Table of Contents

Introduction

Philosophy

A Point of View

An American Attitude

The Hard Facts

Rocks and Stones

Suiseki

Care of Bonsai

Propagation of Plants

Sex and the Single Plant

Repotting and Root Pruning

Root Pruning

Fertilizing

A Tree in Decline

Watering

Spring Chores

Summer Care

Fall is Coming

Treasure Hunting

Bits and Pieces

Winter Care

Resources

Bonsai Books

Plant Names

The Show’s the Thing

Tokonoma

Show Preparation

Specific Species

Boxwoods

Japanese Maples

Crabapples

Olives

Elms

The Genus Prunus

Three Tough Trees

Tools and Such

The Cracked Pot

Tool Care

Afterward

Introduction

By Curtis Ritchie and Leonard Zunin MD

Philosophy

A Point of View

As a product of a western culture, a California culture, I sometimes think I utterly miss the oriental point of view.  The notion that logic is reason, mathematics are exact, and the present is a moving point between the past and the future.  Perhaps that is a bit of mental clutter that allows for the avoidance of true reality.

When looking at a rock that may become a viewing stone, what prompts the transition? Color?  Texture? Shape? Or some haunting ghost of original creation? Is this the form that can touch the mired soul that wanders in the ancient embers of some long ago star burst? The rock gains power over us, not by what it was, but what we put of ourselves into it.

Perhaps it is here that we occidentals fail to communicate with the oriental appreciation. The Chinese have Tao and the Japanese Shinto. Their natural world is alive with spirits to be honored with ritual and myth.  The rock becomes a stone because of its spiritual value, because of the deity of which it is a part. As for us it is the shape, texture, color, no more.  It may even satisfy our aesthetic sense while lacking the depth of a union with our spirit. Even our trees become a technical exercise through chemistry and artificial soils that never contain a bit of dirt.   

Growing bonsai or viewing suiseki can be the western stark reality of a plant in a pot or a rock on a board. There is also the eastern view that is artistic, spiritual, mystical, that nudges us into another level of reality.

An American Attitude

I hope most of you can take a few minutes to read the editorial in Issue 82 of Bonsai Today. “One of the critiques is that we don’t publish a gallery of the best American bonsai.”

All right, Mr. Editor, you’re in the business. The fine bonsai are out there. Do it!

I can only speak for myself, though I suspect most folks who practice the art are of similar ilk. I do it because I enjoy it. No project, no ego trip, no grand illusions of international acclaim. To strive for some creation that a third party says is better than what someone else has done is a fool’s errand. Competition is not for bonsai. Bonsai has more to do with Zen or Tao than free enterprise.

Whether a tree is “right” is up to the one that hauled all that water, clipped, fed, and wired this small attempt at art. If the grower can say “I like that” then, for the moment, the tree and the artist are one. If not, the process continues.

I applaud those who have acquired great expertise from long labor and study. We are fortunate that some are willing to share it with us. Because of that, some of us are better at helping little trees along, some much better. We are in their debt. But we are still just messing around in the back yard. That is where I want to be. Fifty years ago there were very few to show us what to do. To grow bonsai in the forties was to invent the art. Things have changed and greatly improved. There is no doubt that there is value in publishing a gallery of the best American trees. I don’t think I’ll be in it but I may know someone who will.

Meanwhile, the same issue of Bonsai Today has a gallery of olive trees from Spain. A great tree that does very well in the Napa Valley. Maybe better than grapes.

The Hard Facts

Rocks and Stones

Somehow little rocks and stones encourage very large imaginations, both in time and size. A little rock with a vein of quartz becomes a waterfall on a distant mountain. Old is older than us; new is younger than us as we measure the world against the time of our lives. It is far too brief a measure.

I look at a suiseki with a peak, a canyon, a meadow that is a reminder of somewhere in the California coast range, old and gently curved, worn by ten thousand of our generations. It is a serpentineous state rock that has been battered in some creek and polished with sand. It reclines on a board of dark wood that is gently molded. It is not a statement but an evocation of another time and place. Suiseki is nature condenses to a table-sized world that our imagination, our yearning, our dreams convert to a vast idyllic landscape. For the Japanese the stone is found complete and is displayed simply and unaltered.

The other large group of viewing stones is the Chinese gongshi or scholar’s rocks. The Chinese introduced the notion of viewing stones to the Japanese a long time ago.

The art developed in a different direction in Japan. Stones tend to be horizontal with subtle shapes and simple stands. Chinese yongshi can be very complex with many crags and caves. The older ones may have the owner’s name inscribed with accompanying poetry. The early stones were generally displayed in shallow bronze bowls filled with sand. From about the seventeenth century they started using wood stands for the presentation of the stone. Some are works of art in themselves. The Chinese also prized stones that would ring like a bell when struck. Both cultures seemed to gather up those stones that could send the human imagination soaring.

Suiseki

When does a rock become a stone? When does the stone achieve aiseki or stone appreciation? When does the thing before us transform imagination into fantasy?

Rather than ponder the wandering path to some blissful inner world, let’s go find a rock we like,  put it on  stand, and see where it can take us. Such journeys usually have a zen master or Shinto priest for  a guide and require years of study. Let’s do it in quick steps (note that ‘easy’ has been omitted).

Find a creek or river full oft tumbled, worn rocks. Most any forks off the Eel or Klamath are excellent. Closer to home is Dry Creek near Middletown, and Pope Creek from Pope Valley to Lake Berryessa. Take a small backpack to carry rocks and  short iron bar for digging. Any stream that drains an area that is rich in serpentine, jade, chert, or jasper is a good bet. Avoid granite, it doesn’t tumble well.

The hard part is to park your car and get out and walk. The best places are the hardest to walk in. The next step is to learn to see stones amid tens of thousands of rocks. We all look. It takes practice to see what we are looking for.

Some books that may help:

Suiseki by Felix G. Rivera

Stone Appreciation- Suiseki and its use with Bonsai by Vincent A. Covello and Yuji Yoshimura

Suiseki and Viewing Stones by Melba Tucker

Worlds Within Worlds by Richard Rosenblum

Editor’s note:

We have some very knowledgeable people within our club: Don, Frank Takahashi, Bill Elledge, and John Quinn to name a few.

The Napa Valley Museum at the Veteran’s Home in Yountville has a wonderful collection of suiseki, and other stones collected over a lifetime by Rosaline Johnson and her husband. Rosaline is well known and loved by many of our members.

Care of Bonsai

Propagation of Plants

Making more of some plants is not difficult. Plants that make more of themselves without us helping we tend to call ‘weeds’. If you want the plant to be just like the parent, a clone, grow it from a cutting or graft it to a compatible root stock. This is a good time in the year to propagate from cuttings. Willows, geraniums, and ivy are almost fool-proof.

