation of trees from seed, although it requires a lot of time to wait to grow by an adult bonsai.
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