The Bonsai News of Houston A Monthly Newsletter of the Houston Bonsai Society Inc.

Volume 50 Number 6 June 2019

Bonsai on the Bayou ABS convention Best of Show and Best Kusamono (Photo: Shawn Nguyen)

The Houston Bonsai Society usually meets on the first Saturday of the month at Trini Mendenhall Community Center, 1414 Wirt Road, Houston, TX 77055. Board meeting starts at 9 AM, refreshments at 10 AM, and program at 10:15 AM.

June 1 HBS monthly meeting - Repotting tropicals worshop with Pete Parker. Please bring your small or medium sized tropicals to repot. Don’t forget your tools, wire, pots and special soil for your bonsai if necessary. The club will provide the standard mix, half organic and half inorganic.

Upcoming Events More in Calendar of Events

June 1 Shohin Harlandii Boxwood workshop at Timeless Trees, 1 PM - 4PM. $40 including a Shohin Harlandii Boxwood or Chinese Plum, styling and wiring instructions. Come and enjoy a great afternoon with us.

June 8 Saturday Study Group at Quality Feed & Garden in the Heights, 9AM – Noon. Free, come and work with other HBS members. Refreshments provided.

Friday - Sunday, June 14, 15 & 16 Pedro Morales’ Tropical School, 3 days of classroom learning and hands-on experience. Pedro has taught this Tropical Bonsai School in the US, many Central and South American countries, and is now teaching in India. Mornings: Classroom training with videos & discussions. Afternoons: All hands-on work on your trees. Lunch included.

Monday, June 17 Previous Tropical School Sudents Reunion, 9AM – 4PM, $90 per person. Pedro will work with these students for the day. Lunch included.

June 28-30 2nd US National Shohin Exhibit at the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis, NC. Featuring Minoru Akiyama, Peter Warren, Marc Arpag, Michael Ryan Bell, Mark Fields, Carlos A. Morales and many more.

IN THIS ISSUE

Upcoming Events

Repotting Tropicals with Pete Parker

Showcase of the Month

Bougainvillea bonsai

June Bonsai Care

John Miller

President’s Letter

2019 ABS/LSBF/HBS Bonsai on the Bayou

LSBF Awards

ABS Awards

Joshua Roth New Talent Contest

Why I chose the Bluebonnet as the Winner

Bougainvilleas

June Bonsai Care Now that I have been somewhat feeling my age (and under the weather a bit also), I feel fortunate to have had more rain than usual. Haven”t ignored them but my local weather keeps them warm enough and watered. They did well enough but any pruning was left until this last month.

You may still have time to leaf prune but be careful, the weather could turn hot in a hurry. Remember to do it only on healthy vigorous trees. Put the tree in a semi-shaded location, out of the wind, until new foliage appears. Again never leaf prune the atropurpeum varieties of Japanese maples, they don’t want to rebud.

When night temperatures stay above 60 degrees, you can think about repotting some of the tropicals. I would wait another month though for the buttonwood.

It is important to continue the twig pruning of your trees on a regular basis. While doing this chore, look at the tree to see if there is a need to do some refinement pruning. Refinement pruning is a deeper pruning to replace a branch that has grown too long or too big with a smaller one. This is usually done with the secondary or tertiary branches, not the primary branch coming from the trunk. I prefer to do this refinement pruning on deciduous trees in the winter, when I can see the branch structure. But on bonsai like the yaupon hollies, I like to do it at this time when the tree is actively growing, so that any winter dieback is apparent. Trees that weep a lot from cuts such as maples or pines, should not be done at this time.

Even in relatively cool days, the sun can still get pot pretty hot. Not only does this dry out the soil very fast, but the tree roots don’t like a hot soil. I heard a temperature of 120 degrees would kill roots on most plants. I cannot give you a precise to-do list, since your backyard is different from mine, but make sure the sun does not hit the pots directly. If you use a cover of any kind, be sure that the side of the pot is well protected. A loose weave cover is preferable to solid paper or foil.

Get to know you trees like your children. Which ones use more water and which ones stay moist between waterings. If some are difficult to keep happy, you can try moving those to a cooler location (but be sure they get their sunlight). Another trick is to group these together, so that you can hit them with a shot of water twice a day and not have to spent the time going through all your trees.

The extended cool and damp weather is good for fungal diseases like black leaf spot. Treat with potassium bicarbonate or sodium bicarbonate (baking soda). If the foliage has hardened, you can treat with 1% hydro-gen peroxide (1 part peroxide to 2 parts water) weekly. Warm damp weather will bring its own fungal problems like mildew. Same treatment. Watch for signs of insect problems. The spider mite will always be near. Others to look for are scale of various forms, aphids, and mealy bugs.

Never leaf prune Atropurpeum varieties of Japanese maples since they don’t bud back.

I use the organic foliar feed (1 Tablespoon each fish emulsion, liquid kelp, molasses and cider vinegar per gallon water) to control all these. You can use some of the other organic controls or a chemical according to label directions. Read the label directions carefully. Don’t apply oil based chemicals to buttonwoods.