There are some things you need to know for successful propagation. First, use only actively growing soft or hardwood. Wood that has fruit or flowers, even buds, is very reluctant to root. Use a rooting hormone, either liquid or powder, as per directions on the bottle. The planting medium can be any fast draining mix. I prefer ready-made seed starting mix because it has been sterilized.

I put the mix in a shallow terra cotta pot. Fill the pot level and don’t pack it down. The cuttings should be three to four inches long. Remove all leaves except the tip and one leaf below it. With powdered hormone, dip the cutting in water, the hormone, and stick it in the soil. Always keep the cuttings in a cup of water until planted. 

Water in thoroughly with a gentle spray. Let the water compact the soil. Some growers prefer to place the pot in a clean plastic bag to maintain a higher humidity. If you do this, put some stakes, three ort four in the pot to hold the plastic above the cutting’s tips. Be sure to ventilate the bag daily and never let the soil get dry. Keep out of direct sun.

Depending on species, the plants should be ready to transplant anytime from a month to a year.

A good book on the subject is Making More Plants by Ken Druse

Sex and the Single Plant

How come your holly tree has no berries while the pyracantha is loaded with fruits? The crabapple blooms like crazy, yet only has a few apples. It is all sex folks.

Things like pyracantha and cotoneaster are self-pollinating. They can sexually reproduce all alone. Crabapples need a pollinator—pollen from another crabapple tree. The holly goes one step further with male plants and female plants. They both bloom, but only females make berries when pollinated by a nearby male (that’s where the bees come in). No sex, no fruit, no seeds, no more little plants.

There is usually a close symbiotic relationship between the pollen carrier and the plant. Some animal pollinators are bats, flies, bees, or birds. As bonsai growers, we need to know whether our plants are self-pollinators, cross-pollinators (between two closely related plants), or males and females in separate plants. These plants need to be close together and visited by an animal pollinator.

The next big group is those plants pollinated by the wind; primarily conifers and grasses. There isn’t much you can do to help them. Just stay upwind if you have allergies.

So if you have a tree that should have fruits or berries or whatever package its seeds come in, and it is barren, take a look at its sex life. Discretely of course.

Repotting and Root Pruning

It is the time of year when bonsai folks get their hands dirty.

All that repotting and root pruning. All those decisions about which pot looks best with which tree, what soil mix to use and the best time to repot each tree. It usually boils down to the pot you’ve got, a mix that drains well, and when the weather and time create the opportunity.

While some trees will tolerate being root-bound, all will eventually go into decline if not root pruned.

Crab apples and most elms need it every year while some conifers go four or five years without attention. Look at the drain hole, if there are roots coming out, it needs attention.

It seems every grower has favorite soil mix, most of which don’t even include any soil. It starts with cactus mix (Whitney Farms or Bonanza) and add some generous amount of perlite with peat, compost, or crushed lava rock depending upon species. if it grows up on a mountain, it probably wants more perlite and rock or sand; in the valley, it gets more compost or peat. There are three important things about potting soil—drainage, drainage, and drainage.

pick your pot to suit your taste and pocket book. If it doesn’t work, you can change it next year.

Tip—How do you get the moss off the tree with delicate bark?

Use a small artist’s brush and paint the moss with vinegar. The moss dies while the bark is left intact.

Root Pruning

The seasons seem to be coming around sooner or my aging internal clock is running faster. On the second of February most of the elms are budding out, as are the Japanese maples (one has almost three inches of new growth.) I am hoping we have cool days and frosty nights for a few more weeks.

The best time to do root pruning and repotting is just before the tree breaks dormancy. Since we live in an imperfect and changing world, just make the best of it. Not to root prune an elm because it has budded out may be worse than not doing it at all.

Those trees that produce abundant roots (elms, maples, hornbeams, willows, bald cypress, most pines, and a few more), should be root pruned every one to two years while young and every three to five years after about ten years. I always put the month and year of pruning (and repotting) on the plant label.

Another indicator is roots coming out the drain hole, surface roots on the inner edge of the pot, or the tree rising in the pot. Root pruning is not for the lazy or faint hearted. It is somewhat brutal and most always dirty work. The novice tends to prune too little. (If you saw John Thompson’s demo on an elm, you are fortunate, he did it right.)

For some guidance, when I repot something from a one or five gallon container I usually cut off one third of the bottom of the root ball. Try to reduce the diameter by one to three inches and plant in a terra cotta pot. In one to three years, remove one third to one half of the root ball and rake the sides back two to three inches. Use a chopstick or root hook to remove at least eighty percent of the old soil.

Prune out any taproot and other roots larger than a pencil.

You should now have a mat of fine roots about two inches thick. Pot into a bonsai pot and be sure to anchor the root mass into the pot with wire. Work the new soil into the roots with a chopstick and water thoroughly.

Soil Mixes

Repotting time is not far off. It is time to start gathering up the things needed. Getting what you need now is much easier than waiting for that post-January collapse from the holidays.

Start thinking about what you will need in pots. Little pots are reasonable, mid-range pots are a bit expensive, (top quality very expensive), and large pots are budget breakers.

Try to plan ahead and spread the damage. Local sources are VanWinden Nursery in Napa, Mid City Nursery in American Canyon, and Home Depot. Out of town are Sumigawa Nursery in Cotati and Lone Pine in Sebastopol. There are many mail order nurseries. Don’t forget the drain hole mesh and wire to tie down the root ball.

There are many choices for soil mix. I’ve bought trees planted in adobe clay and pure pumice. Neither tree was doing very well. The Japanese like Akadama, which is a low-fired clay in pellets. Sonoma Horticulture Nursery grows in wood chips. Both these systems work well for them. When thinking soil mix think drainage AND nutrients. Some of these professional mixes are really hydroponic mediums that drain fast and contain essentially no nutrient.

Backyard bonsai need something closer to dirt with organic material. I use one part standard cactus mix, one part pumice (quarter inch and under), one part orchid bark. It should be screened after it’s mixed to remove the fine particles. They will clog the soil and the drain hole. I never add fertilizer to a soil mix. Add it in the spring when the plant needs it. Instead of pumice, you can use Perlite™, vermiculite™, coarse sand, or decomposed granite. Instead of cactus mix, use standard potting mix and double the amount of pumice. These mixes have some nutrients but you still need to fertilize through the growing season.

Pruning

Bonsai are pruned to achieve at least two objectives, shaping and to maintain vigor. An unpruned potted plant will eventually go into decline and die.

