This is a tiny starter of the lace leaf maple described in the article below.
Posted by Hello
Sunday, May 29, 2005
Acer Palmatum ‘Goshiki Shidare’
This particular variety of lace leaf has variegated leaves and is one of the harder to find maples. The leaves are a deep red with a light salmon color variegated through out the leaf.
I got my hands on a couple of these in a local nursery this weekend and I’m thrilled. It will take many years to develop this little starter plant into a bonsai.
But I have the patience and hopefully the time so I will surely try. I seem to be drawn to maples for some reason my collection has many now and I still keep looking for more.
There are so many cultivars of maples that you could collect for many years and still probably not have all of them. However if maples fascinate you like they do me well then you can certainly obtain many and have a wonderful collection.
Lace leaf maples are among the most beautiful of all the maples in my opinion. And you do not find them as bonsai in a pot very often.
I think that perhaps the reason that you do not find them is because most of these types of maples are grafted and I for one do not like to start out with a grafted plant for a bonsai.
The people who graft this type of plant always seem to graft the start really high on the plant and this makes the whole thing look rather leggy and just not acceptable to me anyway.
But then we have to also understand that the nursery business is not grafting these plants for the bonsai hobby they are selling most of them to regular home gardeners and they simply do not care that the starter plant is really tall and leggy looking because after all there not going to raise it in a pot.
You can see lace leaf in nearly every yard especially in the NorthWest and since it is considered a garden favorite you'll continue to see it planted where ever it will grow.
You must be very vigilante of the lace leaf in the very warm summer months as the leaves of these and many other maples will burn very rapid and once it starts there usually is no saving the leaf.
I water always early in the morning and very rarely at night and for the reason that if I soak the plant really good in the morning it will most often make it though the day just fine.
I do not water at night because this draws out many bugs that will then feast on your plants leaves and it also tends to mold your plants at the base.
These types of maples will grow in sort of and umbrella style unless you shape it different. You will most defiantly want to protect your maple from the direct hot sun if at all possible.
This maple will do really well if planted around a pond or as a bonsai and will reward you with leaves that can be either green marked with a bronze color and or a red cast or they might be light with pink splashes and even in some cases they might have large white patches and this can all be on the same plant.
If you’re going to fertilize then I would suggest not going over board as most maples of this type seem to get leggier with a lot of fertilizer.
I personally will let the plant just grow and develop on its own and forget the fertilizer.
I have not lost any of my maples yet because of lack of fertilizer.
The plant seems to do well from zone 5a to zone 9a and if you need to see a plant zone map then you can see one at the web url below.
http://forestry.about.com/od/treehabitatandrange/ss/plant_zones.htm
You can propagate this maple by either grafting or budding or by collecting seeds after they have ripened off and dried in the fall. I will write a more detailed article on getting these and other types of maples started from seed later in another post.
Although this maple is considered to be more like a shrub it will grow to around fifteen feet if left to grow in the ground.
I have not grown one in the ground but have two of these cultivars as bonsai and I may perhaps at some later time take a cutting and and graft it in order to get one for my garden.
In the picture above you can see a small starter bonsai of this material that I acquired just this spring and in time it will make a very lovely bonsai but since this material grows very slow it will take a few years to create this one.
I will train it in the umbrella style and later when it has had time to grow a stronger trunk then I will twist the trunk around a bamboo stick to get a desired S curve look to the trunk.
Thanks for reading and looking.
©Copyright 2005 All Rights Reserved
For more information feel free to Contact Me
.
I got my hands on a couple of these in a local nursery this weekend and I’m thrilled. It will take many years to develop this little starter plant into a bonsai.
But I have the patience and hopefully the time so I will surely try. I seem to be drawn to maples for some reason my collection has many now and I still keep looking for more.
There are so many cultivars of maples that you could collect for many years and still probably not have all of them. However if maples fascinate you like they do me well then you can certainly obtain many and have a wonderful collection.
Lace leaf maples are among the most beautiful of all the maples in my opinion. And you do not find them as bonsai in a pot very often.
I think that perhaps the reason that you do not find them is because most of these types of maples are grafted and I for one do not like to start out with a grafted plant for a bonsai.
The people who graft this type of plant always seem to graft the start really high on the plant and this makes the whole thing look rather leggy and just not acceptable to me anyway.
But then we have to also understand that the nursery business is not grafting these plants for the bonsai hobby they are selling most of them to regular home gardeners and they simply do not care that the starter plant is really tall and leggy looking because after all there not going to raise it in a pot.
You can see lace leaf in nearly every yard especially in the NorthWest and since it is considered a garden favorite you'll continue to see it planted where ever it will grow.
You must be very vigilante of the lace leaf in the very warm summer months as the leaves of these and many other maples will burn very rapid and once it starts there usually is no saving the leaf.
I water always early in the morning and very rarely at night and for the reason that if I soak the plant really good in the morning it will most often make it though the day just fine.
I do not water at night because this draws out many bugs that will then feast on your plants leaves and it also tends to mold your plants at the base.
These types of maples will grow in sort of and umbrella style unless you shape it different. You will most defiantly want to protect your maple from the direct hot sun if at all possible.
This maple will do really well if planted around a pond or as a bonsai and will reward you with leaves that can be either green marked with a bronze color and or a red cast or they might be light with pink splashes and even in some cases they might have large white patches and this can all be on the same plant.
If you’re going to fertilize then I would suggest not going over board as most maples of this type seem to get leggier with a lot of fertilizer.
I personally will let the plant just grow and develop on its own and forget the fertilizer.
I have not lost any of my maples yet because of lack of fertilizer.
The plant seems to do well from zone 5a to zone 9a and if you need to see a plant zone map then you can see one at the web url below.
http://forestry.about.com/od/treehabitatandrange/ss/plant_zones.htm
You can propagate this maple by either grafting or budding or by collecting seeds after they have ripened off and dried in the fall. I will write a more detailed article on getting these and other types of maples started from seed later in another post.
Although this maple is considered to be more like a shrub it will grow to around fifteen feet if left to grow in the ground.
I have not grown one in the ground but have two of these cultivars as bonsai and I may perhaps at some later time take a cutting and and graft it in order to get one for my garden.
In the picture above you can see a small starter bonsai of this material that I acquired just this spring and in time it will make a very lovely bonsai but since this material grows very slow it will take a few years to create this one.
I will train it in the umbrella style and later when it has had time to grow a stronger trunk then I will twist the trunk around a bamboo stick to get a desired S curve look to the trunk.
Thanks for reading and looking.
©Copyright 2005 All Rights Reserved
For more information feel free to Contact Me
.
Thursday, May 19, 2005
Cotoneaster
Here is a material that is very easy to work with especially for anyone who wants to start out by creating there own bonsai.
Almost any nursery in the country will have a few varieties of cotoneaster. It grows rather rapid so if you do make a mistake and cut some off that later you wished you hadn’t well not to worry because it will produce many more fresh shoots for you to work with.
If I were going to start out brand new with this material then I would go to a local nursery and obtain a good starter plant in a one gallon pot size and then once home I would begin to study the plant to determine first where my front is going to be.
Once I have established the front of my plant then I can begin to study it to see if it has any typical bonsai shape already kind of started for me. The plant that I have pictured here was already growing a really long branch out from the main stalk.
So I simply wired the branch to obtain the full cascade look and then worked on the main growth at the center of the plant. In a cascade style you will always want your plant as close to the center of the pot as you can get it.
This is not true with nearly any other style of bonsai. Almost always with other plants in other styles you would want your plant to be off center and to one side of the pot nearly all of the time.
But with a cascade I want the plant centered and then I want the growth in the center of the plant to reach out to surround the pot almost to the edges of the rim all the way around the pot if possible.
This simply makes the bonsai look nice and full. The main cascade branch if at all possible should twist or arc if you will from side to side so as to resemble a winding brook or a nice full S curve.
The cotoneaster has blooms of very tiny flowers and some bloom with red flowers and yet others have tiny white flowers and in the fall they will spawn red berries. This is not a fruit that you would want to eat but the birds will sometimes find the berries a welcome feast in mid winter.
I will not try to elaborate too much on the care here for this plant as it is very hardy and you would have to completely and totally neglect it to kill it. Just water and feed through the season and you will have no trouble growing one of these plants.
I have several cotoneasters in my collection and most all of them have been trained in the clip and grow method and very rarely wired unless there was no other way to achieve the look that I desired.
If the plant just presents something to you right out of nature then by all means go with it other wise you’ll simply have to work at it until you get where you want with it.
You can propagate cotoneaster from seed or from soft wood or hard wood cuttings depending on the time of the year for the cuttings and seed would be best started in real early spring after any worry of frost.
You can bring your plant indoors for enjoyment a few days during the year but the rest of the time you’ll want to keep it outdoors as it is and outdoors plant material.
You will find many different kinds to choose from if you look around and some even with thorny spines on them so if you choose one of these then be careful of the fingers when working the material as these spines are sharp and will get you good if you’re careless.
I prefer these plants to teach beginners with because of there fast growing habit nearly anyone can get a bonsai going with one of these in no time at all and they are not expensive material to obtain.
You’ll find them in most nurseries from around six to ten dollars for a gallon size and this size will give you a really nice plant to begin with and you’ll already have some nice trunk size and a lot of branches to work with.
Because of the material being inexpensive it can be used to practice on and not worry to much if you mess it up because you can simply get another and start all over in no time. It usually only takes one or two years to get a nice looking cotoneaster tree created,
From there on it is just clip and let nature take its course and you have a wonderful looking bonsai in your collection in no time at all.