All pathogen controls must be sprayed with a sprayer that has a nozzle which produces a fine spray in order to cover the entire leaf surface. Get all of them bugs or they come right back! And spray on a regular basis. Any of them left hiding in cracks will repeat the infestation.

Even in temps below 90, the sun can get quite intense. Most plants in pots will not enjoy a full day of this sizzling heat. Partial shade should be provided. A shade cloth awning is the best to protect the trees from the hottest middle of the day or late afternoon sun that may shine under to shade cloth or branches and heat the roots to the point they will suffer.

Consider that here are two aspects to bonsai: The artistry in creating the bonsai and the botany to keep them healthy. The artistry, you can learn at the club, from demonstrations, or from books. The horticultural aspect is no less important but is sometimes put on the back burner or ignored. You know that not watering will result in a ‘finished’ bonsai so that gets taken care of in some form or other. However many do not try to learn how plants grow, what they need, or how nature made them unique in some way. To be

really successful in bonsai, it’s important that you need to study this aspect of our hobby. One of the first places to start is by learning about the planting medium. What is makes a good planting mix? How does the size of particles affect the plant? How do the various species require their own particular type of mix? Try finding the answers from bonsai books, at your local library, from your club's website or from the teaching at club meetings. Then watch your trees show their appreciation by being easier to care for.

John Miller

John Miller, who writes a monthly column for the Bonsai Society of Dallas and Fort Worth Bonsai Society, has agreed to share his column with us. We need to make adjustments for our warmer and damper climate, with earlier springs, longer summers, late fall and erratic winters.

President’s Letter

With Memorial Day upon us, several of our fellow club members will be trekking to just outside of Memphis for Brussel’s Rendez-vous. Rendez-vous is held over Memorial Day weekend and is one of the largest bonsai events anywhere near us each year. Rendez-vous features a group of well-known artists doing workshops on good material with the workshop priced at the retail price of the plant. It’s a great event every year and one I would encourage you to attend.

At our meeting last month we kicked off a discussion about a mentoring program within HBS. Mentors were solicited from the membership during the month and we have had a good dialogue about some of the issues surrounding the program. In the end we have half a dozen or so members who have volunteered to be mentors. At the June meeting we will begin the search for members who would like to have a bonsai mentor and will talk about getting the process started.

With the heat starting to arrive for the summer, I have begun repotting and styling my tropical trees. This is also a good time of year to clean your junipers, but not to prune and wire them. I am doing some maintenance on my bonsai benches that I hope will be finished in the next 2-3 weeks. The other day I was working on one particular bench that had two rotted 2x2’s as part of the top. I was pretty unhappy with the rotted wood until I realized that I made that particular bench in either 1995 or 1996. With a couple of quick replacements, it is now back in service and should last another decade or so.

Pete Parker

BONSAI ON THE BAYOU 2019

Exhibit Awards

Here are some photos to go with the impressive list of the awards.

LSBF Awards

Best In Show & Best Deciduous & Best kusamono

by Pete Parker

Best Kusamono – Bluebonnet – Pete Parker

Best Tropical – Burt Davyii Ficus - Pete Parker

Hon. Mention Tropical - Laurel Fig- Robert Kempinsky

Best Viewing Stone - Vern Maddox

Best Conifer - Howard Smith

Best Shohin – Nerifolia Ficus - Scott Barboza &

Japanese Black Pine - Brian Gurrola

Best Shohin Display - Mark Fields

Honorable Mention Shohin Display - Hoe Chuah

Best Texas Native - Dawn Koetting

Best Broadleaf Evergreen – Boxwood - Mark Guo

People's Choice – Texas Cedar Elm - Hoe Chuah

ABS Awards

ABS Medallion – Bald Cypress - Scott Barboza

John Naka Award – Bald cypress - Dawn Koetting

Joshua Roth

New Talent Contest

The Joshua Roth/ABS New Talent Contest recognizes

and promotes new bonsai talent in North America.

At this 2019 ABS convention, five new bonsai artists

competed for the first and second places. The awards

are the finest stainless steel sets of bonsai tools.

1st Place - Luis Teran

2nd Place - Bryan Correa

Congratulations to all the proud winners, especially

Pete Parker, our president and bonsai artist

extraordinaire, who took home the most awards.

For photographs of the exhibited trees, forests, saikei,

kusamonos as well as accent plants, please go to the

Houston Bonsai Society website and American Bonsai

Society website, or wait till next month.

Thanks to all the wonderful photographers who have

generously shared their digital photographs on social

media for all to admire.

Shawn Nguyen

Why I Chose the Bluebonnet as the Winner

The winner of the 2019 American Bonsai Society Convention “Bonsai on the Bayou” Kusamono Award is… a Bluebonnet companion plant by Pete Parker!