Bonsai need to be pruned both above and below the ground. Material removed from the top and bottom should be somewhat equal. With a few exceptions, roots should only be pruned when the plant is dormant. Experts suggest that roots be pruned in early spring, when the buds begin to swell. That’s fine if you have just a few trees to do; if you have over a hundred (like the author, Ed.) you better start sooner. I start root pruning after the leaves have dropped or when we have a hard frost. On a tree’s first root pruning, be sure to remove the tap root. It will probably be coiled up in the pot. Remove most every root more than half the diameter of a pencil. It is the fine roots that do most of the work.

Not everything will tolerate heavy root pruning. Elms, Zelkova, maples, juniper, and black pine are among those that will.

Branch pruning is where art and science come together. Pruning is essentially shaping the structure of the tree. Always keep in mind that the plant needs air and light. While the pruning builds the framework, pinching and plucking refine the form with fine branching or ramification. Pinch elms, oaks, maples, serissa, etc., plucking—pulling the tips of the branches off with your fingers— is used with spruce, junipers, cryptomeria, and, to some extent, pine candles.

Most bonsai beginners can really be intimidated by the need to cut up their tree. Look at the tree, study it before you start cutting. Try to have some mental picture of the desired outcome. Say you have an elm and you want to define the limb. Remove everything going straight up and down and start pinching the tips of branches parallel to the ground. Remember that each leaf grows from a node that is a potential branch. Elms have alternate leaves, so where you pinch it will determine where the new branch develops. Plants with opposite leaves (boxwoods, olives, etc.) will make growth from both sides of the stem.

Don’t be afraid to prune and shape the tree. As long as it continues to grow, your mistakes can be corrected.

Fertilizing

This is another area of bonsai culture that is loaded with opinions and recipes. One grower swears by a particular brand of chemical fertilizer, another adamant about organics, while the fellow who wears a belt and suspenders opts for a little of both just to be on the safe side. They are probably all right in one degree or another. Very likely they are also all fairly successful with their trees. There is another group that fully intends to feed their trees but rarely does it. You can tell by looking at the trees.

First, let’s dispel a myth. Plants take up nutrients through the roots. Foliar feeding is baloney. Leaves are little factories that produce carbohydrates for the plant. They use fertilizer, along with other things to run the chemistry of the plant with the energy of the sun. So put the fertilizer in the soil and in contact with the roots.

Second, whatever fertilizer taken into the plant must be dissolved in water and must pass through the cell membrane. Chemical food, man-made fertilizer, can be liquid, granulated, or pellets that are temperature sensitive. They readily dissolve in water and are instantly available to the plant. They must be given at the right concentration and the right time. Too much is lethal.

Most chemical fertilizers also contain micronutrients, mostly metals in very small amounts that are essential for plant growth.

For bonsai it is suggested that the concentration be reduces by half and frequency of application be doubled. Example: product directions say two tablespoons to a gallon applied monthly. For bonsai, because of the pot restriction, you would use one tablespoon to one gallon applied every two weeks. Never apply fertilizer to a dry plant. Soil should be moist.

Organic fertilizer comes closer to what a plant would get in a natural setting. Avoid material from animals that are grown in commercial operations such as cattle feed lots or commercial chickens. They are doped with hormones, antibiotics, vitamins, etc. most of which is not good for plants.

A simple recipe for organic fertilizer is three parts cottonseed meal, one part bone meal, one part blood meal, one part bat guano, and one part kelp meal. Apply at the rate of one heaping tablespoon per quart of soil volume monthly.

Some prefer the fertilizer cakes. To make the cakes add enough fish emulsion to make the mix about the same as cookie dough. Spread about one inch thick on a cookie sheet and dry in the sun. Cut into three quarter inch cubes and place on the soil surface at about six to eight inch intervals. Caution: animals eat them and they draw flies!

A Tree in Decline

Now and then, for any number of reasons, some apparent, some not, a tree will start going downhill. Some lower branches die. New growth is restrained. It seems prone to insect attack or fungus infection.

With bonsai, the most obvious cause is too long in the same pot. It is root bound and soil starved. Most trees need to be root pruned and repotted every three to four years. Most deciduous trees should be done every third year, flowering trees every two years, some willows twice a year, some conifers every five to six years. If the tree seems to be severely stressed, wait til the buds start to swell in February or march, take it out of the old pot and remove ALL of the old soil. Repot in a container at least twice as big as the old pot. (The Japanese will root prune and plant such trees in the ground for about three years.) Fertilize every two weeks. SuperThrive™ once a month may be good insurance.

Be diligent with water and feeding. When it starts to grow place it in morning sun or 50% lath, no afternoon sun the first year. Do not wire or defoliate. Generally, the first spring the tree will start to rebound. Allow the tree to grow. Don’t try to style it or do any heavy pruning.

There is an unwritten law regarding bonsai that I have heard from more than one master and several growers. A healthy, thriving tree can tolerate heavy wiring, aggressive pruning and various other things we do to them and continue to do very well. A stressed or diseased tree puts up with very little before it dies. Any plant must have a proper balance of light, water and nutrients. Too often the bonsai enthusiast focuses on style and art at the expense of nurture and good horticulture. The result can be a well-styled dead tree. So let’s be holistic and be artistic farmers.

Watering

A subject not adequately covered in most bonsai books, with good reason! There is no formula that tells how much water to apply to a given volume of soil over a specific time. I learned a trick from an Italian gardener. Put your finger on the soil surface. If it feels moist and/or soil sticks to your finger, it is probably wet enough. There is also a large element of green thumb common sense.  A plant’s water needs vary by temperature, amount of sun, humidity, wind, growth rate, species requirements, type of container, type of soil, and several other things I haven’t thought of yet.

Rule one—when watering, soak the entire root ball. Although most bonsai pots don’t hold much water, don’t expect two cups of water to soak two quarts of soil. Dry soil can shrink and pull away from the pot; then, while water streams out the drain, little water enters the root ball. The plant dies of dehydration although you water faithfully every day. Solution: immerse the pot in a pan of water up to the pot rim for at lest one hour. Large pots may even need to soak overnight.

Once the root ball is saturated don’t water again until the soil feels dry, sometimes a pot needs to be filled several times in succession, if it retains little water, for the rootball to get wet.

Rule two—a plant’s water needs are species specific. Crabapple and hawthorns use twice the water compared to junipers and  pines. Some things like willows, bald cypress, or wisterias like to be in a pan of water continually. Others, like elms, maples, or pomegranates would die in such an environment.  Also, plants that are drought tolerant in the ground, are not so in the restrictions of a  pot. Some examples are grapevines, Australian tea, olives, and black pines. The pot doesn’t allow the plant to put roots down ten to twenty feet for water.

Rule three—check your trees frequently. Dry north winds before noon can cause problems. A cool morning doesn’t demand much water. But, you won’t know if you don’t look.

