Last night I attended a lecture/demonstration by Peter Adams. It had been 13 years since he last visited Cincinnati, long before I joined the club.

For his demonstration Peter worked on a medium sized Chinese Elm. The elm had some previous training, most likely while it was being grown for mass production in China or Korea. The shape was quite pleasing to start with, without the exposed roots so common on imported Chinese Elms of the same size. The pot was a cheap Chinese oval with a new shiny blue glaze. Peter commented that the pot was too "young" and detracted from the beauty of the tree.

Mr. Adams spent a great deal of time talking about the shape of deciduous trees. He was very engaging while discussing the sweeping branches and the flowing movement. "Have the courage to make your branches grow upwards," he said. "Look at the deciduous trees in nature, the branches may grow downwards, but then sweep up," he added.

Chinese elms are most definitely not pine trees. They have a decidedly different shape. There is a delicate quality to a well shaped elm tree. Mr. Adams brought out his sketch pad to show the attendees two options that he saw while studying the tree. His background in art showed through in his drawings. He was able to pick two different trees with incredibly beautiful lines. He asked the group for a consensus and then went to work.

With deciduous trees much of the initial work is correcting the flaws developed during the growing phase. Many branches were shortened or removed. Knots were thinned to make a better overall shape. The top 1/3rd of the tree was removed and a new branch brought up to create a new top. Wire was applied to form the basic structure of the branches.

Towards the end of the demonstration Bonsai with Japanese Maples by Peter Adams was passed around. This wonderful book cemented the ideas that Mr. Adams had been sharing with the group. Wonderful drawings, pictures, and descriptive texts are found within. Briefly flipping through the pages was enough to convince me that this will be my next bonsai book purchase. He truly has a knack for deciduous bonsai.

The finished tree looked incredible. With most of the demonstration material it will be raffled off at the meeting next month. Be sure to buy your tickets!

This Saturday, June 21st, I'm hosting an informal study group and bonsai workshop at my home in Shepherdsville.  If anyone is in the area and interested in attending please feel free to contact me.  We'll be working on Japanese Black Pine and Satsuki Azaleas.

Removing the candles on Japanese Black Pine is a great way to control growth.  Mid to late June is the perfect time of year to carry out this work.  Short internodes and smaller needles can be developed by utilizing the growth that emerges later in the year.   Bring your own tree to the workshop, or work on one of the many that I will have available.  Just interested in watching?  That's fine too.

In addition to the pine work we'll aslo be working on Satsuki Azaleas.  The flowers have come and gone, so now the real work can begin.  Thinning and trimming can now be done to help develop fine branches and ramification.  Make sure that the branches end in pairs.  Wiring can also be done at this time to give shape the branches.  Same deals goes for azaleas in this workshop.  Bring your own, work on what's available, or just watch.

See you Saturday!  Please contact me for directions.

I'm off to another Bonsai Intensive with Boon Manakitivipart this week.  I should be able to check in on the blog and approve comments and respond as needed, but not much else.  Boon keeps the students incredibly busy during the 3 day course.

This will be my 2nd Summer Intensive.  Summer work includes decandling Japanese Black Pine, Satsuki Azalea trimming/thinning, and wiring and pruning various other trees. 

Judging from the email recipients on the email Boon sent last week we have a full class comprised of a great group of folks, all of which I have met at one time or another.  Three full days working on world class trees, what could be better?

I plan on posting a full report next week.  See you then!

Thanks to GrandmasterB for creating a great contest for 1000 Entrecard Credits.  And thanks to Jeff at BuzzMyBlog who put up half of the prize credits.  And thanks to all of the readers of Matsu Bonsai, GrandmasterB, and BuzzMyBlog  sites.  It's the readers that make contests like these possible and successful.

If you're not familiar with Entrecard you can read more by visiting www.entrecard.com.

This prize will come in handy, as I'm working on a new website set to launch in early July...

Stay tuned to the Matsu Bonsai blog for some exciting updates in the near future including a great new contest on this bonsai blog.  Winner gets a great new Matsu Bonsai coffee mug.  Details will be announced in July.  Stay tuned!

I've never met someone who knew everything there was to know about bonsai.  The truth is that there is just too much to know.  You could learn all there is in a particular area for a particular species.  Travel a few hours in any direction and you could find that what you knew is incorrect or irrelevant in another region.

There will always be gaps in our knowledge with any subject.  Even experts in their field still keep and consult volumes of reference material.  There are entire libraries devoted solely to law and medicine.  I don't mean to imply that there is the same quantity of information available for bonsai as there is for law or medicine, but there is quite a bit and it continues to grow.

New and different techniques are developed for bonsai all the time.  The best example of a new technique that changed the landscape significantly was black pine decandling.  It was once normal to starve Japanese Black Pine bonsai of food and water in order to maintain short needles.  With the discovery and refinement of decandling techniques it is now normal to feed vigorously and provide plenty of water to pines.  This technique has been shared with the bonsai community, and is now almost universally accepted.

It's through 'trading of skills' that the bonsai community gains knowledge.  There are all kinds of opportunities to learn new techniques in bonsai. It is better to have others around us that might complement our own knowledge and fill the voids where we may be lacking.

Add a new dimension to your bonsai.  Work with others to learn new skills and take your trees to the next level.

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How do you learn new skills?  Are there things that you know you don't know?  Join the discussion below.

