Bonsai Class, Part 1 by Herb Gustafson Courtesy of The Internet Bonsai Club (http://internetbonsaiclub.org) (A note from the editor: Frequently we have been asked by members and non-members alike, if/when we are having a bonsai class for interested parties. When we have had such classes in the past, they have usually been very successful. Since no classes are planned for this year, I thought it would be useful for all members if I reprinted a series of "email bonsai classes", as originally delivered by Herb Gustafson. I have combined some of the original 17 classes into 5 articles, which will all be published between now and June. The focus plant for these classes is the "Juniperus Procumbens 'nana'", which is a ground hugging juniper variety that is readily available in our area. Once spring rolls around, many of you will no doubt be interested in acquiring one or more of these trees from your local garden center.) -------------------------------------------- Juniperus Procumbens "nana" A comprehensive class that takes you from selecting material to transplanting your "finished" tree, including a bit of bonsai history. This class was originally given in an email format to give time to participants to review and do each steps. Introduction Whenever I begin a class, I like to go around the room and have everyone introduce themselves and talk a bit about why they are enrolled, how much experience they have and what they expect to get out of the course. The students in this class are really not students, they are participating in a rather unique program. In some respects, we all know each other already; through our postings, our journal articles or from questions we have posed to the group in the past. I have an idea that this class will succeed if we all bring something to the center table. Each of us, in our own way, can contribute a unique facet to the study of bonsai. I enjoy teaching continuing education classes because I can get immediately to the problem without apology. All of us, in our fields, have demonstrated success in many ways. I enjoy not having to try to stimulate interest or explain the relevance of pure knowledge. We are all brought together by a common interest. Let's share our enthusiasm and knowledge as colleagues. We have already learned that the only dumb question is the one that you were hesitant to ask, and that there is no one right answer. With that philosophy in mind, let's explore some of the fundamentals of bonsai so we can begin on common ground before passing on to more esoteric principles. Bonsai is a Japanese word made up of two characters or word phrases, "bon" and "sai". Bon is pronounced as the English word "bone", as in dog bone. Sometimes it is seen spelled as bon with a long dash over the "o" to signify that it should be pronounced as a long "o", just as it is pronounced as part of the alphabet. The word bon means pot, container or tray in Japanese. Inherent in the definition of bonsai, therefore, is that bonsai are always in pots. Sai is pronounced as the English word "sigh". It can mean many things in Japanese. Some translations are: planting, planted, tree, plant, plants and trees. Thus, one can translate bonsai in many ways, although tray tree seems to be most popular. The word bonsai is both singular and plural. You may have one bonsai, or two bonsai, but you never have two bonsais. In most languages, we try to stress one syllable over John Jarrett. In bonsai, neither syllable is favored. BON - sigh is just as incorrect as bon - SIGH. It does not require a capital letter; it is not Traytree, just traytree, like dog, chair, or lamp. "Banzai" is an unfortunate word that comes from the overactive imaginations of screen writers during World War II. Banzai is a profane expletive that was supposed to have been shouted by kamakazi pilots on their suicide missions. There seems to be no survivors to interview, but I suspect they did not shout "traytree" the moment before their personal sacrifice. I feel the question coming already over the net; "kamakazi" means "divine wind", not banzai. Most bonsai are between 10 and 30 inches in height. Actually, the sizes and their classifications are quite complex due to the Japanese method of sizing bonsai. For example, a "mame" or palm sized bonsai might be 4 inches high for a rather stout plant and 10 inches high for a fairly ethereal literatie or bunjinji form. Both plants still fit comfortably in the palm, hence they are both called mame or palm sized bonsai. The Western world wants to catagorize these sizes according to height and gets all disturbed to find that the sizes overlap. I offer the following generalized size distinctions for bonsai. The largest common size, called imperial bonsai, measures from 60 inches to around a maximum of 120 inches high. They are considered an 8-handed size, implying that the services of 4 or more people are required to move one about. The name comes from the appearance of fine, stately old bonsai around the interior of the Imperial Palace, residence of Japan's emperor. Large bonsai - less than 60 inches tall but more than 40 inches - are classified as "hachi-uye". These big garden bonsai are sometimes temporarily displayed in halls, courtyards and entryways large enough to handle their imposing visual impact. They are considered 4- to 8-handed bonsai in terms of their weight. Most large bonsai are considered "dai" bonsai, or "omono" bonsai. They range between 30 and 48 inches in height. Two or three people can carry one and they're displayed in rooms larger than 16 x 18 feet, or 288 square feet. Two-handed bonsai is the size most commonly seen in bonsai shows. They range from 16 to 36 inches high and are called "chiu" bonsai, or "chumono" bonsai. They require only an average-size room for best display, say a large entrance hall, a modest living room or a large bedroom. Medium-size bonsai are known as "katade-mochi" bonsai, sometimes spelled as "kotate" or "kotade". These trees can be carried in one hand. They are the most popular size and account for the greatest number of bonsai in any classification. They are between 10 and 18 inches high. The small, or "komono", bonsai can be easily picked up and carried by one hand. It is between 6 and 10 inches in height. It fits easily in the hand and constitutes the largest of the miniature bonsai. "Mame" bonsai are known as pocket bonsai, or palm bonsai because several can fit in the palm of a hand. They are usually less than 6 inches high but more than 2 inches high. The size classification "shohin" bonsai is somewhat