Thanks, for looking and reading.
Harold Yearout
©Copyright 2005 All Rights Reserved
For more information feel free to Contact me:
Almost any nursery in the country will have a few varieties of cotoneaster. It grows rather rapid so if you do make a mistake and cut some off that later you wished you hadn’t well not to worry because it will produce many more fresh shoots for you to work with.
If I were going to start out brand new with this material then I would go to a local nursery and obtain a good starter plant in a one gallon pot size and then once home I would begin to study the plant to determine first where my front is going to be.
Once I have established the front of my plant then I can begin to study it to see if it has any typical bonsai shape already kind of started for me. The plant that I have pictured here was already growing a really long branch out from the main stalk.
So I simply wired the branch to obtain the full cascade look and then worked on the main growth at the center of the plant. In a cascade style you will always want your plant as close to the center of the pot as you can get it.
This is not true with nearly any other style of bonsai. Almost always with other plants in other styles you would want your plant to be off center and to one side of the pot nearly all of the time.
But with a cascade I want the plant centered and then I want the growth in the center of the plant to reach out to surround the pot almost to the edges of the rim all the way around the pot if possible.
This simply makes the bonsai look nice and full. The main cascade branch if at all possible should twist or arc if you will from side to side so as to resemble a winding brook or a nice full S curve.
The cotoneaster has blooms of very tiny flowers and some bloom with red flowers and yet others have tiny white flowers and in the fall they will spawn red berries. This is not a fruit that you would want to eat but the birds will sometimes find the berries a welcome feast in mid winter.
I will not try to elaborate too much on the care here for this plant as it is very hardy and you would have to completely and totally neglect it to kill it. Just water and feed through the season and you will have no trouble growing one of these plants.
I have several cotoneasters in my collection and most all of them have been trained in the clip and grow method and very rarely wired unless there was no other way to achieve the look that I desired.
If the plant just presents something to you right out of nature then by all means go with it other wise you’ll simply have to work at it until you get where you want with it.
You can propagate cotoneaster from seed or from soft wood or hard wood cuttings depending on the time of the year for the cuttings and seed would be best started in real early spring after any worry of frost.
You can bring your plant indoors for enjoyment a few days during the year but the rest of the time you’ll want to keep it outdoors as it is and outdoors plant material.
You will find many different kinds to choose from if you look around and some even with thorny spines on them so if you choose one of these then be careful of the fingers when working the material as these spines are sharp and will get you good if you’re careless.
I prefer these plants to teach beginners with because of there fast growing habit nearly anyone can get a bonsai going with one of these in no time at all and they are not expensive material to obtain.
You’ll find them in most nurseries from around six to ten dollars for a gallon size and this size will give you a really nice plant to begin with and you’ll already have some nice trunk size and a lot of branches to work with.
Because of the material being inexpensive it can be used to practice on and not worry to much if you mess it up because you can simply get another and start all over in no time. It usually only takes one or two years to get a nice looking cotoneaster tree created,
From there on it is just clip and let nature take its course and you have a wonderful looking bonsai in your collection in no time at all.
Thanks, for looking and reading.
Harold Yearout
©Copyright 2005 All Rights Reserved
For more information feel free to Contact me:
Sunday, May 15, 2005
The Netsuke Can Make a Fantastic Collectable
The Living Bonsai & More is as the name implies. I personally have had an interest in most all things oriental nearly all of my life and so from time to time I will endeavor to post an article on a subject other than bonsai.
I became interested in Netsuke as a fine collectable a few years ago and began a personal collection of these little fine art carvings. But what are netsukes you may ask?
Well the Japanese term for a netsuke literally means root for fastening and the netsuke was a way for the Japanese men to carry small objects with them inside there kimonos.
Since the kimono had no pockets and was only held together by a sash called obi around the waist then it would be impossible to carry any small objects around with you during the course of your day.
Thus the netsuke was derived some where possibly around the 16th century and was used as a device to act as a sort of a weight to hang down from the sash and thus keep the pouch from slipping away from the sash and kimono.
There would be a small pouch attached with strings and inside the person could then carry small items along.
They might have had there tobacco and pipe or some writing tools or a small purse and even medicines inside the pouches and these were then carried with the help of the netsuke.
The netsuke traditionally had a small hole through the material and then most often a silk cord attached and the cord was then drawn up under the obi or sash and the netsuke then would hang over the front of the sash keeping the pouch in tact.
The art of netsuke was a fine craft and the carvings were very elaborate and a lot of the time a person’s wealth or status could even be told by the look of the netsuke that adorned the kimono.
As time passed and the Japanese began to look to the western world for dress and the netsuke faded into a lost feature of clothing that was no longer needed so to speak. However the netsuke has always been highly prized as a collectable.
It’s so easy to get hooked on collecting these beautiful marvels of artistic carving once any person holds one of these little master pieces of carved art in there hands the first time there usually hooked and begin collecting.
The western world began to get there hands on these small carvings some time after 1853 when Commodore Perry’s black ships first dropped anchor in Uraga showing the American flag.
There was a trade agreement signed by America and Japan giving America a trade monopoly for many years to come and American sailors mostly from New England who were whalers began to bring back many of these carvings to the western world and by the 1870s collecting had begun.
Even yet today these carvings are still very much sought after and some of the best collections are not in Japan but actually right here in the United States.
Netsukes were carved out of many different types of materials most notably ivory, bone, wood, and sometimes metals even gems. You can find many different types represented for collecting if you’re in the mood to start a collection.
There are of course rules now in place for import and especially for ivory and so it would be in your best interest to read about these if you were into collecting these types of materials.
You would also need very deep pockets if you’re in the mood to collect any ivory carving of a netsuke that is original and truly early Japan. However there are many other materials that can be easily obtained and the carvings are just as beautiful.
Some research on your part would be advised if you want to peruse this fine art collectable. One resource that I would recommend to start with would be the International Netsuke Society http://www.netsuke.org from there you can find other resources and items of interest.
You can simply do a search for netsuke articles in goggle and come up with a lot of sites of great interest.
Here is a url to a fine article about netsuke and colleting that I think anyone interested in this art form as a hobby should read.
http://www.robynbuntin.com/Articles/netsuke_article_files/netsuke_article.htm
There are of course many fine books on the subject as well and anyone interested can certainly begin to get educated on what to look for and how to collect.
Thanks, for reading and looking. Harold Yearout
©Copyright 2005 All Rights Reserved
For more information feel free to Contact me:
I became interested in Netsuke as a fine collectable a few years ago and began a personal collection of these little fine art carvings. But what are netsukes you may ask?
Well the Japanese term for a netsuke literally means root for fastening and the netsuke was a way for the Japanese men to carry small objects with them inside there kimonos.
Since the kimono had no pockets and was only held together by a sash called obi around the waist then it would be impossible to carry any small objects around with you during the course of your day.
Thus the netsuke was derived some where possibly around the 16th century and was used as a device to act as a sort of a weight to hang down from the sash and thus keep the pouch from slipping away from the sash and kimono.
There would be a small pouch attached with strings and inside the person could then carry small items along.
They might have had there tobacco and pipe or some writing tools or a small purse and even medicines inside the pouches and these were then carried with the help of the netsuke.
The netsuke traditionally had a small hole through the material and then most often a silk cord attached and the cord was then drawn up under the obi or sash and the netsuke then would hang over the front of the sash keeping the pouch in tact.
The art of netsuke was a fine craft and the carvings were very elaborate and a lot of the time a person’s wealth or status could even be told by the look of the netsuke that adorned the kimono.
As time passed and the Japanese began to look to the western world for dress and the netsuke faded into a lost feature of clothing that was no longer needed so to speak. However the netsuke has always been highly prized as a collectable.
It’s so easy to get hooked on collecting these beautiful marvels of artistic carving once any person holds one of these little master pieces of carved art in there hands the first time there usually hooked and begin collecting.
The western world began to get there hands on these small carvings some time after 1853 when Commodore Perry’s black ships first dropped anchor in Uraga showing the American flag.
There was a trade agreement signed by America and Japan giving America a trade monopoly for many years to come and American sailors mostly from New England who were whalers began to bring back many of these carvings to the western world and by the 1870s collecting had begun.
Even yet today these carvings are still very much sought after and some of the best collections are not in Japan but actually right here in the United States.
Netsukes were carved out of many different types of materials most notably ivory, bone, wood, and sometimes metals even gems. You can find many different types represented for collecting if you’re in the mood to start a collection.
There are of course rules now in place for import and especially for ivory and so it would be in your best interest to read about these if you were into collecting these types of materials.
You would also need very deep pockets if you’re in the mood to collect any ivory carving of a netsuke that is original and truly early Japan. However there are many other materials that can be easily obtained and the carvings are just as beautiful.
Some research on your part would be advised if you want to peruse this fine art collectable. One resource that I would recommend to start with would be the International Netsuke Society http://www.netsuke.org from there you can find other resources and items of interest.
You can simply do a search for netsuke articles in goggle and come up with a lot of sites of great interest.
Here is a url to a fine article about netsuke and colleting that I think anyone interested in this art form as a hobby should read.
http://www.robynbuntin.com/Articles/netsuke_article_files/netsuke_article.htm
There are of course many fine books on the subject as well and anyone interested can certainly begin to get educated on what to look for and how to collect.