In addition to bonsai I have a few other passions.  One of those passions is playing the guitar.  I first picked up a guitar at 13 years of age.  I had some previous musical training with violin and piano, but the guitar was the one for me.  I enjoyed playing music with friends through school and afterwards, but only as an occasional hobby

A few Years ago my love of the guitar made me finally decided to become a more serious musician.  It was at this time that I sought out teachers who could help me in this journey.  I traveled to music camps and found a few guitar teachers locally.  I took lessons ever week for a few years.  It was during these guitar lessons that two different teachers suggested that I start teaching students how to play the guitar.

WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH BONSAI?

One spring I was reminded of my love of plants and the outdoors.  I stumbled across a garden center that had a greenhouse full of wonderful bonsai trees, pots, tools, and supplies.  I was thrilled.  I had always had an interest in bonsai, but never had an opportunity to follow that interest.  It was at this garden center that I found out about a bonsai club in the area and decided to investigate.

STUDY

The Greater Louisville Bonsai Society was a small club that was meeting once at month at that time.  I attended a meeting in the basement of a strip-mall and was immediately hooked.  I joined the club that very same day.

STUDY

Through the bonsai club I was able to take workshops conducted by other club members as well as traveling bonsai artists.  It was through these various workshops that I really began to grasp some of the fundamental aspects in bonsai.  I learned to wire, trim, and repot a tree.  I learned basic styling techniques.  I was able to do hands on work while getting advice from the other members of the club.  All of this was invaluable in my learning bonsai.

STUDY!

Not long after joining the club I learned of several conventions in the area that happened at different times throughout the year.  Having been bitten by the bonsai bug quite hard I made it a must to attend at least one major event a year.  It is at the conventions that one can get a lot of exposure to some really great teachings of a variety of bonsai experts.

GO FORTH AND TEACH

I thought it odd all those years ago that two of my guitar teachers would suggest that I begin teaching students how to play the guitar.  It was only recently that I started to understand.  When teaching, it is often the teacher learns just as much as the student. 

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On March 1st, 2008 I launched MatsuBonsai.com, an online bonsai store and bonsai blog.  In addition to selling bonsai related items I am also marketing my services.  If you are interested in learning more please feel free to contact me to find out more.

Well, the heat and humidity has arrived in Kentucky and the trees are thriving.  The maples are fully leafed out.  The redwoods are looking great.  The tropicals have been moved outside onto the benches.  Now constant monitoring of wired branches, trimming, pinching, and pruning can begin.

June is an incredibly busy time for the bonsai collectors that have Japanese Black Pine or Satsuki Azaleas.  I have both.  On my large azalea alone I've already removed well over 200 flower buds.  I don't allow my azaleas to bloom every year, and the large Gyoten is in a no-flower year.  This tree was one from a workshop that I attended in 2006, and have been working on ever since.  

A new brood of cicadas has emerged this year, their singing and whirring fills the air.  I'm not terribly worried about the bonsai this year.  The last major cicada brood to emerge was 4 years ago.  At that time I was overly protective.  Each and every tree was covered with a protective mesh to protect the delicate branches from the dangerous flying insects.  It wasn't until later that someone pointed out that cicadas prefer to do their damage at a much higher elevation.  Well, that proved to be true, as not one cicada was found on or near any of my trees that year.  Let's hope the same holds true 4 years later.

Here's a photo of the Satsuki Azalea 'Gyoten' from the 2006 workshop. 

A few months ago I visited Dave Bogan at his home near Evansville, IN.  While looking through his inground pool/greenhouse at all the wonderful trees he has I spotted a very nice redwood stump.  The redwood was doing quite well in the humid conditions of the greenhouse even though there was snow on the ground outside.

When I commented that I really liked the tree I was told that it came from Mendocino Coast Bonsai in Pt. Arena, CA.   Flipping through some bonsai magazines a day later and a quick Google search lead me to their website.  I exchanged a few emails with Zack explaining what I was looking for and he promptly sent me photos of 3 different redwood trees.

Here is a photo of the tree, 2 months after it arrived.  It's doing well in a new pot on my benches.

California Redwood Sequoia sempervirens

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For a large number of Americans the only exposure to bonsai is having seen the Karate Kid movie.  There may be a roadside stand in your area, or if you're lucky a local shop that happens to carry a few small bonsai trees.  What many may not know is that there is most likely a bonsai club nearby.

Having a friend in bonsai is a great way to remove the fear associated with doing something new.  Far too many beginners are timid with their trees, resulting in overgrown shrubs with poor shape or no definition.  Worse yet are those that are overly aggressive due to lack of knowledge and end up killing tree after tree.  The face to face interaction with someone who shares your interest is something that can't be matched.  Still, there are some that are successful doing bonsai on their own.

A lot of bonsai is personal preference.  Some prefer to spend their bonsai time in isolation, almost in a Zen meditative state, they are perfectly content working on their trees alone, and end up with fine results.  The problem with this is that they are not giving back to the bonsai community.  They are not passing on their skills and knowledge to anyone else. 

We should all strive to remove the mystery associated with bonsai.  With increased exposure to bonsai more and more people will grow their interest in the art form.  As the basic principles of pruning and repotting are learned individuals will seek to learn more.  We need the knowledgeable to step forward and teach others.  It is through teaching that we continue to learn.

If a good club exists in your area take full advantage and attend all that your schedule allows.  Don't have a club in your area?  Start one.  Not sure if there is any interest in a bonsai study group?  Ask around, you would be surprised how many might be interested.  So, come on all you Lone Pines out there, join the community and share your bonsai knowledge with your neighbor.

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What is your preferred method for learning bonsai?  Are you a member of a club?  Study group?  Add your comments below.