The best time to water: Before the plant dries out! Most experts say water in the morning, but I do most of my watering after 4:00pm. Just be sure the foliage is dry before the sun goes down.

A final word. Watering isn’t optional. Time must be set aside for it. It must be one when the tree needs it. If it doesn’t fit your schedule, try Suiseki, they are really drought tolerant.

Spring Chores

Time to start a fertilizing regime. Whatever you use, mix at half strength every two weeks. Some people have success with alternating feeding with organics one feeding and chemical feeding the next time.

Another tactic is Schultz Liquid of VF-11 every time you water. The dose seems miniscule, but follow the directions or risk burning the roots. It might be better for you to fertilize full strength once a month. That can be deadly to a plant in a small pot (roots don’t really burn the high concentration of chemical in the soil will draw the water out of the root hairs, killing them).

Timed release fertilizers like Osmocote™ work best on older, established plants. If you root-pruned it last winter, liquid or organics will be more available to the plant. Azaleas are a special case. Feed now with 0-10-10. Start the acid balanced fertilizer after they finish blooming. Don’t use a soil acidifier such as iron sulphate at the same time you fertilize. The combination can burn the roots.

Now is the time to be pinching back elms, maples, flowering cherries, all those trees where you want to improve the ramification.

Take back each stem to two leaf nodes. Elms can really keep you busy pinching back. Some will need it at least weekly. Plants that bloom on new wood, like crepe myrtle, should not be pinched back,

While you are out looking at your trees, check for ants. Generally the ants will find aphids or scale. They will bring them in and put them on the tree. Also, ants will sometimes build a nest in the pot. They do no direct damage but the soil become so porous it won’t hold moisture. Drench the pot with pyrethrum mixed to spray strength. Snails and slugs are out and hungry. They can eat every leaf on a small mame (under six inches tall) elm. The tree rarely recovers.

Also snail bait early and often, I use Cooke’s Granules™. You can also use copper strips all the way around the table or the single tree. The critters won’t cross the copper. A pie tin filled with stale beer is quite lethal to snails and slugs.

Enjoy April!

Summer Care

The summer solstice has come and gone. The days are hotter and slowly growing shorter. Little trees in little pots can get  into big trouble very fast. Trees in the sun that develop a brown spot that covers most of the middle of the leaf are probably sunburned. Even well watered trees can get sunburn. Most vulnerable are beeches, hornbeams, maples and some flowering cherries. Move the tree out of the afternoon sun. Usually remove leaves that are more than fifty percent burnt. The only advantage is that it makes the tree look better, though don’t remove more than ten percent of the total leaves.

If the leaves are getting brown on the edges it is most likely a lack of water. you can also have very moist soil but a hot dry wind. The plant just can’t get enough water through the vascular system to the leaf. Move the tree to the shade and mist it, preferably continuously while there is wind. Most deciduous trees will recover but some conifers, especially Hinoki cypress and five needle pines simply die.

One aspect of summer care that  generally gets missed is soil temperature. Dark colored ceramic pots or black plastic pot collect the most heat. Above 100ºF the small feeder rootlets start to die. As the temperature rises, more roots die. Some plants can recover from severe wilting of top growth but dead roots tend to stay dead and can profoundly stress the plant. Keep dark plant containers of any kind out of the hot afternoon sun!

Fall is Coming

Fall is just a little way off by the weather we are having. It is hot today but those little trees know what time it is. It isn’t a calendar that tells them but how much time the sun is in the sky. They have grown accustomed to the wobble of the planet. With the change, the needs of plants change and we need to be aware of them. Just the right amount of water last month will no doubt be too much this month. As the tree slows down, slowly reduce the water. (Beware of those hot north winds we get in September and October.)

Sometimes in the adjustment some leaves get sunburned. I usually take off leaves that are more than fifty percent burnt or have severe insect damage. It is more for cosmetics than plant health.

If you have some trees that are severely burnt (maples, hornbeams, cherrys) move them to a shady spot and keep them watered.

Sometimes they go into an early dormancy and look dead, only to leaf out in the spring. Those trees that flower and fruit in the spring would benefit from some bonemeal or 0-10-10 fertilizer now and again in October, avoid nitrogen. You don’t want a lot of tender growth when the cold weather arrives. Enjoy watching the changes over the next few months.

If you missed the show at Santa Rosa last month, you missed a good one.

Most of those trees are as good as any you will see anywhere. Descriptions and pictures are never as good as being there.

Treasure Hunting

The dog days of summer. Everything slows a bit. Please be vigilant about keeping those little trees properly watered.

This is a very good time of the year to be looking for overgrown nursery stock that has bonsai potential. One kind of nursery owner is particular about maintaining quality stock. Anything not up to standards gets turned into compost. The second type thinks that the older a plant is the more valuable it becomes. Sometimes true, though not always. The third kind keeps most everything that is still alive, no matter how root bound or overgrown.

That is where you are most likely to find some overlooked treasure.

Old junipers with many scrawny branches. Always try to get lots of live branches. Only a bonsai person likes dead limbs. They are potential jin. Any plant should have green growing tips. Dead or wilted tips are water stressed from recent neglect and not likely to survive. Long naked branches with green ends are likely root burned plants. Good candidates for bonsai.

What you are really looking for is trunk size and shape. With a good trunk the top structure can be developed.

Buying the old root bound overgrown plants has a downside. It will very likely take five to ten years of care and training before you have a bonsai, about the same as collecting wild trees. The trick is in looking at old nursery stock and seeing a potential new bonsai.

One place to look is Paradise Nursery in American Canyon. Everything is 25% off.

Bits and Pieces

Seems there is another threat to our little trees. Pig and steer manure may contain fairly high levels of antibiotics that are used to increase weight gain. At levels of parts per thousand these drugs can cause a failure to thrive and/or death to some plants. I haven’t heard of any ill effects on plants we use for bonsai; only ones we eat. So let’s hear a big cheer for well-rotted bat droppings/ (The article is in the June 29, 2002 issue of Science News.)

For those of you who like to work with native oaks there is an excellent article in the summer 2002 issue of “Defenders” on S.O.D. (sudden Oak Death) another example of an alien species getting a foothold where it doesn’t belong. It is easy to spread in soil and Napa is one of the infected counties. Our oak forest could go the way of the chestnut and American elm.

While on the subject of sneaky nasty things here are some thoughts on insecticides and fungicides.

