Small Bonsai, Small Work?

TOH and I were recently talking about the amount of maintenance needed for shohin and mame bonsai, and this particular case came to mind as being a good illustration. 

This is one of our shohin Cotoneasters that has quite a history.  It started its bonsai life as a cutting, given to us by a former club member around 1998.  TOH put it into a shallow training pot in akadama and then... bear in mind that we were just starting to seriously learn about growing trees in pots back then.... horror.  The roots had somehow rotted out and the whole thing fell out of its pot, practically rootless.  Emergency situation: TOH wrapped up the whole thing - plant, pot and soil - in a clear plastic bag, stuck it in the greenhouse and left it there to recover.  It was a much smaller plant then, the trunk measuring about 3 - 4 inches in length (8 - 10 cm) and already trained as a semi-cascade but sort of in a straight line rather than with the downward arc that you'll see in these photos.

Evidently the plant recovered, our watering skills improved and the Cotoneaster has even been deemed worthy of living in this Japanese pot with a vaguely celadon-ish colour and a lovely crackle glaze.  This is one of the earliest trees I practised my wiring on, which is how the downward trunk arc was induced.

But this is one bonsai that still needs a skillful hand with the watering as it is prone to the annoying condition that I call frickenmossalloverthefrickentrunkandbranches-itis.  And it is a right bugger to de-moss the trunk, believe you me. And conversely, it can be easy to underwater this one as well, given the shape of its pot. 

For some reason or other we've not really paid a lot of attention to this guy's pruning recently.  He's not gone out on show for about 2 years now, so I'd say the last time he was re-potted was at least either 3 or 4 years ago.  Water still drains freely so he'll just have to let us know sooner or later if his roots are in need of a soil and refresh jobbie.

So anyway, here is said shohin before its first spring clean, note the moss growing on the trunk and rear branches.  I think we also missed summer and autumn pruning last year, which is why the branches are rather overlong.  The one good thing is the pot is a doddle to spruce up.

These photos were taken about 3 weeks ago; the new leaves had only just started showing themselves so I'd not pruned as heavily as I would've liked, erring on the side of caution.  I did thin out quite a few branches and had shortened the rear considerably.  The moss was removed with a dry single-tuft toothbrush, which I get from a periodontist (and is also available online).  Here we are about three-quarters through the moss-removal + pruning process, the birds-eye view giving a better look at the branch structure:

We are still going to have to work on improving branch lines and acquiring tertiary branch structure. Hopefully the long branches can be shortened even further by this autumn.  And I will have to get rid of the old leaves at some point.  I'll either be lazy and wait for them to fall off, or I give it a couple of days and see if I'm feeling industrious.  Hmmm....

Now I may have implied that this shohin is larger than when it came to us, and indeed today it stands about 6 in / 15 cm high from the feet of the pot.  But getting a toothbrush, much less a finger between branches is still not a job for the fainthearted, as sometimes the gap between branches is practically millimetric.  And it requires a relatively steady, un-rushed hand to remove the moss without damaging any new shoots.  No shoot casualties when this was done, I'm happy to report. 

So despite being a small-ish shohin, the little bugger still took over an hour to prune and clean up:

Again with the ubiquitous moss thimble accent plant to give an idea of scale.  The sticky-out branch on the upper left will go once I'm sure there are more shoots that have backbudded behind it.  I tend to leave a minimum of 3 shoots (not leaves) when doing spring pruning.

At some of the shows in the past, people have judged this tree in the mame category, but really TOH and I think of it as a shohin.  I suppose it is smaller than a lot of the shohin that go on display, but it is still way larger than the stuff we grow and consider as mame in our heads.  (Please let's not get into the sizing debate here since that is just an old, boring story as far as I'm concerned.)

Because the point I'm trying to get across is that, for all that they are small trees, shohin and mame do require a lot of attention to detail.  The upside of their small size is that they are easier to lift, carry and display.  They take up less room in the garden.  On the other hand, they are a bugger to transport over long distances unless you are kitted out properly.  Losing (or having to retouch) your top-dressing can be a nightmare.  Cleaning limescale off the smaller pots is not a fun job, particularly when you have a lot of them to display.  Then there is the daily maintenance - keeping them alive and watered properly throughout the year does require a keen eye.  Over the 10 years or so that we've been growing shohin and mame, we've developed a rhythm and a system that seem to have worked for our lifestyle and growing environment but that has also meant a lot of trial and error.  Possibly more of the latter. 