smaller. "Shito" bonsai, or "keshitsubo" bonsai, are the smallest of all. Their maximum size is around 2 inches high and includes anything smaller that's horticulturally possible. English translations include the names "poppy seed bonsai", "fingertip bonsai", and "pea-size bonsai". These plants, pot and all, will fit on a fingertip and certainly test the growing skills of the enthusiasist. Other Related Artforms "Bonkei" are nonliving landscapes. Land contours are often fabricated out of papier-mache or fiberglass resins and painted. Gravel is typically glued down to make the planting more durable. Trees and shrubs may be plastic, foam, sponge, cloth, or silk. Lakes can be made out of glass mirrors on which rest a miniature boat floating in transparent glue. The use of clay figurines, mud huts, and wooden bridges is common. The imagination, attention to detail and optical illusion are essentially the same as required for saikei. "Bonseki" are nonliving landscapes as well, but they specifically avoid such trappings as human figures, thatched houses and boats. The landscapes are constructed entirely out of stones, gravel, sand and soil. Special attention is given to land contours to help achieve an effective statement. "P'en Jing" is a Chinese landscape. It may contain living trees, or not. It may contain houses, mud figures, and bridges, or not. The important distinguishing characteristic that separates this art form from its Japanese counterparts is found in its spirit or intent. P'en Jing exists in the minds of its creators. It is not a reproduction or photographic image. Each portrays a mystical, wonderful land where one might want to go. Some plantings are made out of respect for the stone itself. The cliffs might be formed out of a particularly well formed coral. Islands might be made out of large hunks of charcoal or petrified wood. Prehistoric fossils embedded in sedimentary sandstone might suggest the perfect form of a mountaintop. Nevertheless, it is the spirit of the planting that is of the utmost importance. More impressionistic than still life, the P'en Jing moves one's emotions somehow. The cliffs are somehow more precarious, the rock ledges narrrower, and the gorge walls more precipitous than in actual life. P'en Jing are larger than life, even in their miniature size; actual container size ranges between 3 and 5 feet in length. The narrow trays might be just a thin slab of marble or granite placed on a carved rosewood stand. The shiny surface of the pot is usually all that is needed to represent water. The stones rest on their own natural or cut bases. In saikei, capturing a moonlit, starry sky on distant mountain peaks might be comparable to a photograph by Ansel Adams or Ray Atkeson. A P'en Jing of the same scene might capture a spirit more like Van Gogh's "Starry Night". "P'en Tsai" is the Chinese equivalent of bonsai. Their literal translations are identical. I suspect that bonsai is derived from the Japanese pronunciation of P'en Tsai hundreds of years ago. The Chinese tend to utilize bolder colors in their containers, however. The earth tones of Japanese "Tokoname" ware pots give way to the brighter reds and golds reminiscent of Spanish or South American cultures. Chinese containers are more likely to have calligraphy etched into the glaze; windowlike panels are often seen on the sides. The use of brighter glazes is a Chinese tradition. I don't ever recall seeing a red or yellow glazed Japanese pot. Japanese red is a dull brick red and the yellow tends to be more ochre or pastel. Chinese reds and yellows are more like what you might see on new fire trucks and school buses. Some terms related to bonsai growing will be used extensively throughout this course. I would lke to define them so that we have a standard to refer back to. This may help avoid confusion in subsequent weeks. For more, see our Bonsai Dictionary Root buttress: The transition between trunk and roots that gives the bonsai its widest point. The buttesss at its base, dissipates into primary roots. At its top is where the trunk becomes somewhat cylindrical. The root buttress of a bonsai refers to its actual best root buttress not the buttress found on untrained nursery stock. In other words, the root buttress may be buried. The #1 Branch: I avoid numbering branches except for the first two. The #1 branch is the lowest, thickest, longest and dominating branch on the tree after styling. It is usually found to one side rather than front or back. #2 Branch: Usually found at a higher point on the trunk than the #1 Branch. Its ideal location is on the other side of the trunk. It is a slightly smaller version of the lowest branch on the tree. The Apex: The root buttress becomes smaller in diameter as the trunk progresses up from the ground. The ultimate culmination of this taper is the top of the tree. At no point along this taper will a branch be bigger than the trunk. Jin: The dead top of a tree. Shari: A dead branch or portion of a branch. Saba miki: Any dead portion of a trunk. Cambium: In bonsai practical terms, this is the live, slippery, white layer that is found just under the bark. When bark is peeled from a live tree, the cambium is exposed and the area is then dead. For purposes of this class, xylem and phloem, etc. are being simplified. Cultural Dwarves vs. Genetic Dwarves There are hundreds of genetic dwarfed plants out in the nursery world to choose as bonsai material. In a sense, we can use genetics as just one more dwarfing tool to create bonsai. By restricting water, shade, fertilizer, roots and branches through pruning and bonsai horticultural practice, we can reduce leaf size to one-one thousandth of its normal size. Dwarfing fruit, flowers and seeds are more difficult. By using genetic dwarfs to start with, we somewhat deprive ourselves of the satisfaction of the dwarfing process. In its extreme, one can imagine a 100 year old spruce tree only 10 inches high that has never been pruned. I must say that I would obtain a greater degree of satisfaction growing a 100 year old Ezo spruce only 10 inches high. But there are compromises to be made. I prefer Ezo spruce to Colorado blue spruce because it has smaller needles. I prefer hand selecting Japanese pine seedlings based on their small needle size. The junper we have selected as a workshop tree is Juniperus procumbens nana, a genetically dwarfed form of Juniperus procumbens. We can combine bonsai cultural techniques with genetic material for an even greater advantage, but let us not forget the horticulture in favor of the engineering.