Read the whole label! Think about it. Read it again. Some of these things can do terrible things to young children, aquatic environments and helpful insects. A healthy plant can defend itself against most attacks. A stressed plant can’t. Try to use the least toxic remedy for insects and fungi. Early intervention helps, being sure the foliage is dry when the sun goes down, encourage beneficial insects, 

spray the foliage with water (especially conifers), and check new plants when you bring them home. Some insects can be picked off one at a time with tweezers. Growing bonsai is no doubt about as safe a hobby as one could find. They don’t bite, growl, or claw. They do need to be moved about, so be kind to your back. Know the full potential of the insecticides, fungicides, and insecticides you use. Be aware that pruning tools can cut flesh better than wood. Enjoy a hobby that has large benefits.

Winter Care

Leaves are gaining color. Plain green goes to reds, yellows, and orange. Some maples take on a rainbow coat. Two nights of frost brings out a lot of color. My golden larch went bright yellow and bare within a week. I suspect the ginkos will do the same. I’ve heard it said that the calendar was invented so the farmer would know when to plant. Whoever said that had never been a farmer or a gardener.

As our planet tilts and the hours of sun shrink the cold creeps in. For many of our little trees, it is a welcome rest, a time to endure until spring. Some love the cold; apples, cherries, pines, juniper, maples. Just be sure they don’t go completely dry. Trees in shallow pots (less than an inch and a half deep) need to be watered. Don’t let them remain frozen for more than 24 hours. It is the same as no water to the plant. Remember that cold comes straight down so any overhang, eaves, lath house, evergreen tree will offer some protection. It is equally important to shelter the tree from the wind, especially conifers. Most conifers never go completely dormant so wind without rain can pull the moisture out of them.

Don’t let conifers go completely dry at any time. Winter watering takes more judgment than spring and summer. A simple way to check is stick your finger into the soil. If it feels damp it is wet enough. If it feels dry or no soil sticks to your finger, water the tree.

For those who like to grow tender tropicals in our climate, good luck. The only way to ensure their survival is a heated greenhouse or heated cold frame. Things like serissa, bougainvillea, Chinese sweet plum, and most citrus are all a high risk without frost protection. I put mine under lath and hope for the best. A really cold winter and they are gone. Most of them make it and start growing again in the warmer days of spring.

Resources

Bonsai Books

A rich source of “how to” information on bonsai is books and magazines. Twenty years ago there was very little in print. Now, in the information age, there is a great abundance. Many of the good authors are English or Japanese. It is a good idea to always keep in mind that we do not have their climates or their attitudes. Consequently we must be always aware of those variances in climate, attitudes, and the nuances of language. In addition, there is information in cyberspace, but I can’t find it on the map.

For information that is geared to California the first and foremost source is “Bonsai Techniques” One and Two (two volumes) by John Naka. If you acquire no other books on bonsai, get these.

Next in line is “Basic Bonsai Design” by Dave DeGroot.. It is the text we are using in the course offered on Saturday mornings (if you enroll in that class, you get the DeGroot book and four gallon-sized trees to work on, plus the use of tools for the nominal cost of $55.00 for the six month course).

I like “The Art and Philosophy of Bonsai” by Deborah Koreshoff. It helps to keep in mind she grew up in Manchuria and currently lives in Australia. A good English author is Colin Lewis, “Bonsai Survival manual” and “The Art of Bonsai Design”.

Another delightful book is “Four Seasons of Bonsai” Kyuzo Murata. For many years he was bonswai gardener to the Imperial household of Japan.

A handy little reference book is Simon and Schuster’s “Guide to Bonsai”. For some really stunning photographs of trees try “Bonsai, the Living Art of Sculpture” by Jack Donthitt.

In magazines, I guess the leader is “Bonsai Today” from Stone Lantern Publishing. It is strongly slanted to the Japanese way of doing bonsai. For more local information, “Golden Statements”, sent to members of the Golden State Bonsai Federation is well worth the membership cost. I never miss the article by marty Mann on current things to care for your trees. Last, but certainly not least is “The Journal of the American Bonsai Society”. It comes with membership and is an excellent view of what is going on with bonsai in North America. They also offer a discount book service.

So, if you go around telling people you don’t know anything about bonsai, now you know where to look. Local bookstores will be glad to order for you.

Plant Names

Why doesn’t everyone use common English names for plants? A pine is still a pine no matter what else you call it. If you mean all pines, that works. If you mean a particular pine, it doesn’t.

Plants have Latin names for three reasons: it identifies the plant by genus, species, and variety; the name is the same worldwide. Latin is no longer spoken so it doesn’t change. An example: Buxus sempervirens pendulous aureas. Translation: weeping variegated English boxwood. The Latin name identifies the plant as Buxus (boxwood) sempervirens (English or evergreen) pendulous (hanging branches) aureas (golden). The first name, genus, is always capitalized. The second, species, is not. The varietal name is not capitalized if it is simply descriptive. If it is patented with a proper name it may be capitalized with quotation marks.

The variety name can be very important when there are hundreds or even thousands of individual varieties, or cultivars, within a particular species.

For azaleas there are six thousand named varieties, though not all are still in cultivation. There are over sixteen hundred kinds of flowering crabapples. At the turn of the century there were over seven hundred different cooking and eating apples on the market.

There are over four hundred different kinds of boxwood.

If the genus and species gives us an unchanging world recognized identity, where does all this other stuff come from? Sexual reproduction can give us mutants (changes in the DNA) or hybrids (offspring from close relatives). Plants have one more option, the witch’s broom, a cluster of mutated branches on a limb. Mutants occur at random when some outside influence changes the DNA. It can be radiation, ultraviolet light, heat, or chemicals. Hybrids may be the result of plant breeding or chance in nature. Most of these natural variations die out unless they have commercial value and are cultivated. They all need names so we can communicate about them.

The Show’s The Thing

Tokonoma

Most Japanese homes have a special place for the display of treasured objects. Often it is a bonsai with a companion plant and a scroll on the wall. It is a place to contemplate something of beauty, a moment to reflect on the natural world and quiet the mind. There is really nothing parallel in the occidental home where the focus tends to be food, TV, or getting ready to go someplace else.

One of the great benefits of bonsai is that our little tree makes up stop.

The bonsai will be what we help it to be; a clip here, a bend there. But first we must stop the chatter of the day in our minds. Pay attention to our creative side; use our horticultural skills to bring this living thing to evolving object of beauty.

The bonsai master can see the finished tree from the beginning. The rest of us must struggle to find it. The little tree tends to clear out the clutter in our heads for a little while. We have embarked upon a cooperative effort to create something fragile and beautiful.

The ancient Chinese sages usually kept a penjing (Chinese style of bonsai) on their writing desk. A favorite style was the literati, what is now called ‘bunjin’. The sparse elements leave room for the imagination.

I am sure the scholar could contemplate his tree and it would make his philosophical task easier.

