Saikei Demonstration, Sept. 9, 2002 by Norman Haddrick The following is a (slightly edited) recording of what transpired during Norman Haddrick's wonderful demonstration. Last October I think it was, we did a similar presentation - a little bit larger - and I was approached afterwards by many of the new members who were quite surprised at the amount of preparation it took to do the work I did in 45 minutes or so. I thought what I would do tonight, on a smaller scale, is show you how we can utilize material which is not individually spectacular - meaning that we couldn't containerize it and make it into an individual bonsai, but if we put it together with other, similar plants, we can produce very pleasing results in the form of saikei. "Saikei" is a Japanese word. You all know "bonsai" is "bon", being the container, "sai", being the plant or the planting. "Saikei" means "living landscape", and living landscapes offer the opportunities to use very young material, or in this case tonight, I will be using one, two and three year old, rooted cuttings. And I hope to be able to impress you enough to get you interested in starting in this direction, because from this, your bonsai interest can evolve even further. As you learn to grow and maintain a living landscape you can learn a tremendous amount about plant maintenance, horticulture and design. Back in 1967 a book came out by Toshio Kawomoto, "Saikei - Living Landscapes". In this book are very clear instructions on how to lay out rocks and mosses and create hillsides and valleys and rivers, little tributaries, and so on. And all with plant material that is 1 1/2", 2" or 3" tall, in the form of a landscape. The presentations he creates are ... inspiring ... that is the word I'm looking for. We have his book in the club library and I urge you to read it at some point - this is my personal copy, and it's already loaned out. Preparation The project tonight is to produce a landscape in a container. I was given by Dick Morton our past president a 9" by 12" tray - and as you see here, I've put screening on the bottom - that is there to prevent the soil from washing through as it drains the water. I thought, early today, that it may not be big enough for what I have in mind. But I can still work with that. Alternatively, I can do a similar planting on a slab. This is a natural limestone slab, collected in Ontario. And, I can utilize this using slightly different techniques, and by building further rocks on the top of this slab, I can create a pleasing effect. The final saikei is going to be raffled off, and so one of you, at least those of you that buy a ticket, will have the opportunity to take the finished result home. I would like an indication from you which you would prefer: something in a little pot like this, or something on a slab. Slab! You realize of course, that by the time I finish building rocks on this thing, it is going to be heavy. And you are going to have to carry it away. But, the reason I ask is because that choice determines my selection of rocks. Had you chosen the pottery container I have pre-selected granite rocks, which at least would be complemented by the colour of the tray. And now, you've chosen the limestone slab, and I obviously can not build granite up on the limestone base. So, I will use limestone rocks. We will put this together so that it looks like an integral, connecting rock, with crevices created by the natural breakdown of rock, and those crevices filled with soil and plants. Then seeds lodge themselves here and grow. These crevices are the main challenges you have, when you create something like this. I have no mental picture of what this finished item will be. We'll work together with it. I'll work quite quickly. I'll explain what I'm doing, why I'm doing it, what the result will be, and we can progress through the whole thing, ... and I think Bob has given me one hour to do it. I just want to put out some of these rocks so that I get an idea of their shapes, colours, and textures, because I have to avoid conflicting colours and textures in this composition. There are not many, or obviously you'd need a truck to take it home. We have holes here in the slab, and if the need arises, we can tie down the plants. The basic medium I'm going to use is regular bonsai soil of my own composition, the recipe my mother taught me on her knee. You can ask any bonsai person in the whole world what bonsai soil mix he uses and every one will be different. The only good thing about this stuff is that it's cheap. Because we're dealing with a slab surface that is irregular, we will use peat muck. When I came home from the bonsai symposium in Rochester last night, quite tired and ready to just have a cup of tea, I had to make this peat muck. As you can see, if you threw this against the wall it would stick. So, this is what we're going to use first of all to contain and direct water in future watering, and also, more importantly, to hold the rocks in place - to not only hold the rocks together, but to hold the rocks apart - very important that we have that definition, because between the rocks you want the roots and mosses and sub plantings to grow, as you will see. The peat muck is 50% short grain sphagnum moss and 50% black earth, or black top-soil, and its messy, but it's very useful in rock and stone planting. So in this area, I am going to utilize this section at the back, I am going to build a wall here. Like a little dam around here - and even as this material hardens, at the same time it remains quite porous - it breathes, and when you water the outside of this, the water will permeate through the fibers of the sphagnum moss. But of course, I'll leave the top open, so that we get water to the roots of the plants. When you're dealing with rocks for plantings it's very important that you keep the rocks wet. In fact it's advisable that you soak your rocks over night. So I want to create something over here to step-up from this level (the base level of the slab) and I'm just going to experiment a little. I'm fiddling. This is very much the way you have to work. I'm just making sure that when wet and dry, the stones look at least similar. This process is interesting. It's also creative, and sometimes frustrating. If the results don't turn out, you can always pull it apart and start over. It's better to have an indication of where your rocks are going to be, before you start moving plants around, because the moment you start disturbing root systems your plants are at risk. I may not even use all of this wiring. OK now, as I said, this peat muck will change its permeability when it's dry, because of the fibers of the sphagnum moss that it contains. However, what you don't want to do, is contain the water inside there; you must have drainage. So one of the methods I use is drinking straws, and drinking straws can be taken from the centre, where the space will be for regular bonsai soil. And I'm using the brown straw here - it's a small gauge and you just put it down in here - make sure the end is clear and that it is touching the floor and then you can place the rock. Later you can come back and cut it back here - you can do several of those, and always downhill, because water always drains downhill. Question on Peat Moss I have never used peat moss; it always seems to be a little too fine for me. Sphagnum moss has more bulk to it. That's why I use