Two more chances to attend the Bonsai Study Group this weekend.  This Saturday and Sunday, June 27 and 28th, from 10am until 5pm we will meet at my home in Shepherdsville, KY to work on trees.  This meeting we will continue our focus on Satsuki Azaleas and Japanese Black Pine (黒松 kuromatsu).  We started earlier in the month with the larger trees and will be concluding work on chuhin and shohin bonsai.  This helps keep the growth in scale with the bonsai.  Larger bonsai are worked on first, giving them a chance to put on new growth earlier in the season, and smaller later which keeps it's growth more in scale.  The longer the growing season the larger the growth.  That's something to keep in mind as we continue our work.

It's also a great time to work on tropicals.  I have a buttonwood that one lucky attendee will be wiring and styling.  Also, some maples and junipers need some attention as well.

As always, bring plenty to work on to keep you busy for the entire day.  If you run out of stuff to work on I will be happy to have you work on some of my trees.  If you need driving directions, please let me know.

We will break for lunch, so bring your own or plan on joining us out at a local fast food restaurant.

And finally, do you best to be on time.

For more information about the Bonsai Study Group please visit this link: http://www.matsubonsai.com/blog/page/Bonsai-Study-Group.aspx

It's June again and that means plenty of work to do.  At the last meeting of the Bonsai Study Group I spent a full day on this Satsuki Azalea.  The shoots were taken down to two and the leaves taken to 3 on top and weaker areas and 2 towards the base and stronger areas.

I posted the photos below at the Bonsai Study Group forum and received an interesting video critique by johng.  If you haven't already done so, visit the Bonsai Study Group forum, create an account and start contributing to the community.

The first picture shows the tree as I received it in 2006 and the second after work was complete last Saturday.  There were quite a few flaws that were removed at that time and I've spent the last few years correcting them and growing out replacement branches.  I've almost gotten it to where I want it.  However, johng has offered a new direction that I'm considering in the next 2-3 years.  That's the great thing about bonsai, they're never finished and can always be remade into something different/better. 

This tree was repotted in February.  Some are still teaching the outdated practice of repotting after flower removal.  This is overly stressful on the tree as much of the energy was spent making flowers.  You will get much better results if you practice repotting in late winter or early spring and then thin to two shoots, two leaves in June. 

Here's the link to my Satsuki thread containing the video critique and a possible option for the future of this tree:

http://bonsaistudygroup.com/satsuki-azalea-discussion/june-satsuki-work/

I'm very pleased to announce the debut of a new bonsai forum.  Bonsai Study Group is an online forum dedicated to the advancement of bonsai trees and individuals as they work together to share their progress as a community.  Testing has been underway for the past few weeks, and new members are now free to sign-up.  There are already a number of very informative posts online and I suspect even more will soon follow.

Others are encouraged to share in announcing the new forum, but the administrators have asked that we be respectful of other forums.  That means no announcement posts or signature lines on other forums, as this may be seen by some as disrespectful.  Feel free to post an announcement on a personal blog and share the news via email or personal message, as you see fit.

I'm very excited about this new forum and look forward to seeing it grow. 

http://bonsaistudygroup.com

We will be having two meetings of the Study Group this weekend.  For this round of meetings we will primarily be focusing on Japanese Black Pine Pinus thunbergii (黒松 kuromatsu) and Satsuki Azaleas.  Now is the perfect time of year to perform very specific tasks to improve your bonsai, particularly these two species.  We can learn a lot about bonsai and tree care in general from studying the growth habits of pines and azaleas.  One is apical dominant, the other basal dominant.  

For Japanese Black Pine we will be working on decandling and needle pulling.  It's all about energy balance and working towards a specific goal.  Timing is everything, and that's what we'll be discussing.

Satsuki Azaleas may still be in flower, but now is the time to remove the flowers and trim back to 2 shoots, 2 leaves.  Being basal dominant means that the top may not be as strong, so we'll leave 3 leaves towards the top and in weaker areas.

Another great part of Boon's Bonsai Intensive is doing major work that you might not otherwise have the opportunity to do. This Western Juniper Juniperus occidentalis was the subject of a major bending lesson this time.

This great tree had a number of possibilities. The first exercise was for the students to pick a front. There were two good fronts on the tree, but one in particular that Boon wanted to use.

With the front chosen and an end goal in mind it was time to get to work. It's important to start with a healthy well fed tree.  A channel was carved out of the trunk so that bending would be easier. Large gauge aluminum wire was then placed inside the new opening and raffia was applied. Then, large annealed copper wire was applied to the trunk, twice. This will be enough the support the major bending that was about to occur.

In Japan, the master does the bending while the apprentice(s) tighten the guy wires. Knowing how far to bend is something that is learned with years of experience. The apprentices learn by example here.

The final picture is a little off center from the new front. Maybe I can convince Jeremiah to share some of the photos he took during the bending session.

Read more at Bay Island Bonsai.

The last weekend in May was still a bit early for most azalea work, but for some of the larger trees or those still in development it was just perfect.

Here's a large Satsuki Azalea that I worked on.  The spent flowers were removed and shoots paired down to two.  Azaleas are basal dominant so three leaves were left on each shoot near the top of the tree and only two left nearer the bottom.  Some of the branches are still being grown out, so more leaves were left on these as well.  After the work was done the topsoil was replaced with fresh soil.  The tree was well watered.  Then milled New Zealand Sphagnum moss was applied to help keep in moisture.