Our bonsai are checked twice a day in the summer; on really hot days I will arrange to work from home so I can water thrice in a day if necessary.  Most of them are in pure akadama, except for some of the fusspots that like a bit of organic matter thrown in - big trees or small.  The shohin, mame and thimble pots are placed in the shadier parts of the garden or greenhouse but on the other hand, I don't run out there to check on them specifically during the day.  The day job has to come first, unfortunately.

TOH started growing tiny trees after seeing one of Gill Taylor-Duxbury's displays in the late Nineties, and took it on sort of as a challenge rather than as a desire for respite from bigger bonsai.  I sort of picked it up by default.  But if ease of life is the primary moving factor, I'm not convinced that specialising in very small trees is the way to go.  My choice would be the medium-sized trees as the simpler compromise.

So. Fast forward to yesterday.  After a bit of warm weather, this is what the cotoneaster looks like after another clean-up.  It's still hanging on to a lot of last year's old leaves, but it really is too much of a pain to remove them all as there isn't a lot of space between branches to get cutters in there.

Now I don't hold any of our trees up as shining examples of bonsai perfection. As a matter of fact I showed these Cotoneaster photos to TOH, whose first words then were, 'Still got to work on that branch structure, but we'll get there....'

Red, White & Blue... well, -ish.

I have bazillions of pics floating around in my Sony Ericsson just waiting to get downloaded onto this blog, so you'll have to excuse me if the next couple of posts read a bit like a text message.

Here are some pics that I took earlier in Spring but never got around to posting on this blog.

This Japanese Quince (Chojubai) is one that we've had for several years but rarely goes out on show, simply because it's rarely been in flower at the right time.  It's one that can go out on display as a shohin (it stands about 5.5 in / 14 cm high) but it can also double up as an accent plant for a larger tree.  I've seen Chojubai used in Japan as a companion (or shitakusa I believe is their term) planting to great effect.

Pot is generic Japanese, I believe.

Okay, not quite red.  Sort of red-ish (hence the title).

And although most people would say this Japanese Quince is a white-flowering variety, it actually has a sort of a greenish tinge.  Not sure about the pot of this one, I think it could be Northern Chinese.  This one is still a WIP, and is intended to be used as a mixed accent planting rather than as a stand-alone bonsai.  Again it would be in the shohin size, roughly about 8 in / 20 cm high.

Here's a closer look at the white... er, green ... er, white-ish flowers.  If they look yellow to you, don't blame me - I'd say it was the screen resolution!  Are you saying it's my lighting?  Nevah!! :D  

This one is a Veronica that came out of a local garden centre; it's a variety commonly used as ground cover for borders.  IIRC, the pot is one that I made at our local bonsai club night; we have Reg Bolton over every year to do 2 sessions on pot making.  At the first session he brings over the clay and helps us shape the pots; then he takes them home to fire.  During the second session, we glaze our pots and he takes those home again to fire.  Just a bit of fun, and one thing I'd highly recommend as a club activity.

What is nice about Veronica is the length of the flowering season.  I took this pic way before Easter and it is still in flower today.

More on the blue (although I suppose someone would qualify them as blue-violet) are these Grape Hyacinths that TOH picked up for less than a quid several years ago.  They completely filled out the pot they were planted in; I think I broke these up into 5 batches.  This batch is in a Bryan Albright pot. 

And another blue-ish guy is a Soldanella carpatica which we bought in Poland in 2006.  This self-seeds fairly freely and we had also managed to break up the original plant into two.  This is one of the offshoots.

Yeah, I know. He looks purple, doesn't he?  So I got it wrong. 

Oh well.

Someone's been busy

And it wasn't me. Nossiree.

