June 2012 www.kawabonsai.com Volume 31 Number 6

Calendar of ActivitiesThe Next MeetingThe next meeting of Kawa Bonsai will be on June 15 atthe regular time of 7:30 with the half hour beforereserved for you to bring in plants to get help or merelyfor “show and Tell.

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Rodney Clemons spent his formative years in theFlorida panhandle, moving to Atlanta, GA when hewas thirteen. He was captivated by bonsai in 1973when he saw a Trident maple forest that struck chordsin his heart and artistic nature. Bonsai has been hispassion since that time. Rodney is a bonsai artist aninstructor, specializing in Japanese gardens andnatural water features. His work has developed hissensitive eye and skill with rock and plant placementwhich adds realism to his bonsai creations. He studiedwith E. Felton Jones and enjoyed workshops with manyvisiting artists like John Naka and Yugi Yoshimura. Hisstyle has been formed by studying nature, drawingheavily on childhood memories of coastal Florida.Rodney excels in capturing the tension in nature andtranslating it into bonsai. He is best known for hisunique “rock plantings” and his love of “Kingsville”boxwood. When teaching his remarks are deliveredwith a liberal dose of humor. He has been an invited

The nextmeeting of

Kawa BonsaiSociety will be atthe regular time

7:30 PM at theFlagler ExtensionOffice on Sawg

.

speaker to numerous Bonsai societies meetings andconventions. Rodney continues traveling, teaching,judging shows and critiquing collections. He leads astudy group at Smith Gilbert Gardens in KennesawGA, where he is the curator of their collection. He alsois the curator of the collection at the Monastery of theHoly Spirit in Conyers GA. At present he is applyinghis talents at his nursery, Allgood Bonsai, designingtrees and teaching advanced workshops. Rodneyenjoys the opportunity to share and express his love ofnature and bonsai with people in the hopes that hecan influence them in a positive way.

Tips for June Finish air layering. Reduce fruitload on plants to preserve their health. Partially shade hinokicypress, sweet gum and maple to slow leaf burn. Unwire mostplants. Watch for the presence of pests. Prune to shape newgrowth. Set miniature bonsai pots into a larger container ofcalcinate clay to help retain moisture. Propagate tropicals.Cut candles at the end of June if you are not going to reducethe size of the needles on black pine.

Mike Rogers 736-9947email: mike@mikerogersbonsaistudio.com

Louise Leister 446-1233email:Mysecretbonsai@me.com

Gerry and Mary Lou DeVane39 Bud Field Drive, Palm Coast Fl. 32137

237-7712 email: gdevane@cfl.rr.com

Glenn Partelow 586-3437 email:GPartelow1@cfl.rr.com

Carol Partelow586-3437 GPartelow1@cfl.rr.com

A charming companion

Louise and her mom, Ann

Mike Rogers 736-9947

May 2012

The meeting was called to order at 8:40 byPresident Mike Rogers. The minutes wereread and accepted as well as the Treasurersreport.

Louise made a motion that the club shouldaward Mike Rogers a “scholarship stipend” ashe and several club members had their treesaccepted for the conference in New York inJune. It was seconded by Gerry DeVane andpassed unanimously. Mike has contributedmany hours for the club and donated manytrees and it was decided that he deservedthis honor.

Louise gave us a rundown of the upcomingevents which will be present on thenewsletter. Also some discussion of theupcoming BSF conference in Orlando wasentertained.

There will be a Kawa Board meeting at 9AM atthe extension office prior to our workshop.

Anyone with any ideas that should be broughtbefore the Board should let Glenn know so hecan prepare an agenda. As an aside, it wasdecided some time ago that the Kawa by-lawsneeded some updating.

There were 14 members in attendance andthe meeting adjourned at 9:45.

Submitted,

Glenn W. Partelow

Secretary

Some plants at the last meeting

I attended the demonstration on Companion Plants and Kusamono by Kora Dalager at the BSF Conferencerecently and sat in the front row (along with several other Kawa members) in order to get the information Ineeded to better my companion plants. I know she was at Kawa for the Joy of Bonsai several years ago, butyou can learn much by repetition of material.

Included in this article are a listing of some plants that work here in Florida, hints on soil, pots, fertilizing andplaces to order these plants.

In Kusamono and companion plants, you should be showing the season that is coming not the season you arein or were in. Plus be careful that the tree you are showing and the companion match. One case is the BlackPine is a coastal tree in Japan and the five needled pine is in the mountains. Don’t treat the Black Pine like amountain tree.