it. Natural Events OK, there is the first layer of rock. Now, remember that this is supposed to be a homogenous piece of rock, that nature is breeaking down over the years, because the water gets into crevices; winter comes along; the water freezes, expands, and the rock splits. Next spring, next summer, the cracks fill up with debris, soil is formed, and the seeds fall and grow. It is a perpetual thing. We are trying to create that effect. We're not trying to create something that you see by the side of the highway, where you have newly cut rocks that look like they've been drilled and dynamited. The process is just like building with blocks. Your material has to be very moist and sticky; you don't necessarily need it to be too wet. When you're making muck always make more than you think you're going to need. You can always add water and stand back. Question about Repotting One of the intersting things about saikei is that as the plants develop within that layout, obviously the limitations of space help to contain the size of the plant. It's very easy to dissemble the planting by simply removing rocks and then you can recreate the setting with new rocks or new plants and restyle your trees and reassemble them. It kind of adds to the fun. Question about Suitable Plants You can actually use any species of plant that is suitable for bonsai. It must have all of the characteristics we look for in bonsai. But as you'll see when I unveil the modest plants I'll be using here, you'll be amazed at the results you can get - very pleasing. It's very important also - not to use at the visible points - any rock that has a new break. Look for the parts that are worn and showing signs of erosion, and hide the parts that have just been snapped or broken. When looking at the front, we can see the kind of structure I'm building. Now I can start thinking about plants, plant direction, positioning, and all those things, and if you look at this, I've chosen as the front, this side of the platform, this rock slab is higher here and lower at the front edge here; so the picture that I envision will move from the viewer's left to right and downhill like this. So what I propose to do is to put a plant in place so that we can follow that basic design movement. The plants I have chosen, as I said, are one year, 2 year, and a 3 year old rooted cuttings of Grewia caffra ... and look at that lovely flower. This plant will probably bud for anyone that wins it, and you'll enjoy the buds for the rest of the season. This is the first tree (the 3 year old). It's very important to properly position the tree, and as you see, the tree has a trunk-line that is interesting; This tree has a vinelike, creeping characteristic that you can see - this tree has been snaking upwards and upwards, and all of the other branches and the terminals have buds on them as well. I'll cut them back to some extent but I'll leave as many buds as I can. I'll prune it back and the result of that prune back will be prolific new growth. Let's just look at this; anything cut from this, you stick in the ground and it will grow. Question About Holes in Rock Slab The holes are bifunctional - they act as drainage holes and also wiring holes. For the purpose of tonight's demonstration, that's all the pruning I'll do. This one I have just repotted this spring, so its root system is quite compact. Question on Soil I'll need a little soil underneath it. My soil is 30% humus 30% sphagnum moss 30% 3/16" gravel; it drains very well and also holds water rather well. OK, so I'm just going to wire down the tree, and there is a rubber tube on the wires to prevent the roots from being damaged. That's the first tree in place. Let's just take a look at it. Now, then, we have another tree here, which in fact, has two trunks. I thought I would plant it in this grouping as a secondary and tertiary tree. It's got some surface moss here, which I'll keep on. So here we have small rooted cuttings, 2 years old. (The plant grows very very quickly.) What I'm going to try to do with these is to emulate the movement of this first tree, and to bring the plants to the back of the planting here, so that they are visible from the front and enhance the overall composition. If I plant them like this you'll see that I can increase its visibility by making it smaller; does that sound right? Again I'm using wire with rubber tubes so that the roots are not directly squeezed too much. They are in place. I want to give some support around them by adding rocks, because I want these trees to look as if seeds fell into a rocky crevice and grew there. In fact, as the roots expand in their growth, they can also contribute to the breakdown of rocks. I've seen a lot of that in nature. Always take a good deal of muck to hold the rock in place. As you can see it's a simple process. The purpose of the two trees at the back is to provide another dimension to the view. They provide the appearance of a similar tree in the distance. So it provides a third dimension in an otherwise two dimensional picture. I think this will be the last rock. Let me explain the process here. Visualize this as a huge rock in the distance, and this is the high point, and you see the steps coming down and hopefully, when it dries, with the moss in place the composition will look like one component. And I'll start cleaning up. Use a spray on bonsai so you don't loose the soil. Question on Moss We have different kinds of moss, and it is nice to place different species of moss here for a show, because you can take it off after the show. The reality of bonsai is that you want to keep it in sunshine, and the moss you use has to be tolerant of sunshine. The one we use is called Bryum argenteum, which is this piece here, very thin, and has a nice silver sheen. It thrives in full sun, which is why we like it for bonsai purposes. The other mosses we have here will look great today, but will eventually die because they are not tolerant of full sun. The secondary objective of moss is to keep the soil together, and to help to prevent erosion, from rain and watering. If necessary you can hold the moss in place with bobby pins or+ wire. And, throughout all these crevices and cracks, where the rock has parted, and the residue from the tree and soil has gathered, I press the moss in - everything is saturated, so everything presses right in. I wouldn't water this for 2 or 3 days, I'd keep it in the shade and then the material will firm up, and it will be easier to work with. Now, one of the things I've always been taught, is that we should never use a species for bonsai in a shape that it would not naturally achieve. For example, you would never make a deciduous tree into a pine tree form, or a pine tree into a decidiuous form, and so on. This main tree has a meandering appearance, like a wild, wind-swept pine. But, when this fills out, and it does fill out very rapidly, it will be more like a deciduous tree. In this climate the Grewia is more like an evergreen, because you bring it indoors for the winter. Once the temperature gets below 10 degrees celsius, it is very important that you bring it indoors, and put it into a bright window and mist it every day and water fully every 3 days. Keep it out of the direct sun unless it is morning sun. I just want to add a bit more muck here to hold the soil in. Have I made my point about simplicity and creativity? Thank You.