BONSAITHE

WireFROM THEPresident

facebook.com/NewOrleansBonsai gnobs.org

MEETINGS& Events

espite the crazyweather, it looks likeSpring has finallydecided to stay. Your bonsai should bestarting to grow at a

fast clip now - which means youneed to be just as fast. Keep up withregular pinching and take a goodlook at your bonsai. Removebranches that you know you don’twant so that your tree can use itsenergy on the ones you do want.Feed and water well now and keepan eye on your wire. With the fastgrowth wire can bite in quickly.Next month work can start ontropicals. Check now to see if youhave the pots etc that you need.In June we will have an openworkshop. Consider working on oneof your tropicals then.

I wanted to stay thank you toRobert Reed and Jim Osborne forstepping in and providing a greatcritique program when AdamLavigne had to cancel at the lastminute after pinching a nerve in hisback. They gave good advice on thetrees members brought in andcommunicated a lot of goodinformation on species and bonsaitechniques. We are currently tryingto reschedule Adam Lavigne.

If you have any ideas orrequests for programs please emailanyone on the board or speak to oneof us at the meetings. This is yourclub and we are always trying tomeet the needs of our members.

Kathy BarbazonGNOBSPresident

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The News let ter of The Greater New Orleans Bonsa i Soc iety

Greater New Orleans Bonsai SocietyPO Box 13212 New Orleans, LA70185

Greater New Orleans Bonsai Society BoardPresident: Kathy Barbazonkbarbazon@me.com504-628-3546(cell)504-988-0928 (work)

Vice-President: William Majouewmajoue@yahoo.com504-606-4143 (cell)

Treasurer: Rick Hamiltonrick@hamiltonjewelry.net504-391-0111 (work)504-231-1914 (home)504-391-1810 (cell)

Recording Secretary Peggy Howard504-887-3116peggylh@cox.net

Newsletter EditorKathy Barbazonkbarbazon@me.com504-628-3546(cell)

Exhibit Director: Gerald Nolansnoot@cox.net504-884-8929 (cell)

Masters Program Director, Forum Moderator: Jim "Ozzy" Osbornewevoodoo@cox.net504-458-6956

Web Site Manager, Forum Administrator: Bill Butlerbill@bayouconcepts.com504-455-5282

Past President: Jim "Ozzy" Osborne

April 2014

THANK You To MELE Printing (985) 893-9522 for donating the printing of this

newsletter

BONSAI Terms

Tuesday, April 8, 2014 Program: 7:00pm Jim Osborne will demo a Bunjinstyle boxwood Bunjin is a passion for Jim and has it’s own distinct rules–or lack of rules forstyling. Jim, a previous Vaughn Banting winner, will demo a collected boxwood and lectureon the nuances of the Bunjin style. Check out Jim’s article in this issue. Bring either aBunjin style tree or a boxwood for display.

The boxwood workshop previously scheduled for April 12 will be rescheduledfor a later date due to a scheduling conflict. Participants will be notified.Workshop: Collected boxwoods suitable for Bunjin styling This will be an informalworkshop led by Jim Osborne. Cost of the workshop, which includes the collected boxwoodand use of club wire is $25. There will be a sign up sheet at the meetings.

Tuesday, May 13, 2014 Program: 7:00pm Dawn Koetting will do apresentation on Shohin bonsai. Dawn is a previous winner of the Vaughn Banting Awardfor her Shohin display and has done shohin presentations for the Louisiana Day of Bonsai.Shohin is not just a size. It involves it’s own techniques for styling and rules for displaywhich can be complex. It should be an interesting and informative program.

Tuesday, June 10, 2014 Program: Open workshop This is your chance tobring in and work on one of your trees and get the help and collaboration of other members.Sometimes a second opinion can help you take your tree from good to great. It’s also a goodtime for newer members to get the help of more experienced members. Club wire will beavailable for use.

Meetings take place on the second Tuesday each month at 7:30pm (pre-meeting activities begin at 7:00pm) at theMarine Corps League Hall, 2708 Delaware St., Kenner, LA. For more information, articles and everythingbonsai, check us out on our website at www.gnobs.org

The Summer Workhe “Summer” work of bonsaiis very important but it’s alsothe most demanding and attimes not the most fun work.The first job is just making

certain that you take a good look at each ofyour bonsai as you water. The inspection is forfungus, disease, insects and wire problems.Plants swell quickly so any wire can present aproblem. Remove the winter wire as soon asyou can.