Certainly I wouldn’t advocate everyone having a Tokonoma in their home. Some small quiet place for something of beauty wouldn’t hurt and might help. The treasure of bonsai may not be in showing them off but in their slow patient creation. They are always a work in progress.

Someone once asked an Indian Yoga the purpose of yoga. The reply was, “The mind is a drunken monkey. Yoga sobers up the monkey.” I’d have to suggest that growing bonsai goes a long way toward gaining a sober monkey.

Show Preparation

Some people don’t feel they have any tree good enough to show. There is no two hundred year old black pine, no twisted ancient pomegranate, and no maple with a five-inch trunk in your backyard. How about that elm you acquired five years ago and have been pinching back every two weeks forever. It’s starting to develop some ramification and look like a real little tree. Maybe you’ve been looking at it every day and didn’t notice the improvement.

To someone who has never seen it, it is a great little tree. So don’t try to compete with a bonsai master. You will not compare well. Most of us would like to see the tree you have been working on. The tree you really like and feel you have made some progress on.

A tree to show shouldn’t be in a training pot with every limb wired. A show tree needs to be well groomed and healthy. The pot should complement the tree.

They should look like a mellowed old marriage, not a recent shotgun wedding.

The pot should be clean with no detracting blemishes. Glazed pots usually clean up well with some ScotchBrite™ pads and water. Unglazed pots should be clean and wiped with a little olive oil.

Soil should be smooth and of uniform texture. A screened top

dressing is fine. 

The tree should be on a wood or stone slab or an appropriate stand or table. Remember that the focus is the tree and stands, companion plants, suiseki, or figures are to enhance the tree. So bring that tree to the show: we want to see it!

Show Time

With our show fast approaching, it is time to be considering the presentation of our efforts. The horticulture is done and the creative arts move to the fore. There are excellent books on how to display your trees. There are old and time-honored rules on what goes where and why. The why is that it all should come together to enhance the beauty and form of the tree.

There are some rules that even rebels like me observe, mostly because they work. The tree should be groomed; no overgrowth, no dead leaves, a little wire is OK, no bugs or fungus infections; just a happy, healthy little tree all cleaned up for a party. The pot should fit the tree and be spotless. Glazed pots clean up well with “ScotchBrite” pads, unglazed should get a good cleaning and a light coat of olive oil. The tree should be displayed on a stand, small table, wood or stone slab, something that enhances both the pot and the tree. 

There should be a companion piece that complements the tree. It may be a small plant, a stone, or an art figure that may be used to gain a sense of scale or distance to the tree. Scrolls can be displayed on the wall beside the tree. Its color, size, and season should complement the tree.

Try not to lose the focus of the display—the tree. Our western pragmatic mind-set seems to struggle with the “less is more” idea. Try to leave a little space for the imagination of the viewer in our artistic creations. Beauty and harmony can be inclusive goals.

Specific Species

Boxwoods

Few plants are as willing to be shaped into little trees as boxwoods and fewer still as willing to forgive our many mistakes. Maybe that is why it has been in ornamental cultivation longer than any other garden plant. The Egyptians were planting Buxus sempervirens two thousand years before the birth of Christ. Boxwood lumber is highly prized for inlay, carving, and musical instruments.

There are three primary species of boxwood: sempervirens (European or English boxwood), sinica (Chinese), and japonica (Japanese). Within these three are about three hundred named cultivars. About eight to ten of these are favored by bonsai folks.

Buxus micro[‘rfcphylla compacta goes by the name “Kingsville”. It has a small leaf, slow growing (8 to 10 inches in fifteen years), and is widely used for bonsai. Also a Buxus microphylla var. japonica is Morris Midget. It grows about twice as fast as Kingsville, larger leaves and more furrowed bark.

Among the sempervirens is the common English boxwood with a bluish-green foliage, “elegantissima” with a beautiful green and ivory variegation and “suffruticoxa” a true dwarf. Last is Buxus sinica “Wintergreen” with a small leaf and an open upright growth habit. Most of these varieties can be obtained from a nursery except Kingsville, which seems to be a bonsai specialty.

Most boxwoods aren’t particular about soil, most anything about 25% organic and good drainage. They need to be fertilized every two weeks. They have better leaf color in the shade, (sempervirens is likely to burn in full sun). Varieties that turn bronze in the winter, like Winter Gem should have the nitrogen stopped by the end of August. Boxwoods can be root-pruned and repotted any time of year. I don’t push my luck and do them late winter or early spring.

Light pruning or pinching back can be done anytime. I prefer to do heavy pruning, styling, or wiring in the winter. Plan on repotting about every three years. 

On very compact varieties I like to go through and clean out the dead leaves, spider nests, dead wood, etc. inside the plant. It improves air circulation and discourages insects.

A good reference book is the Boxwood Handbook by Lynn A. Batdorf. Publisher: American Boxwood Society.

Japanese Maples

Japanese maples have been grown as bonsai for centuries. They are forgiving of mistakes, moderately drought tolerant, and, for the most part, pest free. There are about twelve hundred named cultivars; so choosing one to grow can be a problem. Some do make better bonsai than others but don’t discount the common garden variety Acer palmatum. They are plentiful and fairly inexpensive. 

Some of the rarer dwarfs can cost thirty-five to seventy-five dollars in a gallon can. Worth the money, but not in everyone’s budget.

Most commercial nurseries propagate by cleft grafts. The trunk of the rootstock is split and a wedge of the variety to be grown is inserted, wrapped, and sealed. When the graft “takes” the root stock tree is cut off. A good graft is a smooth connection between the two pieces of wood.

Don’t buy a tree that is growing at a sharp angle. The graft area should be straight. Avoid a tree with a bulging callous at the graft. They are almost impossible to remove later and make an ugly trunk on a bonsai.

Some trees are grown from cuttings. In a prospective tree, take hold of the trunk and GENTLY move the trunk back and forth. It should feel solid, well connected to the soil. If it feels loose, it has problems you don’t need to spend your money on. Last are seedlings. They will give good trunk taper sooner than grafted or cuttings. They also may not produce the same kind of tree as the parents. 

Maples like a well draining soil fairly high in organics, 60% org. 40% mineral. While maples will grow in very shallow containers, in our climate I think they do better in something at least 1³/₄ inches deep. They are not heavy feeders. Half strength commercial fertilizer every two weeks or organic monthly.

Maples usually have a growth spurt in the spring, late spring, or summer; I cut way back to two nodes. Midsummer there is a smaller growth period. I leave this on until winter pruning. 

They should be repotted every three to four years.

Crabapples

After azaleas, crabapples are probably the most profuse bloomers of all bonsai subjects. Wisteria and crepe myrtles put on a show, then it is all over for the year. Crabapples have profuse bloom of white, pink, lavender, or red followed by fruits that may be green, red, orange, or yellow that generally will last through winter. Foliage on most will provide brilliant fall color.