Thanks, for reading and looking. Harold Yearout
©Copyright 2005 All Rights Reserved
For more information feel free to Contact me:
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
This is Serrisa Foetida and is being trained in Shohin style, the plant is three years old.
Posted by Hello
Serissa Foetida or Tree of a Thousand Stars
This material gets its name from the really foul smell of its bark and the latin term Foetida means something foul smelling like rotten meat for example.
This material is subtropical and sometimes is still called by its old Latin name of Serrisa Japonica. There are many varieties of Serrisa some have pink flowers and others have white.
And you can now find many cultivars of this material available in many nurseries through out the western world. The Origin of Serrisa is China and also they are from Japan.
Although they are often times offered in many garden centers and bonsai shops you will most of the time only find smaller plants or starts, it is rare to find an older specimen plant of this material.
The Serissa is perhaps not the best choice for a beginner because it does require that your pretty vigilante in its care. Therefore it is better left to the more experienced hobbyist.
The Serrisa does like to dry out between watering and you will never want to let the compost completely dry out altogether. This plant will quite often loose many leaves that will suddenly turn yellow for what seems no apparent reason.
However experienced bonsai growers know there is always a reason behind these kinds of things happening and will certainly research the problem if they do not know what the cause is.
Most often the reason for this happening is over watering. I have stated many times before and will state it over again that watering of nearly any bonsai is very critical.
Until you learn what each species habits are and what they will require of you for upkeep you may loose a few plants simply to the learning process.
But practice makes perfect and you’ll eventually get it right for all of your plants if you’ll only continue on a stead fast path and keep on trying. If the leaves are brown and crisp then you are not watering enough.
A good rule of thumb for a beginner is to use the chop stick method until you learn. The chop stick method as I call it simply means to buy some cheep wooden chops sticks.
Then place one of these chop stick in each of your plants and always push the chop stick clear to the bottom of the pot.
Then simply raise the chop stick out of the pot daily and observe at what level on the wood that dampness occurs and that should help to give you and idea of how far down into the soil your plant is still moist.
Also placing the plant on a humidity tray will help to insure a good level of moisture around your plant. You will want to feed your Serrisa from early spring around April through September and then you can slack off.
But be careful to insure that your plant is wet when you do feed it as the fertilizers will often times burn the delicate roots; also you will not want to fertilize your plant if it has been suffering from leaf drop.
Serrisa hate root pruning so use vigilance and be careful when you decide to repot your plant. Repotting can be carried out about every third year or so.
You will want to let your Serrisa stay out doors for the summer if possible this will only help to keep your plant more healthy and induce a better canopy of growth.
In most regions the time of the year to move it out doors will be around June and then bring it back inside when it really warms up in August.
You can get starts from soft wood cuttings taken from a mother plant in spring and early summer. Your rooting will certainly be a lot more successful if you can provide bottom heat.
The Serrisa will respond well to nearly any style of bonsai with the exception of the formal upright and you can also be very successful with the clip and grow method of bonsai since this plant tends to really produce an abundance of limbs giving you more choice for positioning.
I have included here above this article a picture of a tiny Shohin Serrisa that I started about three years ago and this plant will remain in training for many years before it will be a nice bonsai.
But you have to start some where and this is yet another one of my attempts at creating a Shohin bonsai.
Serrisa have very small trunks and a thick trunk will take years to grow and if you do find one that has a thick trunk then this would surely indicate that the plant is very old.
No bonsai will ever look really good until you have cultivated it for many years.
The training process for any bonsai takes patients and time and many years to develop a really nice stunning plant.
Anyone with deep enough pockets could simply go out and purchase a nice specimin bonsai but would you really appericate it as much as one you have created and grown to perfection yourself.
I think not.... but when you have finally created your own wonderful Living Bonsai you’ll know it and then and only then will you really have reaped your full reward for all the time you have vested.
Thanks for reading and looking, Harold Yearout
©Copyright 2005 The Living Bonsai All Rights Reserved
For more information feel free to Contact Me:
This material is subtropical and sometimes is still called by its old Latin name of Serrisa Japonica. There are many varieties of Serrisa some have pink flowers and others have white.
And you can now find many cultivars of this material available in many nurseries through out the western world. The Origin of Serrisa is China and also they are from Japan.
Although they are often times offered in many garden centers and bonsai shops you will most of the time only find smaller plants or starts, it is rare to find an older specimen plant of this material.
The Serissa is perhaps not the best choice for a beginner because it does require that your pretty vigilante in its care. Therefore it is better left to the more experienced hobbyist.
The Serrisa does like to dry out between watering and you will never want to let the compost completely dry out altogether. This plant will quite often loose many leaves that will suddenly turn yellow for what seems no apparent reason.
However experienced bonsai growers know there is always a reason behind these kinds of things happening and will certainly research the problem if they do not know what the cause is.
Most often the reason for this happening is over watering. I have stated many times before and will state it over again that watering of nearly any bonsai is very critical.
Until you learn what each species habits are and what they will require of you for upkeep you may loose a few plants simply to the learning process.
But practice makes perfect and you’ll eventually get it right for all of your plants if you’ll only continue on a stead fast path and keep on trying. If the leaves are brown and crisp then you are not watering enough.
A good rule of thumb for a beginner is to use the chop stick method until you learn. The chop stick method as I call it simply means to buy some cheep wooden chops sticks.
Then place one of these chop stick in each of your plants and always push the chop stick clear to the bottom of the pot.
Then simply raise the chop stick out of the pot daily and observe at what level on the wood that dampness occurs and that should help to give you and idea of how far down into the soil your plant is still moist.
Also placing the plant on a humidity tray will help to insure a good level of moisture around your plant. You will want to feed your Serrisa from early spring around April through September and then you can slack off.
But be careful to insure that your plant is wet when you do feed it as the fertilizers will often times burn the delicate roots; also you will not want to fertilize your plant if it has been suffering from leaf drop.
Serrisa hate root pruning so use vigilance and be careful when you decide to repot your plant. Repotting can be carried out about every third year or so.
You will want to let your Serrisa stay out doors for the summer if possible this will only help to keep your plant more healthy and induce a better canopy of growth.
In most regions the time of the year to move it out doors will be around June and then bring it back inside when it really warms up in August.
You can get starts from soft wood cuttings taken from a mother plant in spring and early summer. Your rooting will certainly be a lot more successful if you can provide bottom heat.
The Serrisa will respond well to nearly any style of bonsai with the exception of the formal upright and you can also be very successful with the clip and grow method of bonsai since this plant tends to really produce an abundance of limbs giving you more choice for positioning.
I have included here above this article a picture of a tiny Shohin Serrisa that I started about three years ago and this plant will remain in training for many years before it will be a nice bonsai.
But you have to start some where and this is yet another one of my attempts at creating a Shohin bonsai.
Serrisa have very small trunks and a thick trunk will take years to grow and if you do find one that has a thick trunk then this would surely indicate that the plant is very old.
No bonsai will ever look really good until you have cultivated it for many years.
The training process for any bonsai takes patients and time and many years to develop a really nice stunning plant.
Anyone with deep enough pockets could simply go out and purchase a nice specimin bonsai but would you really appericate it as much as one you have created and grown to perfection yourself.
I think not.... but when you have finally created your own wonderful Living Bonsai you’ll know it and then and only then will you really have reaped your full reward for all the time you have vested.
Thanks for reading and looking, Harold Yearout
©Copyright 2005 The Living Bonsai All Rights Reserved
For more information feel free to Contact Me:
Monday, May 09, 2005
A Shohin bonsai Sageretia or Chinese Sweet Plum
First of all let me explain the word shohin. The word shohin is a Japanese word meaning a tiny-thing or something very small. But then what really is a tiny thing or something very small in the terms of a bonsai?
To tell you the truth nearly any bonsai material can be trained to be a tiny thing or in the shohin method and in nearly any style or shape that you wish to attain.
But if you were to follow the rules of shohin then your plant no mater what material it is will be no more then 25 centimeters or 10 inches and this height should be measured from the rim of the pot to the top of the tree.
The plant and pot should be easily held in the palm of your hand and not be more than the limit in height of 10 inches. It would be rather hard to express the feeling of a shohin bonsai or tiny thing if the limits were to exceed this.
Other than the basic size differences shohin are really no different than regular sized bonsai. However they are really different in the aspects of care.
Since these tiny plants will dry out much faster than your regular bonsai then it would be safe to say that you must really be on top of the watering of these bonsai.
Also the plants over all size and pot will make it very prone to getting blown over really easy if not protected in your garden. Make sure you keep these tiny beauties protected at all times from high winds and most certainly from full direct sunlight.
They would most assuredly burn a lot faster than any other plant due to there shear size. Feeding is also on a much smaller scale for these types of bonsai.
Pruning, pinching, cutting and wiring of course will also be on a much smaller scale.
A good tip for anyone wanting to grow tropical sohin type bonsai would be to try and keep your tiny plants on a large humidity tray and keep the tray filled with very small sized pea gravel.
Fill the humidity tray with water and set the shohin bonsai right down into the gravel and they will then tend to draw up humidity and moisture as they need it from the tray.
Showing these little beauties can really be fun also especially once you have a few in your collection that are different types and styles.
One of the materials that I choose about five years ago for a shohin bonsai was the The Sageretia or Chinese sweet plum this material is a very good choice for bonsai and can be fairly easy for the beginner to start and work with.
Let me tell you about what I know from the experience of growing and training a few of these wonderful plants so far.