Know when to prune each species. Some,Maples and Elms can be pruned as soon a newgrowth extends but Hawthorne and Hornbeamneed the wood to go from green and soft tobrown and stiff before pruning. Prune too early

by Joe Day

and these species take the cut as an injuryand start a abort sequence on that shootdelaying the next set of buds until theshoot has recovered its health. Study eachspecies and find the best way to prune.

We are very dry now but the rainswill come and when they do all your deadwood will do what dead wood does, rot.Rot can be “almost” pre vented withgood lime sulphur treatment. Do it nowand do it correctly and you will thankyourself many time over the years as yourbonsai develops its style and the deadwood stays beautiful.

Don’t allow the soil level to drop inyour bonsai containers. If the soil drops

below the level of roots where you can seeunder the root many species will abort thatroot and seek to grow a root that is still belowthe soil line. You can loose a great root youneed for the style quickly.

You can get better style on many speciesif you wire the tree after the tree finishes itsspring flush of growth. With some species youcan pull most of the leaves, wire and get goodbud back and better style. The work neverends.

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Members are always encouraged tobring any tree to meetings that theywish to discuss or about which theyneed advice.

CHOKKAN formal upright formMOYOGI informal upright formSHAKAN slanting formFUKINAGASHI windswept formSABAMIKI split-trunkSHARIMIKI driftwoodTANUKI 'cheats'/form wheresapling is attached to deadwood/also known as a 'Phoenix Graft'.HOKIDACHI broom formKENGAI cascadeHAN KENGAI semi-cascade

SHIDARE-ZUKURI weepingBUNJIN literati formNEGARI exposed root formSEKJOJU root over rockISHI SEKI planted on rockSOKAN twin-trunkSANKAN triple-trunkKABUDACHI multiple-trunkNETSUNAGARI root connectedYOSE UE group plantingSAI-KEI landscape plantingPEN-JING landscape planting

Workshop NewsAdam Lavigne’s Neea workshop may be rescheduled as early asSeptember - stay tuned! We will let you know as soon as possible.

My Thoughts on BunjinSTYLE Spotlight Save the Date!

The annual GNOBS Auction isset for

August 16. It’s not too early to start

potting and trimming treesthat you want to donate. Youknow you will need the extraroom on your benches for thefabulous trees you’ll buy at the

auction!

unjin is probably the most miss-understood of all the bonsai styles.Actually, it is not really a style at allbut more of a feeling. All goodbonsai should evoke some feeling in

the viewer, and this is especially true with bunjin.In most other styles, you look at the roots first,then the trunk. In bunjin, you look at the trunk,the branches and roots come second. Bunjin is allabout the trunk, in other words, the line of the tree.

Bunjin can trace its beginnings back toChina, over 1,300 years ago. One can easily see akind of abstract shape in bunjin, which brings to

mind the art ofcalligraphy andlandscape paintingsof the SouthernSchool of China. Ilearned that the men,who painted in this way, were from the ruling class and turnedtheir backs on the government and courts in order to dedicatetheir lives to things like poetry, philosophy, calligraphy andpainting. They sought freedom for the individual man ofculture. These men became known as the "literati," meaningeducated ones. The literati felt that in their wild landscapes theentire man was revealed, even more than the mountains hepainted. Bunjin bonsai reflects this freedom. In other bonsai stylescrossing branches or trunks would be considered incorrect. In

the bunjin style, such crossings are not only permitted, but it can give a powerful tension and drama tothe design of the tree. Look at the landscape paintings of the literati. Crossing branches, and odd twistsand turns of the trunk are prominent features of their work. According to Frank Nagata, former dean of the Southern California bonsai masters, "Bunjin is thelast of the bonsai styles for the student toappreciate." As I've stated, bunjin is not reallya bonsai "style". There are few rules, andeveryone makes what they feel is right.However, if it's not done correctly, the treejust looks funny. Therefore bunjin is verydifficult to do. It is even hard to describe what makes a

bunjin bonsai, because it is more of a spritthat invests the tree than some thingphysical. There are some rules however.The most important of which is that thetrunk is tall and slender with little or notaper, and it is never straight. Thetrunk should have interesting twistsand turns. In some bunjin, the apex

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By Jim Osborne

can be a 180 degreeturn in the trunkitself. The brancheson bunjin areasymmetricallyarranged and few innumber. The firstbranch being, in mostcases, two thirds upthe trunk and sparselygreened. Most bunjinhave very little or nosurface roots at all.