Since there are well over one thousand named varieties of crabapple, I will mention only a few. If you want an in-depth study I highly recommend “Flowering Crabapples” by Fiala; published by Timber Press. A few varieties are:

1. Siberian Crabapple - single white, very hardy, disease resistant.

2. Brandywine - double pink, very fragrant, one inch green fruit that fall off before winter.

3. Zumi - single pink bud opens to white flowers, red fruits persist through winter, disease resistant.

4. Royalty - single purple flower, purple foliage, purple fruit. Can suffer from fire blight and/or scab.

5. Sargent’s crabapple - white flower, red fruit, good fall color, disease resistant.

All these and more are available from Lone Pine Nursery, Evergreen Gardenworks, and Miniature Plant Kingdom.

Crabapples have a reputation for being prone to pests and disease. That seems to be true, though a little prevention goes a long way. Use a dormant spray in winter of lime sulfur and spray again after flowers drop with Daconil™ fungicide. Dexol™ systemic insecticide in the spring gives good control of sucking insects. I don’t know of any effective treatment for fire blight except pruning out the infected wood (disinfect shears with a strong Clorox™ solution following each cut).

For soil I use equal parts of cactus mix, perlite, and compost. Anything that drains well and is fairly high in organics. The Nursery stock from 2 ¹/₂ or 4 inch pots go into gallon cans or terra cotta pots placed in full sun, watered daily. Fertilize monthly from March to August with any balanced plant food. (I use 3 parts cottonseed meal, 1 part blood meal, 1 part bone meal.) Miracle-Gro® works too. September thru October stop giving nitrogen. Use 0-10-10 or bone meal.

I let my trees grow out the first two or three years, root pruning and cutting back to the second bud on new growth. Don’t be surprised if you have whips 4 or 5 feet high by fall. What you want is to increase the diameter of the trunk and maybe develop some nebari (surface roots that appear to grip the ground).

By the fourth year they should be ready for a bonsai pot.

Crabapples make many roots so they should not be planted in a shallow pot. Give them at least 3 inches of soil depth.

Don’t forget that crabapples need a pollinator to produce fruit, so have at least two varieties and keep them close to each other when in bloom. Together, they’ll make little apples.

Olives

I don’t know much about olives. I’ve asked people who should know, but they didn’t have much information on olives as bonsai. So let’s wing it on a little personal experience and some book work. Olea europaea comes from the Mediterranean region. They like warm, dry summers and cool wet winters (protect from hard frost when grown in pots.) 

The nasty pest here is black scale if we have too much summer fog. I usually just scrape the bugs off with tweezers. Ants on the plant is the clue to look for scale. 

They tolerate most any well-drained soil that should be at least 1/3 organic material.

They don’t like to be kept wet or allowed to completely dry out. Mine take more water than a pine and less than an oak. Repot in January. They seem to tolerate heavy root pruning and top shaping. Pinch back new growth, leaving two nodes. They will sucker badly from the base of the trunk. These should be kept trimmed off. When wiring protect the bark, it is fragile. Bare wire will cut into the bark in about two weeks in the spring. Feed with a balanced fertilizer every three to four weeks. Established plants will tolerate full sun.

Newly potted plants should have only morning sun for the first summer. Hopefully, we may have a workshop on olives by someone who really knows them. Until then, mine seem to put up with a lot of mistakes.

Elms

Easy to grow, will tolerate most any well-drained soil. Should be fed monthly with an organic fertilizer fairly high in nitrogen (bat guano, or 3 parts cottonseed meal to one part bloodmeal). They need full sun and should never be allowed to dry out. Be sure to turn the pot about one a month or most of the roots will grow on the warm side of the pot. Also be aware they may produce enough roots in the bottom of the pot to heave the tree up, leaving a gap around the sides. Water just runs out and never penetrates the root ball.

Most elms can be shaped by pinching and pruning. The wood is brittle and the bark tender, so wire with great caution. Some should never be wired.

Most common pests are aphids and scale. A systemic insecticide applied in the spring (Dexol™) or spraying with pyrethrum usually controls bugs.

  A few dwarf species are:

Ulmus parvifolia

Catlin Evergreen elm except in very cold winters.

Catlin “contorted” Very dwarf, small leaves, naturally twisted branches. Needs little pruning. Will sometimes revert to original type with long straight shoots and large leaves, prune these out.

Taiwan Rapid grower; if you like to prune, this is your tree. Can form thick ramification in three years with weekly pinching during the growing season. Variegated Leaves have a cream colored margin.

Frosty Variegated variety with smaller leaves, Slow to form a trunk. Will also revert to large leaf type. Prune these out.

Fuirji   Variegated, larger leaf than Frosty. Rapid grower.

Ed Wood similar  to Catlin except it loses its leaves in the winter; somewhat slower growing.

Hokkaido Very tiny leaves and corky bark. Will not tolerate shade or drought. Root prune only in midwinter when it is completely dormant.

Seiju Very small leaf. Tends to be rangy and lanky so be aggressive with pruning. A spectacular tree when mature.

Yatsabusa Similar to Seiju except a more dwarf form.

Ulmus x Hollandia var. Jacqueline Hiller Dwarf form with double serrated leaves in a herringbone pattern. Needs careful shaping.

Ulmus crassifolia Texas cedar elm The only bonsai elm that is an American native. Small leaves, corky bark, rapid grower. 

The Genus Prunus

The stone fruits—plum, cherry, peach, nectarine, apricot, and almond.

The species in the genus number in the many thousands. Two varieties, cherries and later prunes were once the principal crop in Napa valley agriculture. The climate here is quite suited to the genus Prunus.

The stone fruits most likely to be grown as bonsai are the flowering varieties, especially the cherries and apricot. Some of the cherries are:

Prunus campanulata x incisa ‘Okame’ with single pink flowers, nice fall color, and vigorous growth.

P. incisa var. ‘Midori’ with single ruffled pink flowers in profusion, rather twiggy and fast growing.

P. japonica  ‘Japanese bush cherry’ more shrub than tree with pink flowers.

P. subhirtella var. Autumnalis a semi-double light pink to white flower. Will bloom in April and again in October. A very old variety.

P. serrula ‘birch bark cherry’ develops mahogany brown peeling bark, has one inch white flowers followed by bright red fruit.

P. subhirtella x yedoensis ‘Holly Jolivette’ long-time favorite for small bonsai. Double pink flowers and a twiggy growth habit.