Fist of all the material is very brittle and there for does not respond well to wiring as you would expect in the traditional style of Japanese bonsai but it will work out rather nicely as Penjing bonsai in the Chinese tradition of clip and grow.
They tend to wilt really fast so a real vigilante plan of attack for watering is an absolute must for this plant. The tree will enjoy moist soil nearly all of the time and certainly will die very fast if left to dry out for any period of time.
The tree will do very well outdoors during the warmer months and will even survive outdoors in the winter depending on where you are located.
You’ll want to feed you Sageretia with a slightly acid type fertilizer and of course feed through the entire season about every 10 to fifteen days from early April to September.
Unless you want your tree to really grow fast then it would only be necessary to repot your tree when it becomes root bound in its pot.
When you see the growth really slow or roots pushing out of the bottom of the pot then this would be a sign that you may need to repot.
Be especially careful to keep the roots most at all times when you do repot this plant.
Most bonsai at repotting will require that you remove at least one third of the root mass to reduce the plant but with this material I would tend to leave more than the usual.
Pruning can be done through out the season with this plant and it will respond well to clipping and cutting and it will sprout new growth fairly fast. As I said this plant can be trained into a very nice looking bonsai by simply using the clip and grow method.
My worst experience with Chinese Sweet Plum so far is that I actually had one of these plants loose nearly every leaf that it had because of my careless attention to watering.
I have several bonsai plants in my office at work and sometimes if I miss watering one of them on Friday before the weekend a disaster can occur.
However I saved the plant by quickly immersing the entire plant in water and letting it soak for a couple of hours and with in less than two months it had a complete new canopy of growth.
Of course the one good side to this material is that it will root very easy by simply talking cuttings from a mother plant and putting them in a glass of water. Or you can sow seed with out any special needs nearly anytime.
Pictured above is one of the tiny shohin bonsai that I started about five years ago and it is Chinese Sweet Plum.
Thanks for reading and looking, Harold Yearout
©Copyright 2005 The Living Bonsai All Rights Reserved
For more information feel free to Contact Me:
To tell you the truth nearly any bonsai material can be trained to be a tiny thing or in the shohin method and in nearly any style or shape that you wish to attain.
But if you were to follow the rules of shohin then your plant no mater what material it is will be no more then 25 centimeters or 10 inches and this height should be measured from the rim of the pot to the top of the tree.
The plant and pot should be easily held in the palm of your hand and not be more than the limit in height of 10 inches. It would be rather hard to express the feeling of a shohin bonsai or tiny thing if the limits were to exceed this.
Other than the basic size differences shohin are really no different than regular sized bonsai. However they are really different in the aspects of care.
Since these tiny plants will dry out much faster than your regular bonsai then it would be safe to say that you must really be on top of the watering of these bonsai.
Also the plants over all size and pot will make it very prone to getting blown over really easy if not protected in your garden. Make sure you keep these tiny beauties protected at all times from high winds and most certainly from full direct sunlight.
They would most assuredly burn a lot faster than any other plant due to there shear size. Feeding is also on a much smaller scale for these types of bonsai.
Pruning, pinching, cutting and wiring of course will also be on a much smaller scale.
A good tip for anyone wanting to grow tropical sohin type bonsai would be to try and keep your tiny plants on a large humidity tray and keep the tray filled with very small sized pea gravel.
Fill the humidity tray with water and set the shohin bonsai right down into the gravel and they will then tend to draw up humidity and moisture as they need it from the tray.
Showing these little beauties can really be fun also especially once you have a few in your collection that are different types and styles.
One of the materials that I choose about five years ago for a shohin bonsai was the The Sageretia or Chinese sweet plum this material is a very good choice for bonsai and can be fairly easy for the beginner to start and work with.
Let me tell you about what I know from the experience of growing and training a few of these wonderful plants so far.
Fist of all the material is very brittle and there for does not respond well to wiring as you would expect in the traditional style of Japanese bonsai but it will work out rather nicely as Penjing bonsai in the Chinese tradition of clip and grow.
They tend to wilt really fast so a real vigilante plan of attack for watering is an absolute must for this plant. The tree will enjoy moist soil nearly all of the time and certainly will die very fast if left to dry out for any period of time.
The tree will do very well outdoors during the warmer months and will even survive outdoors in the winter depending on where you are located.
You’ll want to feed you Sageretia with a slightly acid type fertilizer and of course feed through the entire season about every 10 to fifteen days from early April to September.
Unless you want your tree to really grow fast then it would only be necessary to repot your tree when it becomes root bound in its pot.
When you see the growth really slow or roots pushing out of the bottom of the pot then this would be a sign that you may need to repot.
Be especially careful to keep the roots most at all times when you do repot this plant.
Most bonsai at repotting will require that you remove at least one third of the root mass to reduce the plant but with this material I would tend to leave more than the usual.
Pruning can be done through out the season with this plant and it will respond well to clipping and cutting and it will sprout new growth fairly fast. As I said this plant can be trained into a very nice looking bonsai by simply using the clip and grow method.
My worst experience with Chinese Sweet Plum so far is that I actually had one of these plants loose nearly every leaf that it had because of my careless attention to watering.
I have several bonsai plants in my office at work and sometimes if I miss watering one of them on Friday before the weekend a disaster can occur.
However I saved the plant by quickly immersing the entire plant in water and letting it soak for a couple of hours and with in less than two months it had a complete new canopy of growth.
Of course the one good side to this material is that it will root very easy by simply talking cuttings from a mother plant and putting them in a glass of water. Or you can sow seed with out any special needs nearly anytime.
Pictured above is one of the tiny shohin bonsai that I started about five years ago and it is Chinese Sweet Plum.
Thanks for reading and looking, Harold Yearout
©Copyright 2005 The Living Bonsai All Rights Reserved
For more information feel free to Contact Me:
Wednesday, May 04, 2005
Getting Hooked on Bonsai
Hi and welcome to anyone that may be interested in the most rewarding of all horticulture endeavors that you could possibly ever master.
I’m referring of course to the art of creating your very own living breathing bonsai.
I want to tell you a story of how I first became hooked on this wonderful hobby.
It all happened when I was a teenager living with my grandmother.
My grandmother had a really beautiful front yard and in her yard at the front gate was a huge flower trestle. Planted on one side of this trestle was wisteria.
My grand parents bought the home in 1901 and the wisteria was already growing there at the front gate when they bought the home. The trunk at ground level was really huge.
By huge I mean over a foot around and that my friend is considered very big for wisteria.
It had been there for many years and had grown to completely cover the entire trestle and was to me absolutely astounding and very beautiful.
But as life would have it my grandmother became tired of the plant because of her age and failing health and wanted it removed.
Well guess who got that task? Yea you guessed it me. Well by that time in my life I was around sixteen or so I considered myself up to the task.
I hated having been given the job of getting rid of the wisteria however because as I said to me the plant was simply too beautiful to destroy.
But a job was a job and I knew that I would get paid so I started cutting it down.
I cut away at that plant for nearly the entire day and made a huge pile of branches out near the back of the barn where my granddad had a burn pile.
The main trunk took several more days for me to extract from the ground because like I said it was huge and it had a tap root that was very deep and the darn thing simply hung on for dear life.
I pried and dug till I was blue in the face and simply could not get the darn thing out of the ground. Well the next day was the weekend and I got up early and continued to dig on the wisteria.
Weekends were always my favorite time because you see in the days when I was growing up if you were lucky to have the money you could go to the Saturday movies in the afternoon.
You could even get a huge bag of popcorn and a soft drink for a quarter. Yes you read right a whopping quarter.
Well I wanted desperately to see a movie that Saturday, it was a western and westerns were my favorite. To give you an idea of the generation gap the name of the movie for anyone interested was PILLARS OF THE SKY and stared my favorite female actress Dorothy Malone.
Anyway I could not get the money my grandmother owed me till the job was complete so I kept on digging and prying trying to get that darned old wisteria stump out of the ground.
Well call it a twist of fate or luck of what ever you like but all of a sudden I heard some one behind me asking if they could help.
When I turned around to reply I was to see and meet for the first time in my life the man who later in my life taught me more about this wonderful art form than any other person most likely has or ever could have.
If I had been older at the time the little old man behind me would have perhaps reminded me of the movie actor that played the title role in The Karate Kid…. Pat Morita or better known as Miyagi.
Anyway the little short and nearly bald Japanese fellow was standing there looking at me like I was crazy to be working so hard and ask again if he could help and I said yes of course because at that point all I wanted to do was get done so I could go collect my money and head off to the movies.
Well as the man helped me to get the stump out of the ground he kept asking if he could have it. Of course I was more than happy to give it to him as it would be just one less thing I would had to throw on the burn pile.
Anyway to finish up the story the man did help me get the stump out of the ground and he when he left that day he took the stump along in his truck.
As fate would have it I ran into this man again a couple of years later and he invited me to his home to see his bonsai collection and to also get a look at what I worked so hard to get out of the ground.
Yes my friends the old stump from that wisteria that I was in such a hurry to get rid of.
Well my friends that is the day I really became hooked on bonsai, because if any of you ever in your life wondered want a masterpiece of creative art preformed on a plant looks like you would have seen it that day.
This fellow indeed was genius and a master at the art of bonsai. Yes indeed he was he had taken what was nearly a totally destroyed wisteria stump and some how saved and transformed it into perhaps one of the most lovely and beautiful bonsai that I have ever seen in my entire lifetime so far.