So here is a photo tribute to all the hard graft TOH has done by way of winter prep in the cold greenhouse where most of the shohin and mame are kept: tidying up and clearing out all the dead leaves and what not, laying down slug pellets and giving a winter prune to the deciduous trees that have done a leaf dump.

Not that it's the best-looking greenhouse in the world, mind.  Note that we are in a hard water area, witnessed by all the limescale marks on the shelving and the pots.

Here's what you see of the cold greenhouse as soon as you walk in.  Evergreens or those still in leaf have been moved up to the light.  Those that have fully shed their leaves have been moved to the bottom shelves.

And to your left as you walk in the door.  The fun will be in Spring when everything bursts out into leaf - then it will be Changing Rooms in the Greenhouse all over again.

And on the right, with the neighbours' dead leaves and the grape vine just visible beyond the glass.

 

And because it looks so striking, here is a close-up of the red maple and primula kusamono on that last top shelf.  The pot is Czech (Isabelia?) in case you're wondering.

Of course, there are still the warm greenhouse and the coldframes to go, but I'm just being nitpicky now...

Autumn Colour, yet again

Looks like more autumnal pics are coming out of the garden after all.

We're still having this mixed sort of weather, with sun one day and rain the next. The temperatures are still rather mild, which means that a lot of trees are still green and growing while others are starting to let out the ZZZ's.


Here's a pic I took of this Toad Lily (Tricyrtis) in the summer. You can just see a bit of the maple in the edges.


And here it is again in the autumn, flanked by a fern and the same Japanese Mountain Maple. Whether the Toad Lily should still be in flower in October is anyone's guess.



And this little guy is a Field Maple (Acer campestre). The contrast between the yellow leaves and the little red Walsall pot is nothing if not charming, if I may say so myself. It's been in training for about 2 years now - still a long way to go in the ramification area, though. The planting is about 5 in /13 cm high from base of pot.


And this is a shohin Cotoneaster which hasn't got a lot of berries this year. It stands around 6 in /15.2 cm from the base of the pot. We've had this guy a long time. The pot was purchased at the 2007 EBA Convention in Belgium and is by a lady Danish potter whose name escapes me and whose website I forgot to bookmark. Slapped wrists!

I'm not one for naming my trees (sorry, just not my thing) but this guy is an exception - given that his pot looks vaguely like a Viking boat. So Bjorn he is, when I can be bothered to remember.

And although I don't give names to my bonsai, all my compost bins have names. Go figure.

But that is another post for another time. If you can twist my arm. I dare you.

More Bonsai Autumn Colour (among other things)

Like you could trust the great British weather.

It all started so good this Autumn, being cold & dry - as the seven-lobed maple will attest. Then a couple of days ago, it started to go downhill, with the rain coming in and the temperatures actually rising. So all I have in the garden are either bonsai that are still green & growing, or stuff that's decided to go brown, crispy and drop off.

The shohin and mame in the greenhouse are of course doing their own thing regardless. I've got a couple of shohin maples that have gone into wonderful colours, but their ramification looks like crap. So, no piccies of them for you. Live with it. :D

On the other hand, will these do?

This is a mame Japanese Bush Clover (Lespedeza), which stands about 6 in /15.2 cm) from the tiny feet of its dinky Tokoname pot. I've been growing a few Bush Clovers for a couple of years now and this one is the smallest. I think it's been in this pot for at least 5 years now. And the pot is a bloody bugger to clean. What you cannot see is the whopping thick wire (under the pot's base) which has been used to hold the fine anchoring wires that keep Mr Lespedeza from being blown out of his home. This is because the pot is so small, it only has one large drainage hole. Hence the fat wire running across the hole. Still confused? Tell me and I'll draw you a picture. Sheesh.


Now this guy is more recent; I probably acquired this shohin Crab Apple about 3 years ago. It stands about 11 in / 27.9 cm from the base of its pot (which BTW I think is an Erin but cannot say for sure. Have tried looking under the thing and nearly lost all the topsoil.) Anyways, it went into this pot last spring, and the ramification is not there at all yet. Its saving grace IMHO being three crab apples hanging there - but as I picked it up off the bench to take the photo, the one little bugger fell off. So I have stuck it in the photo as a prop. Waste not, want not; I've always said.

