The August meeting of the Bonsai Study Group has been cancelled. Instead of the August 8th meeting of the Bonsai Study Group I will instead be traveling to Arkansas to study with Akio Kondo.

Mr. Kondo is a Kokufu award winning bonsai artist from Japan. Akio was Kihachiro Kamiya's first apprentice and is Boon Manakitivipart's senior from Kihachi-En, where they both studied. My friend, John Kirby is hosting Akio for part of his trip, so this will be a great time working on trees with good friends.

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

This Saturday, July 11th from 10am until 5pm will be the next meeting of the Bonsai Study Group.  This time we'll be working on wiring Japanese Black Pine, junipers, azaleas, and various deciduous trees.  As always, bring plenty to keep you busy for the whole day.  If you run out of things to work you're free to work on some of mine.  We'll break for lunch around noon, so bring a treat or join us for nearby fast food.

Please do your best to be on time.

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 your 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/

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.

This is a reminder that the next meeting of the Bonsai Study Group is this Saturday, May 9th from 10am to 5pm. I would encourage you to bring at least a few trees. You'll really see the progression if you're able to work on the same group of trees each month. If you run out of things to work on I'll be happy to have you work on some of mine.

During this meeting we'll be working on wiring and deciduous trees. We'll also be previewing azalea work for next month.

Starting in June we'll be chaning the format of the study group meetings somewhat.  I've been asked to make the study group a little more formal and focused.  With that in mind I'll be developing a curriculum with a Kokufu-ten show book as our course material, along with some other various handouts.  There will be a minimul cost to cover the study material.

• Kokufu-ten show book - provided
• Variety of additional handouts
• Must attend at least one session per month
• 6 month commitment (June through November)
• Cost: $60
• Sign up by Saturday, May 16th

If you would like more information please feel free to use the contact form, or leave a comment below.