Now imagine if you will a stump that is nearly 22 inches in diameter and only about 16 inches in height but covered in the vine likeness that only wisteria can produce and loaded with beautifully shaped clusters of fragrant flowers as they hung down from the plant.
This was all planted in a bonsai pot that was not like any I had ever seen or have seen since. It was obvious that this pot was very special and most likely from his home land and antique.
Not like any you would find in any nursery here in the states unless it was special ordered.
Anyway to sum up my story I was astonished that the plant even lived at all.
You see I had really never thought about it after the day he took the stump until just then again at that oh so magic moment when I stood there in total amazement looking at what once used to be in my grandmother’s yard.
If I had known the day we dug it up what I know now that bonsai would be in my collection and I would probably still be enjoying it now.
I trained with this man until the time of his death in the early 1970s and I have never to this day ever had any regrets even for one moment of the gentle and caring wisdom he so graciously imparted to me.
I’m sixty one years old now and I still enjoy bonsai and I work at it nearly every day of the year when I get the chance.
It has become my life long passion and one true love other than my family of course and I will be writing about it here in my blog as time permits so if you like bonsai and the art of creating them then you may want to look in on the blog once in a while and read my ramblings.
I will be writing about bonsai and relating information about the art and what I have learned in my life time about bonsai. I will share with anyone that has an interest the tricks and facts that I have learned in my hobby and how you too can enjoy this most wonderful past time if your so inclined.
Respectfully yours, Harold Yearout
I’m referring of course to the art of creating your very own living breathing bonsai.
I want to tell you a story of how I first became hooked on this wonderful hobby.
It all happened when I was a teenager living with my grandmother.
My grandmother had a really beautiful front yard and in her yard at the front gate was a huge flower trestle. Planted on one side of this trestle was wisteria.
My grand parents bought the home in 1901 and the wisteria was already growing there at the front gate when they bought the home. The trunk at ground level was really huge.
By huge I mean over a foot around and that my friend is considered very big for wisteria.
It had been there for many years and had grown to completely cover the entire trestle and was to me absolutely astounding and very beautiful.
But as life would have it my grandmother became tired of the plant because of her age and failing health and wanted it removed.
Well guess who got that task? Yea you guessed it me. Well by that time in my life I was around sixteen or so I considered myself up to the task.
I hated having been given the job of getting rid of the wisteria however because as I said to me the plant was simply too beautiful to destroy.
But a job was a job and I knew that I would get paid so I started cutting it down.
I cut away at that plant for nearly the entire day and made a huge pile of branches out near the back of the barn where my granddad had a burn pile.
The main trunk took several more days for me to extract from the ground because like I said it was huge and it had a tap root that was very deep and the darn thing simply hung on for dear life.
I pried and dug till I was blue in the face and simply could not get the darn thing out of the ground. Well the next day was the weekend and I got up early and continued to dig on the wisteria.
Weekends were always my favorite time because you see in the days when I was growing up if you were lucky to have the money you could go to the Saturday movies in the afternoon.
You could even get a huge bag of popcorn and a soft drink for a quarter. Yes you read right a whopping quarter.
Well I wanted desperately to see a movie that Saturday, it was a western and westerns were my favorite. To give you an idea of the generation gap the name of the movie for anyone interested was PILLARS OF THE SKY and stared my favorite female actress Dorothy Malone.
Anyway I could not get the money my grandmother owed me till the job was complete so I kept on digging and prying trying to get that darned old wisteria stump out of the ground.
Well call it a twist of fate or luck of what ever you like but all of a sudden I heard some one behind me asking if they could help.
When I turned around to reply I was to see and meet for the first time in my life the man who later in my life taught me more about this wonderful art form than any other person most likely has or ever could have.
If I had been older at the time the little old man behind me would have perhaps reminded me of the movie actor that played the title role in The Karate Kid…. Pat Morita or better known as Miyagi.
Anyway the little short and nearly bald Japanese fellow was standing there looking at me like I was crazy to be working so hard and ask again if he could help and I said yes of course because at that point all I wanted to do was get done so I could go collect my money and head off to the movies.
Well as the man helped me to get the stump out of the ground he kept asking if he could have it. Of course I was more than happy to give it to him as it would be just one less thing I would had to throw on the burn pile.
Anyway to finish up the story the man did help me get the stump out of the ground and he when he left that day he took the stump along in his truck.
As fate would have it I ran into this man again a couple of years later and he invited me to his home to see his bonsai collection and to also get a look at what I worked so hard to get out of the ground.
Yes my friends the old stump from that wisteria that I was in such a hurry to get rid of.
Well my friends that is the day I really became hooked on bonsai, because if any of you ever in your life wondered want a masterpiece of creative art preformed on a plant looks like you would have seen it that day.
This fellow indeed was genius and a master at the art of bonsai. Yes indeed he was he had taken what was nearly a totally destroyed wisteria stump and some how saved and transformed it into perhaps one of the most lovely and beautiful bonsai that I have ever seen in my entire lifetime so far.
Now imagine if you will a stump that is nearly 22 inches in diameter and only about 16 inches in height but covered in the vine likeness that only wisteria can produce and loaded with beautifully shaped clusters of fragrant flowers as they hung down from the plant.
This was all planted in a bonsai pot that was not like any I had ever seen or have seen since. It was obvious that this pot was very special and most likely from his home land and antique.
Not like any you would find in any nursery here in the states unless it was special ordered.
Anyway to sum up my story I was astonished that the plant even lived at all.
You see I had really never thought about it after the day he took the stump until just then again at that oh so magic moment when I stood there in total amazement looking at what once used to be in my grandmother’s yard.
If I had known the day we dug it up what I know now that bonsai would be in my collection and I would probably still be enjoying it now.
I trained with this man until the time of his death in the early 1970s and I have never to this day ever had any regrets even for one moment of the gentle and caring wisdom he so graciously imparted to me.
I’m sixty one years old now and I still enjoy bonsai and I work at it nearly every day of the year when I get the chance.
It has become my life long passion and one true love other than my family of course and I will be writing about it here in my blog as time permits so if you like bonsai and the art of creating them then you may want to look in on the blog once in a while and read my ramblings.
I will be writing about bonsai and relating information about the art and what I have learned in my life time about bonsai. I will share with anyone that has an interest the tricks and facts that I have learned in my hobby and how you too can enjoy this most wonderful past time if your so inclined.
Respectfully yours, Harold Yearout
Monday, May 02, 2005
Here is the nice little plant that I was telling you about in the article The enjoyment of bonsai.
Posted by Hello
The enjoyment of bonsai
Hi my name is Harold Yearout and I started this blog The Living Bonsai simply because I wanted to tell others about my life long hobby and hopefully at the same time enlighten them along the way.
The joys I have received from this most wonderful and rewarding hobby are to endless to say but you can trust me when I say that it has been and still is one of my life long passions.
To really enjoy the art of bonsai you must first be willing to give of your time and not be afraid of getting your hands in the dirt and above all have patience. You will have your ups and downs for sure like anyone that does this for a hobby.
But the real secret is to remain steadfast and keep on trying and keep on learning. Study what you do not know and ask of the others that are in the no and you will learn.
If you’re really into it like me then you will derive many joys from your plants. But there are the times that are sad also such as when one of your favorites dies.
Trust me when I say it will happen it has happened to the best of us many times. You may simply forget to do something right along the way and opps sorry but you will have a dead plant.
But most of all do not ever let this bother you to the point that you get discouraged and you stop pursuing your hobby. Because you can always start another plant and just learn from your mistake.
I wanted today to touch on something that has not happened yet in my blog and that is no one has made a comment or no one has ask any questions and that sort of bothers me.
Why because I want this blog to hopefully be informative and helpful and I also want to build along the way some lasting friendships with others that may be interested in this hobby and want to exchange ideas and just plain chat about bonsai.
I’m developing a web site and will post the URL to it when it is ready for everyone to see in the mean time I will continue to post here and to write my ramblings about this hobby of mine.
If I can be of any help to anyone please ask if I do not have the answer I will certainly get you an answer or direct you to someone that can help.
I’m no guru for sure and I do not profess to have all the answers. I truly believe that no one has them all we will simply learn from many individuals in our life time and it is also my opinion that the person who remains in the dark because they will not ask is the looser.
So come on and ask your questions and come on and post your comments and help me to build a better web site and a better blog about the wonderful world of…. The Living Bonsai.
Oh and before I forget I just posted a picture of a little starter plant that I’m absolutely thrilled with. The reason I’m so thrilled is because this is one of my favorites as a bonsai material.
I had to search for a very long time even here in the Great Northwest to lay my hands on even a starter plant of this material.
Now that I have finally found one it will take years to train as a bonsai because of the very slow growth habit of this tree.
But that also reinforces what I said above and that is you must have patience to be involved in this hobby, after all Rome was not built in a day and most assuredly bonsai are not created in a day.
But you can sometimes get a jump on it by getting a plant that is already started and simply take it from there and improve on it and train it to have the desired look you want.
I guess what I’m really trying to impart here is just have fun and try to get as much out of it as you can.
Respectfully Yours, Harold Yearout
Oh PS: As you can probably see I do not know too much about blogging either, at least from the aspects of making it look better.
I would like to have my own look and feel but have not learned yet what I need to do in order to make that happen. I would like to have my own graphic header and perhaps even a better looking template for my blog.
So if there is anyone out there that can help me out then by all means contact me.
The joys I have received from this most wonderful and rewarding hobby are to endless to say but you can trust me when I say that it has been and still is one of my life long passions.