My bonsaifriends and peoplewho know me knowthat bunjin has longbeen my favoritestyle. I do not reallyknow why this is.Perhaps, it is becauseof the true freedomthat one can enjoy when creating a bunjin bonsai. I do not have toconcern myself with all the rules of the more conventional styles.With bunjin, I am free to create as I see fit, as long as I take into mindthe sprit of the tree. I have found that with bunjin, you either love it orare indifferent to it. Most people look at a bunjin and don't see toomuch. They think that it must be easy to create, because of thesimplicity of the design. Whatever the reason for my love of the style,it gives me great pleasure to create and enjoy them.

People often ask me what is the difference between a bunjinbonsai and a literati bonsai. Nothing, they are one and the same.Newcomers to the art of bonsai learn about the heaven, earth, andman triangle and the arrangement of the branches; first branch second

branch, backbranch, ect.Then, just whenthey arebeginning tofeel sure ofthemselves,they see a treethat breaks allthe rules, andthey feeluncomfortable.They don't likeit. When thenovice nolonger has to

think about the rules in bonsai, then maybe they will at some pointdevelop a taste for bunjin. It has been said that bunjin or literatibonsai is the most sophisticated of all the bonsai styles andsometimes the uninitiated may see them as artificial.

The great John Naka says this about bunjin, "The bunjin style ofbonsai is so free that it seems to violate all the principles of bonsaiform. The indefinite style has no specific form and is difficult todescribe, however, its conformation is simple, yet expressive. No

BEGINNERBasics

There are two basic but related questions; How do Iincrease the trunk size and how do I increase the trunktaper? This point is often quite unclear to bonsaibeginners. They often ask how to thicken the trunk whenwhat they really wish to accomplish is more taper.

Anything that you can do to increase the growthon the tree will increase the trunk size. Naturally thistakes time but the key fact is that the more leaves andchlorophyl, the faster the trunk will fatten. Using alarger container, good fertilization and not trimmingthe tree will accomplish this goal. However, oftenthe trunk is actually of good size but the trunk doesnot appear large due to lack of taper. It is taperthat gives the tree a big boost in achieving amature look and not the raw size of the trunk.

One way to get a large but well taperedbonsai is reduction. All the fabulous trees thatyou see in my book, on the internet and inshow publications are large trees that havehuge bases and lots of dramatic taper. Thesehave had years of strong growth in a largecontainer or the ground and then were cutback to a branch which formed the newapex. This new apex was then allowed togrow strongly until it was about half thethickness of the trunk immediately belowit.

This process is repeated atintervals introducing directionalmovement to the trunk as well astapering segments. Once the tree hasgotten perhaps half way to its finaldesign, attention is directed to finerdetails like branches and silhouette.Wiring and grafts and other techniquesare then used to correct deficits.

This process takes years outdoorsin tropical climates. Indoors it will takemany, many years.

Another technique to create a largetrunk is to fuse smaller trees together.Smaller figs are placed together, the outerbark is protected and the trees are wiredto each other. With time they will growtogether and form a larger tree. See Ficusfusion techniques.

doubt its most obvious characteristics are those shapes formedby old age and extreme weather conditions."

What type of pot can be used for bunjin? As with the styleitself, less is more. A round, drum, or a nail head pot could bea good choice for the bunjin bonsai. Another good selectionwould be a natural looking crescent or boat shaped pot. Inmost cases, the pot will seem somewhat undersized. As in anybonsai, the tree and pot must harmonize with each other. Thesame rules for color and glaze apply to bunjin as in any otherdesign.

Thinking about trying to create your own bunjin bonsai?What type of plant material can be used? Just like otherbonsai, you have many choices. The most often used materialis some type of pine, because they can be found growing innature in a bunjin style. Juniper would be another goodchoice, but really you are only limited by your ownimagination. Whatever you choose, it should be a material thatwill allow the harsh pruning and sparse foliage that is thehallmark of bunjin. It should also be something that does wellin our southern climate. Bunjin are mostly grown in smallpots, which is something to consider in the heat of oursummers.

I love this style. It is a challenge to create, and I find thatit epitomizes the very sprit of what we as bonsai artist try tocreate. Bunjin is about the struggle for survival against greatodds. It has great age, and displays fantastic movement, and assuch, great drama. It tells a story. It surely evokes a feeling inthe viewer. It clings to life, year after year, despite itself, in themost adverse conditions. What is not to love about thiswonderful style? What more could one want from a bonsai?

by Jerry Meislik

Ficus Techniques: LargeTapering Trunks

Editor’s Note: Though this articlerefers to ficus, most of the techniquesdescribed will work with any species.

Check out Jerry’s website and books at:http://www.bonsaihunk.us