So, not a lot of good things among the bonsai & the kusamono to take pics of so far. And yes, where blame is attributable (especially onto something as nebulous as the weather), I will jump on the chance to do so. After all, the fine art of whinging can only be maintained by practice, right?

Harrrrr.

Kiyohime maple on rock, fully awake

While all the buds on the trident maples in the cold greenhouse are just starting to break into leaf, this guy is almost fully open. It used to be in a deeper pot; in late January this year it got re-potted into a shallow Walsall which is good timing, all things considered.

This bonsai's total height is about 6 inches / 15 cm from the base of the pot to the crown of the tree. Some leaves are showing signs of windburn, hopefully this will not have affected the ramification in any way - I'd really like to show this tree in winter image, since the rock is more visible then.

Kiyohimes and Kashimas are among the first to open in the garden. The big kashima is kept outdoors and is not quite as open as this guy. I re-potted a couple of 2-year old mountain maple seedlings in mid-February, and though the roots seem to have recovered well enough, their leaves have yet to unfurl to the same extent as this Kiyohime.

Best Original Composition EBA 2009

This was the sole entry from Portugal, I believe, and the picture does not do it a lot of justice. And this will be one of those 'you either love it or you hate it' things.

The tree is a proper shohin-sized olive (around 7 in /18 cm) and the accent is a little alpine strawberry. The black box is around 3.5 x 2.5 ft /107 x 81 cm conservatively, and there are 2 little spot lights on the top which you can just discern in the photo. Think VERY small, VERY modern, VERY zen tokonoma.

This is what I call a whole load of funk, and I do applaud any effort to push against the norms. That said, I hope people realise that when they do something outside the norm, it will either go down swimmingly well, or it will tank like a Sherman in the Atlantic. I think this display went down very well with Joe Public, but how the more traditional bonsai aficionados thought is anyone's guess. Still, Japanese master Takeo Kawabe gave it a distinguished prize.

My view? That would be telling, wouldn't it?

What I do have a view / query on is that there wasn't better representation from Portugal, seeing that they're just down the road...

Rosemary accent

This is something a lot of Northerners would covet:


A neat little Rosemary in flower. This guy is only around 7 in / 18 cm from base of the pot. There were other Rosemary accent plants in similar styles, but I chose this one for your viewing as I thought it had the best balance of tree size in relation to the pot.

Another Spanish entry, this was an accent for a large Juniperus chinensis. The main tree was a good specimen too, but large Chinese junipers are not lacking over here. Small rosemary with pronounced shari? That's something that would have difficulty thriving in this corner of the globe. Not saying it can't be done, but I've not seen many of it either, especially in this size.

Dutch shohin display

This is a difficult one to take a photo of, given that the entire composition is actually quite wide. The use of colour on the scroll was both discreet and effective. The accent plant to the left, under the juniper? That's a tiny spider plant.

Click on the photo to enlarge, you'll see the award that was presented to Bruno & Rob for this one, just to the left of the display table. It's a wire sculpture about 2 ft /61 cm high, and the 'wires' are thick - I'd place it at 0.8 mm thickness, not sure which metal was used. And that award is whopping heavy; the guys had talked of having to take their clothes as carry-on luggage and the heavy metal in the hold, that way hopefully they avoid overweight charges. I hope the award didn't go into a canvas bag / suitcase, otherwise it could tear the bag (or any cloth protecting it) to shreds.

Gardenia in fruit

Now this is something I haven't seen much of outside Japan. Check out the yellow fruits just peeking through the leaves.

Tree is a larger shohin, about 12 in from base of pot. Composition by Mario Komsta, who by the way, has been living in Spain for the past couple of months or so.

Almost an entire shohin display

Like I said, almost. Couldn't quite fit in a view of the whole UK shohin composition, as my phone doesn't have wide-angle capabilities. Address all complaints to the Sony Ericsson people pleeze.

Missing is the tiny accent on the right of the juniper. So let me try to explain instead. Imagine the composition as a large triangle pointing to the accent on the left. The tiny little thing to the extreme left of the photo is a ranunculus ficaria (the wild one) in a Keramika pot, total about 3 inches high and across.