To really enjoy the art of bonsai you must first be willing to give of your time and not be afraid of getting your hands in the dirt and above all have patience. You will have your ups and downs for sure like anyone that does this for a hobby.
But the real secret is to remain steadfast and keep on trying and keep on learning. Study what you do not know and ask of the others that are in the no and you will learn.
If you’re really into it like me then you will derive many joys from your plants. But there are the times that are sad also such as when one of your favorites dies.
Trust me when I say it will happen it has happened to the best of us many times. You may simply forget to do something right along the way and opps sorry but you will have a dead plant.
But most of all do not ever let this bother you to the point that you get discouraged and you stop pursuing your hobby. Because you can always start another plant and just learn from your mistake.
I wanted today to touch on something that has not happened yet in my blog and that is no one has made a comment or no one has ask any questions and that sort of bothers me.
Why because I want this blog to hopefully be informative and helpful and I also want to build along the way some lasting friendships with others that may be interested in this hobby and want to exchange ideas and just plain chat about bonsai.
I’m developing a web site and will post the URL to it when it is ready for everyone to see in the mean time I will continue to post here and to write my ramblings about this hobby of mine.
If I can be of any help to anyone please ask if I do not have the answer I will certainly get you an answer or direct you to someone that can help.
I’m no guru for sure and I do not profess to have all the answers. I truly believe that no one has them all we will simply learn from many individuals in our life time and it is also my opinion that the person who remains in the dark because they will not ask is the looser.
So come on and ask your questions and come on and post your comments and help me to build a better web site and a better blog about the wonderful world of…. The Living Bonsai.
Oh and before I forget I just posted a picture of a little starter plant that I’m absolutely thrilled with. The reason I’m so thrilled is because this is one of my favorites as a bonsai material.
I had to search for a very long time even here in the Great Northwest to lay my hands on even a starter plant of this material.
Now that I have finally found one it will take years to train as a bonsai because of the very slow growth habit of this tree.
But that also reinforces what I said above and that is you must have patience to be involved in this hobby, after all Rome was not built in a day and most assuredly bonsai are not created in a day.
But you can sometimes get a jump on it by getting a plant that is already started and simply take it from there and improve on it and train it to have the desired look you want.
I guess what I’m really trying to impart here is just have fun and try to get as much out of it as you can.
Respectfully Yours, Harold Yearout
Oh PS: As you can probably see I do not know too much about blogging either, at least from the aspects of making it look better.
I would like to have my own look and feel but have not learned yet what I need to do in order to make that happen. I would like to have my own graphic header and perhaps even a better looking template for my blog.
So if there is anyone out there that can help me out then by all means contact me.
Are beginners confused about what bonsai really are?
I believe that they are, but of course this is only my opinion. Why do I think that beginners are confused? Well let me explain, first of all I have met many people in the last few years that are just beginning and they always seem to have been mislead some where along the way.
One of the biggest misconceptions that I have heard voiced is that bonsai are dwarfed or miniaturized. When in point of fact this is simply not true at all and anyone telling you this is wrong.The way bonsai should be perceived is very simple to explain. Bonsai are woody type plants or shrubs that consist mostly of trees and smaller to medium sized ground shrubs and most all can be made into bonsai.
These trees are then trained into a particular style and shaped into that style by the methods of trimming, clipping, wiring, and repotting, in other words simply keeping the tree or plant within the confines you wish it to grow.
That would be of course a bonsai pot and you can keep your tree in the pot you choose for many years assuming that you choose the right pot for your plant and of course tend it and nurture it as it grows. Furthermore bonsai are only what the owner is trying to express in there plant or tree more like an art form than anything else.That is to say that the owner will train his or her tree to grow within the confines of a bonsai pot and can even keep it there for many years if they desire.
They will also be creating in the viewer’s eye what he or she might see in the real forest but only on a much smaller scale but it does not need to be called miniature or dwarfed to be bonsai..
He or she might create an entire scene, or it could be just one tree in a pot but the whole idea is to try and reproduce on a much smaller scale what you would see in any forest or landscape through out the entire world. And the only reason it would be smaller is that we the caretakers of these plants have decided to create them that way. We simply keep the plant confined to the pot that we have chosen for it to live in for many years.
Imagine if you will if you buy a fish and put that fish in a small tank do you think that it will grow really huge? No in point of fact that fish will only grow to the absolute confines of the tank you provide for it.
The same is true of bonsai the plant will only grow till it becomes totally root bound. Then growth would cease and the plant would most likely eventually die all together. The only way it will continue to live and grow is if you do your work. That work consists of watering, feeding, triming, clipping, pinching, and repotting, the plant when it needs it.
Bonsai plants can be trained to be what ever the artist wants in the way of shape and size there are no real limitations. The limitations would only be in your mind and not what you can really create and grow if you decide you want to grow it.
I have seen bonsai so big that it would have taken four or five grown men to even lift the pot and plant. And I have seen and also even own bonsai that are so small in size that the entire plant including the pot can easily fit in the palm of your hand. So then what really is bonsai? Well here is my best explanation of bonsai.
Bonsai is a Japanese expression BON- meaning shallow tray- Sai- meaning plant, and this art form is now used and practiced world wide. It simply is a name given to a very expressive art form that originally was started and practiced in China.
This art form was the study of trees growing in the wild and bonsai then as well as now were only expressions and re creations of what you would really see in nature but only in a much smaller version and under controled and more idealized conditions.
The name for bonsai in China is Penjing and is more commonly seen looking more like a forest scene rather than a single bonsai plant. There are often times many plants planted within the same pot to resemble a scene and these recreations can really be awesome in appearance.
If you would like to see some of the different plant types and styles that I have discussed here then you can do so by checking on the links that I have here in this article. First of all if you want to see the art of Penjing then check out these fine masterpieces.
https://www.google.com/search?q=Penjing+style+bonsai&rlz=1C1ASUM_enUS487US488&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=5kOAUdf2Isv0iwK3yYDYDA&ved=0CDEQsAQ&biw=1920&bih=979
If you would like to see some very nice pictures of the shohin type small but yet full sized bonsai then check out this site.
By the way this is also a very good site to add to your favorites if you’re interested in bonsai and learning about them in general, there’s lots of good information here.
http://www.bonsaisite.com/mini.html
However on the other hand if you would like to check out bonsai that would more resemble what you or I might grow after many years of time patience and training then look at these beauties.
http://www.bonsaihunk.us/pic/nat/nat.html
If at any time you decide to visit one of these sites and find that they are no longer available or on line please excuse the fact that sites do come and go from time to time and if you do find nothing there please be so kind as to also let me know so that I can update my site so as not to direct anyone to a dead or unused link.
In conclusion of this short article I would like to say that although many people call bonsai dwarfed, miniaturized, stunted, and by many other names similar to these I personally do not agree with calling or referring to bonsai by any of these names or terms.
I truly believe that they are exactly what I have tried to describe here and have been for hundreds of years. And this most rewarding pass time and creation will most likely remain just as I have described it here for many more years to come.
You can see for your self from the many pictures at the sites listed here that it is and will always be a most wonderful and very artistic art form as well as a most rewarding and fantastic pass time hobby.
Thanks for reading and happy bonsai to you, Harold Yearout
One of the biggest misconceptions that I have heard voiced is that bonsai are dwarfed or miniaturized. When in point of fact this is simply not true at all and anyone telling you this is wrong.The way bonsai should be perceived is very simple to explain. Bonsai are woody type plants or shrubs that consist mostly of trees and smaller to medium sized ground shrubs and most all can be made into bonsai.
These trees are then trained into a particular style and shaped into that style by the methods of trimming, clipping, wiring, and repotting, in other words simply keeping the tree or plant within the confines you wish it to grow.
That would be of course a bonsai pot and you can keep your tree in the pot you choose for many years assuming that you choose the right pot for your plant and of course tend it and nurture it as it grows. Furthermore bonsai are only what the owner is trying to express in there plant or tree more like an art form than anything else.That is to say that the owner will train his or her tree to grow within the confines of a bonsai pot and can even keep it there for many years if they desire.
They will also be creating in the viewer’s eye what he or she might see in the real forest but only on a much smaller scale but it does not need to be called miniature or dwarfed to be bonsai..
He or she might create an entire scene, or it could be just one tree in a pot but the whole idea is to try and reproduce on a much smaller scale what you would see in any forest or landscape through out the entire world. And the only reason it would be smaller is that we the caretakers of these plants have decided to create them that way. We simply keep the plant confined to the pot that we have chosen for it to live in for many years.
Imagine if you will if you buy a fish and put that fish in a small tank do you think that it will grow really huge? No in point of fact that fish will only grow to the absolute confines of the tank you provide for it.
The same is true of bonsai the plant will only grow till it becomes totally root bound. Then growth would cease and the plant would most likely eventually die all together. The only way it will continue to live and grow is if you do your work. That work consists of watering, feeding, triming, clipping, pinching, and repotting, the plant when it needs it.
Bonsai plants can be trained to be what ever the artist wants in the way of shape and size there are no real limitations. The limitations would only be in your mind and not what you can really create and grow if you decide you want to grow it.
I have seen bonsai so big that it would have taken four or five grown men to even lift the pot and plant. And I have seen and also even own bonsai that are so small in size that the entire plant including the pot can easily fit in the palm of your hand. So then what really is bonsai? Well here is my best explanation of bonsai.