In selecting pots, the best ones are handmade and irregular. Glazed pots are okay just as long as they are notgarish. You shouldn’t use regular bonsai pots for your companions and kusamono and don’t repeat the shapeof the pot your tree is in with that of the companion.

She uses this recipe for her soil : 2 parts Akadama, 1 part Lava Rock, 1 part Japanese Pumice (Hyuga) Just anote: a shipment of akadama from Japan was refused entry into the USA due to organic matter found in theshipment. It might be in short supply.

To prepare the plants for use in the companion, she cleans the roots and then washes them in a container ofwater before she pots them up.

Another surprise to me Kora suggests that you don’t leave moss on your companion plants but to add it severalweeks before the show you will be using it in. Her reasoning is you are watering the moss but you don’t reallyknow how much of that get to the plant itself. In fact she suggests that you don’t leave moss on any plant but toadd it before the show.

Another important point when displaying your tree and its companion, you never want the top of thecompanion plant to be higher than the bottom of the bonsai stand. So you have to be very careful with theheight of the stand for the companion.

A listing of plants she like are: Curly Juncus, Selaginella or crow’s foot fern, Ardisa crenata which has beautifulred berries in the winter, Creeping ficus, Rabbit’s foot fern, Berberis, African morning glory, Dwarf hostas, BlueEyed grass, Toad Lily, Scilla, Pomegranate, Potantilla, knot weed, Creeping dwarf euonymus just to name afew.

Two of her sources for plants are Michigan Blub and Country Boy Gardens (for hostas), check them out on theweb.

One interesting book is ”Bonsai, Kusamono, Suiseki a practical guide for the design of arrangement with plantsand stones “ by Willi Benz.

To be honest, I wasn’t on time for the beginning of Ryan’s demonstration, so I will tell you some of the highpoints that he covered while I was there.

After you start fertilization, in March, for the new year (Ryan likes to use BioGold). You fertilize every 4 to 6weeks until your last fertilization on June 4. You stop the fertilization because you are going to start decandlingon July 4 and you have a 30 day window to complete this from the largest to the smallest candles.

Don’t fertilize the trees in July until the candles are hardened off (sharp) and firmly anchored.

In October begin fertilization again---don’t touch anything, don’t thin out the buds.

In November and December, you start bud selection for reduction of the mass. You remove the strong budson the strongest branches and leave the weak ones. On medium strong branches you leave some strong andsome weak. On the weakest branches you leave the strong buds. Bud selection should be down to 2 buds, forramification, and if you do that you should have a fully mature branch in 3 to 5 years.

Now on the needle plucking, I will need to get back to you after I talk to Peggy, Jane and Louise because I leftsomewhat confused with the dates for that.

So you started back up with fertilizing in October and you start tapering off in November and December. Youwon’t start again until March.

Development is where you do your branch selection and elimination, decide if you need branch elongationand/or thickening and for optical establishment of the shape of the tree.

Elongation happens in the spring and if you want a branch a particular length you grow it that long then cut it.If you want a larger diameter branch, say at the bottom of the tree, you let it grow until its thick enough but don’tforget about ramification.

For structure and elimination of flaws, your pruning should take these things into consideration:

1.) excessively thick and course branches.

2.) Abundant branches in one location-prune back to two branches

3.) defining the trunk

Very rarely do we use the short branches off the top and bottom of a branch. We try to use the laterals unlessthere aren’t any. For branch elimination, prune the top and bottom growing branches and eliminate obtuseangles if possible.

For the Balance and Health of trees they only really need air and water. Of course we try to give them the bestin soil and nutrients, but they can survive with just those first two, air and water. 85% of the water is used for AirConditioning or transpiration. 15% of the water is for metabolic activity.

Root rot actually happens after plant death and the two causes are excessive drying and excessive water plusheat. The trees actually boil (cook in the ground.

Two of the places Neil gets his Black Pines are Lonepine Gardens in Sebastapol, CA ask for Stephen Price.These trees have thick trunks but their roots need development. The other is Telperion Farms in Salem Oregonrun by Chris and Lisa Kirk With these trees the trunks are not as thick but they have great roots and would bewonderful for shohin.

The BSF Convention, held at the Wyndam Hotel in Orlando was interesting we had wonderful presenters,a great display and vendors. We were sharing the hotel with another convention “Mayhem 2012”, horrormovie, tattoo, special movie makeup convention. Sitting at registration, if you a people watcher, was atreat. One picture will follow. Here are some pictures from the convention.

Registration Ryan Neil

Mike Feduccia