Hope this explains the flow of the display a little better...

How many???

This one has to be seen to be believed. And I have seen a lot of small trees in my time.

51 little elms - Ulmus glabra - the tallest no more than 6 inches high. The entire planting is probably about 16 in /41 cm across, if that. This entry is from a Spanish bonsai artist.

51 boggles your mind? Go on, then - count 'em.

How to travel in style with your bonsai

The Dutch guys have been showing their little trees at EBA since Poland 2006, and have consistently garnered prizes for them. Since they had to fly to Lorca, their shohin & mame went into the hold, nicely cocooned in these specially-made wooden boxes:


The interior is foam, with niches cut out to the size of the pots. The boxes are roughly 4 times the size of the trees. In the photo above, some of the accents that didn't go on display are still inside their foam slots. The empty space is buffered with more foam once the slots are filled.

Bruno offered to model a box in a pose reminiscent of the nude calendar vogue, for some indeterminate reason his offer was unanimously declined ;-)


Here are the bonsai getting packed away at the end of the show; notice how the boxes sport the icons for 'This Side Up' and 'Fragile'.

Shohin display

From the UK. Lighting of the hall is fantastic.

First Glimpse

This photo looks a bit dark to me, although I have been assured it comes out well. Must be my settings.
Tree is a cascade Chaenomeles japonica, accent figures are 2 boxing hares cast in bronze. The plant is a wild Ranunculus ficaria, unfortunately not in flower.

Not for love or money...

... will the owner part with this superb specimen. This olive tree stands about 7 in high and has wonderful gnarly bark. Photo taken at the trade stand of MediBonsai.

Hazel - Winter Image

Spring has definitely sprung over here, although you probably can't see the buds breaking out on this one. Don't think it's ever had catkins. Would be nice, although if catkins = hazel nuts, I won't be too keen on the squirrels going a-gaga over this one.

From pot feet to highest twig, this guy measures 8.25 in / 21 cm. We don't have squirrels that small over here.

Pot might be Japanese. The tree came from someone local-ish to us (I think he does mostly stuff from cuttings). The lines still need improving on this one.

The good thing about photographing your trees is that it shows up all their deficiencies. Which is fine when you're into work-on-my-bonsai mode. If you are into sit-back-and-admire mode, well...

I suppose this could be labeled another WIP, or HIP even. Figured it out yet?

Cascade Chojubai

Chaenomeles japonica in a Pitt pot. This was on show at Swindon last week. Again, promised the Pitt-boss that he would get sent a photo, but I guess all he's getting is a link to this blog.

This guy is in pure akadama and is kept in an unheated greenhouse together with most of the shohin. Partly to keep the bloody blackbirds off the moss and partly to take the edge of the worst of the weather. The only problem is that the trees in the greenhouse tend to need more watering. Well they would, given the size of their pots. This guy isn't too bad, as he's in a deeper pot than most.

What's not quite visible is all the flower buds that are still coming on. If we get a profusion of colour, then I will post another photo.

Fuzzy Needle Juniper

I think this is rigida but I'm sure someone will be able to confirm / refute.

It doesn't show as well due to the crappy lighting and my less-than-stellar photographic skills. The whole thing looks like it is tipping over to the right but I cannot be bothered to take another photo as Blogger is starting to sulk.

Pruning of this prickly bugger will take place later in the year. Notice how we have one juniper berry - not enough for any alcoholic / culinary purposes. Assuming any juniper berry will do.

I think the pot is one of the ubiquitous Chinese models. Stand is probably Chinese too. The little ceramic water basin is by a Danish lady whose website I cannot find anymore. I have been through Morten Albek's and Wolfgang Putz's websites trying to find her. Last time I saw her was at the EBA in Belgium. Got loads of her stuff then.

Talking of which, in case you are looking for a link to something bonsai, check out either Morten Albek's or Wolfgang Putz's site. They must know everybody (or everybody must know them).

The number of people blogging on Bonsai is staggering. Just on Blogger alone. Interested? Links are on Morten Albek's site.