Bonsai is a Japanese expression BON- meaning shallow tray- Sai- meaning plant, and this art form is now used and practiced world wide. It simply is a name given to a very expressive art form that originally was started and practiced in China.
This art form was the study of trees growing in the wild and bonsai then as well as now were only expressions and re creations of what you would really see in nature but only in a much smaller version and under controled and more idealized conditions.
The name for bonsai in China is Penjing and is more commonly seen looking more like a forest scene rather than a single bonsai plant. There are often times many plants planted within the same pot to resemble a scene and these recreations can really be awesome in appearance.
If you would like to see some of the different plant types and styles that I have discussed here then you can do so by checking on the links that I have here in this article. First of all if you want to see the art of Penjing then check out these fine masterpieces.
https://www.google.com/search?q=Penjing+style+bonsai&rlz=1C1ASUM_enUS487US488&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=5kOAUdf2Isv0iwK3yYDYDA&ved=0CDEQsAQ&biw=1920&bih=979
If you would like to see some very nice pictures of the shohin type small but yet full sized bonsai then check out this site.
By the way this is also a very good site to add to your favorites if you’re interested in bonsai and learning about them in general, there’s lots of good information here.
http://www.bonsaisite.com/mini.html
However on the other hand if you would like to check out bonsai that would more resemble what you or I might grow after many years of time patience and training then look at these beauties.
http://www.bonsaihunk.us/pic/nat/nat.html
If at any time you decide to visit one of these sites and find that they are no longer available or on line please excuse the fact that sites do come and go from time to time and if you do find nothing there please be so kind as to also let me know so that I can update my site so as not to direct anyone to a dead or unused link.
In conclusion of this short article I would like to say that although many people call bonsai dwarfed, miniaturized, stunted, and by many other names similar to these I personally do not agree with calling or referring to bonsai by any of these names or terms.
I truly believe that they are exactly what I have tried to describe here and have been for hundreds of years. And this most rewarding pass time and creation will most likely remain just as I have described it here for many more years to come.
You can see for your self from the many pictures at the sites listed here that it is and will always be a most wonderful and very artistic art form as well as a most rewarding and fantastic pass time hobby.
Thanks for reading and happy bonsai to you, Harold Yearout
Sunday, May 01, 2005
This Japanese Black Pine resides in my bonsai collection and I hope you enjoy viewing it here.
Posted by Hello
The Japanese Black Pine
Yes indeed the black pine makes an excellent bonsai, however the black pine is not a good choice for the beginner to choose as a bonsai subject.
The black pine is from Japan and has been revered by the Japanese as very valuable bonsai material for many years. These trees have been passed down from generation to generation for hundreds of years and most likely will continue to be a favorite subject for bonsai.
This tree can grow to be more than twenty five feet tall if left to grow in a garden outside the confines of a pot.
This pine prefers colder climates but will also survive in less colder climates. This pine does like full sun and will do well as long as you’re paying close attention to it each day.
If potted up as a bonsai then you should turn your plant frequently to insure that it gets the proper light and sun from all directions.
The black pine likes an acid fertilizer for food but it can be some what neglected with the feeding and still do very well. It can be allowed to dry out between watering during the early parts of the season but you must insure that it has very good drainage.
If you do attempt to grow one of these beauties as a bonsai then you will certainly want to insure that it has a good air flow around the tree and above all you will want to shield it from extreme heat as it will not do well in the real hot summer months if your not really vigilante.
You should mist the tree regularly during the hot months several times a day if possible and try to be careful of the roots getting over heated. Good air flow and proper drainage will help to insure this does not happen to your plant.
Unless you want to wait for many years and have lots of time you will have little luck trying to grow one of these bonsai from seed as they are very slow to grow.
Your best bet if you’re really serious about having a black pine as a bonsai is to start with a nursery grown tree. Or you may prefer to purchase a specimen tree from a bonsai grower.
If you collect a plant from a garden center or nursery then you at least will have a plant that has already established some trunk growth and that is what you want.
You do not want to wait for many years to get to this result so that is why I suggest starting with pre grown stock.
You will want to study some books on the pinus family and learn the tricks of growing these trees in confined spaces such as pots before you rush out and purchase a starter plant.
Even starters of this tree can be some what expensive and for sure an old specimen plant will cost you plenty.
Learn all about this tree that you can before you attempt to grow one as a bonsai because like I stated early in this post they are not the best choice for a beginner.
You'll want to learn what times of the year to wire and to pinch the new growth as this will be very important and will have a great effect on the way your plant will look.
It takes years of pinching and training to get the needles say for instance to grow shorter and become more compact and you will only get these results by pinching out new growth.
The way you wire your limbs will have also a bearing on how your plant will look of course never forget the most important factor with any bonsai the trunk.
If the trunk is not appealing then the entire plant will always leave something to be desired.
The rule I follow in bonsai is that the viewer should always be able to see the trunk first and that is should have a nice taper moving upwards to the apex and that my over all tree should resemble a triangle when viewed from the front.
Of course this rule is not always true for every plant but at least in the case of the pinus family I try to lean in that direction. In closing of this post if you’re going to start a black pine then look for one with a strong trunk and the very best limb placement that you can find for the money.
Yours respectfully, Harold Yearout
The black pine is from Japan and has been revered by the Japanese as very valuable bonsai material for many years. These trees have been passed down from generation to generation for hundreds of years and most likely will continue to be a favorite subject for bonsai.
This tree can grow to be more than twenty five feet tall if left to grow in a garden outside the confines of a pot.
This pine prefers colder climates but will also survive in less colder climates. This pine does like full sun and will do well as long as you’re paying close attention to it each day.
If potted up as a bonsai then you should turn your plant frequently to insure that it gets the proper light and sun from all directions.
The black pine likes an acid fertilizer for food but it can be some what neglected with the feeding and still do very well. It can be allowed to dry out between watering during the early parts of the season but you must insure that it has very good drainage.
If you do attempt to grow one of these beauties as a bonsai then you will certainly want to insure that it has a good air flow around the tree and above all you will want to shield it from extreme heat as it will not do well in the real hot summer months if your not really vigilante.
You should mist the tree regularly during the hot months several times a day if possible and try to be careful of the roots getting over heated. Good air flow and proper drainage will help to insure this does not happen to your plant.
Unless you want to wait for many years and have lots of time you will have little luck trying to grow one of these bonsai from seed as they are very slow to grow.
Your best bet if you’re really serious about having a black pine as a bonsai is to start with a nursery grown tree. Or you may prefer to purchase a specimen tree from a bonsai grower.
If you collect a plant from a garden center or nursery then you at least will have a plant that has already established some trunk growth and that is what you want.
You do not want to wait for many years to get to this result so that is why I suggest starting with pre grown stock.
You will want to study some books on the pinus family and learn the tricks of growing these trees in confined spaces such as pots before you rush out and purchase a starter plant.
Even starters of this tree can be some what expensive and for sure an old specimen plant will cost you plenty.
Learn all about this tree that you can before you attempt to grow one as a bonsai because like I stated early in this post they are not the best choice for a beginner.
You'll want to learn what times of the year to wire and to pinch the new growth as this will be very important and will have a great effect on the way your plant will look.
It takes years of pinching and training to get the needles say for instance to grow shorter and become more compact and you will only get these results by pinching out new growth.
The way you wire your limbs will have also a bearing on how your plant will look of course never forget the most important factor with any bonsai the trunk.
If the trunk is not appealing then the entire plant will always leave something to be desired.
The rule I follow in bonsai is that the viewer should always be able to see the trunk first and that is should have a nice taper moving upwards to the apex and that my over all tree should resemble a triangle when viewed from the front.
Of course this rule is not always true for every plant but at least in the case of the pinus family I try to lean in that direction. In closing of this post if you’re going to start a black pine then look for one with a strong trunk and the very best limb placement that you can find for the money.
Yours respectfully, Harold Yearout
This is my first attempt at creating a bonsai out of the material Japanese Flowering Quince.
Posted by Hello
Japanese Flowering Quince
Japanese Flowering Quince is among one of the real lovely flowering bonsai in early spring especially when the plant obtains some age.
I have had a couple of these plants in my garden for years but I never really considered this material for bonsai until just recently. The nature of quince is such that is will set out many shoots and they grow upwards in many directions and clump together making more of a shrub style rather than a tree look.
Most bonsai plants are created to look and resemble a tree. So I decided to take a closer look at this plant as a bonsai subject.
I started a couple of plants this year from the mother plants in the garden by way of a root divide and began training them as bonsai they were already flowering so I will wait until they have finished there bloom cycle before I attempt to start wire training these plants to any bonsai style.
In the mean time it will be clip and grow as I do with a lot of my new started bonsai.
Most of the varieties of quince flower before they begin to leaf up, they will sometimes flower as early as January if the weather warms enough to start producing buds.
The quince will produce fruit of a yellow nature that is sometimes very large although the fruit will be very hard and not edible. However the fruit can be made into preserves that can be eaten. If you would like to start a quince as a bonsai then I would suggest that you go to your favorite nursery early in the spring and get your stock in a one gallon container and then start from there to get it ready for bonsai.
Other wise you'll be waiting a long time for the plant to mature enough for you to enjoy it and the idea is to start with a plant that will flower and give you some pleasure the very first year.
You can start quince from seed but you would need to cold treat the seeds before you plant them in the early spring after any chance of frost. You can also try to get your self a plant growing by taking soft wood cuttings in the spring and also in the fall, but rooting is very slow by this method.
You can also get a plant started by root divide as I did if you have stock or know some one that will let you have some of there plant.