P. tomentosa ‘Nanking cherry’ single white flowers, develops rough bark, tolerant of considerable neglect.

P. mume ‘Japanese flowering apricot’ There are several varieties:

P. mume ‘Peggy Clark’ is a double rose pink.

P. mume ‘Matsubara red’ is a double dark red.

P. mume ‘W. B. Clarke’ double pink with a weeping habit.

There are many other varieties. These should be available from Lone Pine Nursery, Evergreen Gardenworks, and Miniature Plant Kingdom.

Most all the genus Prunus are easy to grow, will accept most any well-drained soil fairly rich in organic matter. Don’t let them dry out, feed with a balanced fertilizer spring and summer, bone meal or 0-10-10 in late fall.

Three Tough Trees

Pseudocydonia sinensis Chinese quince. This is a hardy small tree from China. It can be very neglect tolerant if it isn’t allowed to completely dry out. It has an oval dark green leaf, smooth exfoliating bark, single magenta flowers and yellow pear size edible fruits. The leaves are a colorful red in the fall. It prefers a well-drained organic soil mix, it needs some protection from our hottest summer sun. With age the quince will form a heavy tapered trunk.

It needs frequent pinching for ramification (fine twigging). Don’t allow more than two fruits to mature in a season, Root prune and repot about every three years. A tree frequently grown in Japan that we don’t see enough of here.

Prunus tormentosa Nanking cherry. A tough little flowering cherry from China. Unlike the Japanese flowering cherry, this one is edible if the birds don’t get them first. The tree has a medium green slightly hairy or fuzzy leaf. The flower is a single pale pink that produces a small red fruit. Bark becomes fissured and scales at an early age—three to four years. The distinctive bark makes the tree appear much older than it is .It isn’t particular about soil or pot size. It seems to be resistant to most common pests, this little tree goes beyond easy to grow; it is just plain hard to kill.

Pinus sylvestris Scotch or Scots pine. This little pine, including some of its cultivars, is probably the simplest to grow as a bonsai. It likes full sun, moderate water, and a fast draining soil. It takes well to winter pruning, or none at all. Candles should be pinched back in the spring. This usually produces an abundance of new buds that should be thinned in late summer. Just rub off the extras. It is host to some insect pests (little white sucking insects at the base of the needles or on bark cracks.)

Scots pines don’t seem to need much expertise. Some common sense (fertilize, water, sun) some candle pinching, and careful pruning produce a reasonably good looking tree in a few years.

Tools and Such

The Cracked Pot

No, not anyone you know. The ceramic variety. Everyone has pots that get damaged. This is for kitchen table repair, not a complete restoration. There will still be a visible crack or line but the repair bonds the two sides together while restoring the strength to the pot. A shattered pot needs a professional. A cracked pot anyone can repair, thanks to modern adhesives. They do a super job of making things stick together. That includes fingers stuck to the pot or to each other. These glues can do terrible things to ones eyes. So take precautions. Eye protection is good advice. Also keep your children and pets out of the glue. It would be hard to explain why your kid and your bonsai pot are inseparable.

The most versatile adhesive is cyanoacrylate, also known as Crazy Glue. There are several brands, I prefer the brand called Future Glue™. Cyanoacrylate comes in small tubes in either liquid or a thicker gel. The trick is to get the fluid glue to flow into the crack. The pot should be clean and dry. Dry is critical. The glue will not adhere to or displace water. The pot must be dry, including the inside of t he crack. If there are gaps in the crack, or to replace a chip, the gel works better. I prefer to apply the glue to both sides of the crack. Just dispense the glue along the crack. Any glue residue on the outside surface of the pot can be cleaned off after twenty-four hours with a scraper and a ScotchBrite pad. It will never be a show pot but it should last for years as a training pot.

Tool Care

Any tool needs to be properly cared for if it is to do its intended job well. Don’t put tools away taht are dirty or damp. It only takes a minute to wipe off dirt and moisture. The cutting edge of a high carbon steel tool can be destroyed by a little water and time. It is far simpler to keep a tool clean, dry, and oiled than to repair a pitted edge. The Japanese prefer camellia oil for bonsai tools. Stone Lantern Discoveries has it. They are the publishers of Bonsai Today magazine. 

Three-In-One oil also works, though you need to use it more often.

To sharpen an edge, I prefer a small stone, about 3/4 inch wide and two or three inches long. DO NOT grind the edge of a bonsai tool on a bench grinder with carbide wheels. It will instantly burn the temper out of the steel. Unless you know how to temper steel, your tool is now junk.

I have a small combination ceramic and alumina synthetic stone made by Spyderco that is great for shears and concave cutters.

I hear those diamond sharpeners work well, though I have never used them (we have one and like it. The editor.)

The natural process of sharpening a tool is pretty straight forward. Shears are simply two blades moving past each other with zero clearance. The secret to good shears is no play between the arms and a sharp edge on the bevel.

When sharpening shears do not change the angle of the bevel. The inside of the shear should feel smooth and sharp.

For concave cutters you really need to pay attention. The edges MUST come together but not touch. The edges MUST be parallel. If they aren’t, use a small equalizing needle file (a thin file with teeth on both sides). Once they are parallel use a coarse then a fine stone from the outside of the cutters. On the side of one arm, below the pivot is a small round pin. By filing off a small amount of this pin where the other arm hits it you can adjust the arm so the blades come together, but don’t touch or allow light  to come through. You now have a tool that will make a nice clean cut on the tree.

Afterward

By Don West

Why write about Bonsai?  It is a sharing of knowledge, it is, for me, attempting to assist others to see the joy in growing bonsai. The novice often says “I had one but it dies.”  Bonsai isn’t about pretty empty pots. It is about learning the needs of a plant, using that knowledge to keep the trees healthy and adding your own artistic skills to help it become a unique expression of how you will perceive the art within the tree.

Winston Churchill, a rather good artist, once said, “There is nothing so intimidating as a blank canvas.” Peopel new to bonsai might say the same thing when they see a bushy plant in a black plastic container at the nursery -- with no knowledge of how to start, what to prune, what and how to use wire. They don’t know how to find the front of the tree, the first branch, or how to find and develop the apex. Should the pot be round, square, oval, glazed, bisque and what color is best. All these questions and decisions challenge the novice. They can provoke them to despair until no decision seems to be the right thing. As with any new hobby, the requirements may put us in creative overload.

Watch a master style a Shimpaku. First he looks and reflects, turns the pot and looks inside the tree to see its structure. Then, he thinks even more, pushes some branches in different directions, continues to turn the plant slowly. The master is an artist looking to help the tree express its beauty. He does not begin quickly; neither should you. Once he finds the structure of the future tree, everything is pruned and shaped and the early form of the bonsai begins to surface. The form of the completed tree is in his mind and generally the tree will take some yers to achieve its full potential. Bonsai is a creative process with a living thing; it is a living art; it is a joyous challenge that is never fully completed.