Cuttings are always a nice way to get plants started but they simply require that you’re right on top of the watering and care of these new shoots as they are always especially vulnerable until they have rooted.
And even then for a year you still need to be very vigilante of your new plants.
Quince is really only one of the plants that likes to be transplanted in the autumn so if you let your plant mature through out the spring and summer you’ll have a nice start by late autumn.
You can transplant them in early spring but be careful with any root trimming you might do as the plants have most likely have already budded up and are very tender at this time of the year.
To begin with you'll want to trim off any sucker limbs that you see and start to get the plant looking like a tree instead of a mass of shoots growing in every direction. These sucker stems also sap energy from the rest of the plant and thus you’ll have less blooms and a much more leggy looking plant. So always start out thinking tree when you begin to create a bonsai.
Most of the quince are a bright orange or reddish color but some are a light pink with white also in the flower and I like to offset that with a black pot once the plant is ready to display the black really brings out the beauty of the flowers.
You’ll want to keep your quince watered very well, during the growing season but be careful not to mist the plant as this will damage your flowers and might even rot any fruit that it might have. Make sure you do not ever let your quince completely dry out.
I like to use a liquid fertilizer for feeding a lot of my plants and quince is one that I use this type with. There are several on the market so it is a matter of choice. If you’re in doubt ask advice at any nursery.
Or you may simply take my lead and use what I use. I use a combination of two fertilizers on my plants and they are a timed release type and a spray type.
The fertilizers that I use are Osmocote which is a slow release plant food that will work for either indoor or outdoor plants I use kelp based liquid spray also and this can also be used for either type of plant indoors or out.
Quince will need to have the flowers plucked off regularly as well as any fruit as these tend to really sap the main plant and especially if the plant is a young growing bonsai. You can wire your plant from spring through the end of the summer but be careful of any buds that might be growing.
You will want to cut back your quince often if you desire a nice tree shape and a larger trunk. A larger trunk is very hard to develop because the nature of quince is to create sucker growth all the time from the root of the plant and if these are not constantly cut off you’ll never get a trunk to develop any size.
Respectfully Yours, Harold Yearout
I have had a couple of these plants in my garden for years but I never really considered this material for bonsai until just recently. The nature of quince is such that is will set out many shoots and they grow upwards in many directions and clump together making more of a shrub style rather than a tree look.
Most bonsai plants are created to look and resemble a tree. So I decided to take a closer look at this plant as a bonsai subject.
I started a couple of plants this year from the mother plants in the garden by way of a root divide and began training them as bonsai they were already flowering so I will wait until they have finished there bloom cycle before I attempt to start wire training these plants to any bonsai style.
In the mean time it will be clip and grow as I do with a lot of my new started bonsai.
Most of the varieties of quince flower before they begin to leaf up, they will sometimes flower as early as January if the weather warms enough to start producing buds.
The quince will produce fruit of a yellow nature that is sometimes very large although the fruit will be very hard and not edible. However the fruit can be made into preserves that can be eaten. If you would like to start a quince as a bonsai then I would suggest that you go to your favorite nursery early in the spring and get your stock in a one gallon container and then start from there to get it ready for bonsai.
Other wise you'll be waiting a long time for the plant to mature enough for you to enjoy it and the idea is to start with a plant that will flower and give you some pleasure the very first year.
You can start quince from seed but you would need to cold treat the seeds before you plant them in the early spring after any chance of frost. You can also try to get your self a plant growing by taking soft wood cuttings in the spring and also in the fall, but rooting is very slow by this method.
You can also get a plant started by root divide as I did if you have stock or know some one that will let you have some of there plant.
Cuttings are always a nice way to get plants started but they simply require that you’re right on top of the watering and care of these new shoots as they are always especially vulnerable until they have rooted.
And even then for a year you still need to be very vigilante of your new plants.
Quince is really only one of the plants that likes to be transplanted in the autumn so if you let your plant mature through out the spring and summer you’ll have a nice start by late autumn.
You can transplant them in early spring but be careful with any root trimming you might do as the plants have most likely have already budded up and are very tender at this time of the year.
To begin with you'll want to trim off any sucker limbs that you see and start to get the plant looking like a tree instead of a mass of shoots growing in every direction. These sucker stems also sap energy from the rest of the plant and thus you’ll have less blooms and a much more leggy looking plant. So always start out thinking tree when you begin to create a bonsai.
Most of the quince are a bright orange or reddish color but some are a light pink with white also in the flower and I like to offset that with a black pot once the plant is ready to display the black really brings out the beauty of the flowers.
You’ll want to keep your quince watered very well, during the growing season but be careful not to mist the plant as this will damage your flowers and might even rot any fruit that it might have. Make sure you do not ever let your quince completely dry out.
I like to use a liquid fertilizer for feeding a lot of my plants and quince is one that I use this type with. There are several on the market so it is a matter of choice. If you’re in doubt ask advice at any nursery.
Or you may simply take my lead and use what I use. I use a combination of two fertilizers on my plants and they are a timed release type and a spray type.
The fertilizers that I use are Osmocote which is a slow release plant food that will work for either indoor or outdoor plants I use kelp based liquid spray also and this can also be used for either type of plant indoors or out.
Quince will need to have the flowers plucked off regularly as well as any fruit as these tend to really sap the main plant and especially if the plant is a young growing bonsai. You can wire your plant from spring through the end of the summer but be careful of any buds that might be growing.
You will want to cut back your quince often if you desire a nice tree shape and a larger trunk. A larger trunk is very hard to develop because the nature of quince is to create sucker growth all the time from the root of the plant and if these are not constantly cut off you’ll never get a trunk to develop any size.
Respectfully Yours, Harold Yearout
Lions Head Maple or Shishigashira
This is by far one of the most outstanding maples you will ever lay your eyes on especially in the fall of the year because of its lovely color. Its aptly named Lions Head because of the very compact growth of the leaves and they tend to look like a lions mane.
ShiShi will always seem to remain as the last maple in your garden to loose its awesome appealing fall color. The trees leaves are green to pale greenish yellow during the rest of the season. But oh boy hold on to your hat in the fall of the year because that is when the shishi out shines all the other maples.
It can have any where from a deep red to orange looking leaves in the fall and the way they grow so compact on the short stubby limbs makes this a rare beauty to say the least.
It is pronounced SHE SHE GAH she rah this is not only the name given for this lovely Japanese Maple but also the name for a Lion’s Head Goldfish. These gold fish were developed by Buddhist many years ago and were kept in the pools in there temples.
It is by the way also the name of a Camellia that seems to bloom at about the time of the year that the maple is starting to put on its fall color. Of course most of us bonsai artist are simply drawn to this tree because of its short stubby and twiggy branches and the fact that it can be even further brought down in size.
If planted in the garden it will reach heights of around six feet but will take many years to get there because as is noted in my articles and the trees themselves they are probably one or the slowest growing of all the maples..
I have had my eye on one of these beauties for many years now in a nursery but have still not bought it because they are rather expensive. But this year I did finally buy one and although it is not bonsai yet it will be I promise you. But never the less I have taken a picture of it and although not much to look at now wait till it is finished and then you will see what I consider to be a very special tree for bonsai.
I also bought a small starter tree this spring and perhaps when it is a little older and has reached some size then I can obtain some cuttings and start some young trees.
If you plan to grow a SHISHI for yourself then you will want to be sure you follow the rules as with all bonsai and remember to water regularly during the season and only slack off during the winter months when the plant is dormant.
Maples will always almost do very well if you keep them somewhat shaded in the late summer when it really starts to heat up outside in the garden.
I can certainly speak from experience because I have nearly lost some of my prize maple bonsai by neglecting them late in the summer. But then again if your lucky enough to discover your mistake soon enough you can almost always revert the sudden death of a maple even thou the leaves have entirely burned up and are crumbled toast you can save it as long as the root has not totally dried out. They will almost always make a come back they are really pretty hardy that way. But of course the rule of thumb here is too not let that happen hopefully.
I have one maple that was planted in the ground by the patio door in my garden and every year it seemed to nearly burn up the trees leaves because there is no shade there. But now the tree is finally doing well as it has aged and I finally dug it up and planted it in a huge pot even thou the pot is not bonsai style and the tree is not bonsai either but of course not all trees and plants in my garden are bonsai. This particular one is a coral bark maple and is lovely.
Most maples are fairly easy to propagate from cuttings taken in the early spring before the wood has hardened off and since most do grow fairly fast it is rather easy to get a nice starter plant in only a couple of years. Although I tend to grow most of mine from seed gathered in the fall and then sowed the next spring.
Well I could rave on for days about maples because next to the pinus family of trees they are my next favorite choice to grow as bonsai. I will close this post for now and wish you all of the best success if you try to grow Shishigashira as a bonsai. All I can say is if you do you will always be fascinated with it.
Here you find another picture a little closer just to give you some idea of the leaf structure of this plant.... and the picture at the top of the page is a Shishi that i have had in training now for four years.. and the picture in the middle of this article is the plant that I purchased this season and plan to yet bonsai as soon as I can find a suitable pot...This one will be a real undertaking as this plant is already over twenty years old and planted in a large nursery pot and I will need to gradually work the root system down in size to get it into the pot I have in mind for it... But keep coming back and soon you will see it as a full fledged bonsai I promise.
Thanks for reading. Updated 2013 from original article
By: Harold Yearout ©Copyright 2005 Harold Yearout All Rights Reserved for more information feel free to contact me:
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