I was honored to do a kusamono workshop and be a kusamono judge of this National Bonsai Convention. There were over 80 bonsai on displays and their companion plants were all beautiful. To me, everyone is a winner because he or she had put their hearts in the displays. As a judge, I had to pick one winner, only one out of 60-70.

One of the workshop attendees asked why a little clump of common bluebonnet could surpass all the other beautiful groupings of grasses and flowering plants?

We like to use the term, kusamono, in all accent plantings, but there are distinctions when a kusamono is a stand-alone piece and when it is displayed with a bonsai tree. We should call the later a shitakusa, a companion or an accent plant. Its role is to support and enhance the tree, never in competition.

Cedar Elm is a Texas native tree. Bluebonnet is also a Texas native flower. They grow in the same habitat and you can find them together in nature. Bluebonnets only bloom in the spring. A bluebonnet in a scoop on top of an old burlap sack suggests someone had just collected this clump. Since bluebonnet is quite tall, not any cedar elm bonsai could use it as a companion. This giant 5-6 ft. tall cedar elm was on a very large

8 ft. x 4 ft. table, a full size bluebonnet companion did not look out of place in such a large display. It tells a Texas spring story.

That is why I chose the bluebonnet as the winner over many colorful and beautiful companion plants.

Soon Cheah

Calendar of Events

2019

JUN 1 HBS monthly meeting program: Tropical Re-potting workshop with Pete Parker

JUN 1 Shohin Harlandii Boxwood workshop at Timeless Trees, 1 PM - 4PM. $40 including a Shohin Harlandii Boxwood or Chinese Plum, styling and wiring instructions. Come and enjoy a great afternoon with us.

JUN 8 Saturday Study Group at Quality Feed & Garden in the Heights, 9AM – Noon. Free, come and work with other HBS members. Refreshments provided.

Friday - Sunday, June 14, 15 & 16 Pedro Morales’ Tropical Bonsai School, 3 days of classroom learning and hands-on experience. Pedro has taught this Tropical Bonsai School in the US, many Central and South American countries, and is now teaching in India. Mornings: Classroom training with videos and discussions. Afternoons: All hands-on work on your trees. Lunch included.

Monday, June 17 Previous Tropical Bonsai School Students Reunion, 9AM – 4PM, $90 per person. Pedro will work with these students for the day. Lunch included.

JUN 28-30 2nd US National Shohin Exhibit at the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis, NC. This is a short 30-mile drive north of Charlotte, NC. Featuring Minoru Akiyama - Japan and Peter Warren – UK, Marc Arpag - NY, Michael Ryan Bell - MS, Mark Fields - OH, Carlos A. Morales - PR, David Paris - NY, John Romano - RI, Michael Sullivan - FL, Sean Smith - PA, and Will N. Valavanis - NY. Details: http://www.internationalbonsai.com JUL 6 HBS monthly meeting JUL 13 Saturday Study Group at Maas Nursery in Seabrook, 9AM – Noon. Bring your trees, tools, wire and soil. Free, refreshments provided.

Go to Timeless Trees’ website and subscribe to weekly Current Events to stay in the know about weekly events and classes offered locally and about HBS activities. For almost a decade, Timeless Trees Nursery and Bonsai has provided novices and serious bonsai students a very wonderful environment to further their knowledge in the Art of Bonsai with workshops led by local artists and teachers, or on occasions, with one-on-one study with visiting bonsai masters. You can find all sizes of bonsai, of all varieties, great pots and display stands, supplies, fertilizers, soils, tools and books as well as gift certificates for your bonsai lovers and you. The resident bonsai guru Hurley is also the go-to man for all bonsai questions.

Quality Feed & Garden and the resident Dr. Ken stand ready to help you with fruit trees, bonsai trees, basic tools, pots and soils like Akadama, Lava, Pumice, Kanuma, and “Dr. Ken’s Special Bonsai Soil mixes in 10 lb. & 50 lb. bags. There are 2 separate nurseries at this location, one for garden shade and fruit trees, a second for decorative trees and bonsai. Free bonsai classes are offered every 3 months for the Houston Bonsai Society study group. Newbies are welcome. While you explore this unique store, you can also pick up a few pet birds, chickens and ducks and their feed. HBS members get a 10% discount.

If you are looking for herbs, vegetables, citrus or fruit trees, flowering plants, orchids or bromeliads, and even aquatic plants to decorate your home, garden and ponds, JRN II got them all. The greenhouses are home to countless rare plants and exotic tropical bonsai, and the most unusual gifts for all occasions from birthdays, anniversaries, grand openings, house warming parties, to New Year celebration. Take a stroll in the shop and around the garden to check out the bonsai figurines, boats and pagodas, bonsai supplies, tools and soils as well as bonsai pots, garden statues and Japanese lanterns. You will never know what kind of surprise is waiting for you to take home.

For advice on all plants and bonsai, please ask Thuy Doan.

Visit artist Andrew Sankowski at the Mossrock Studio & Fine Art Gallery for the finest gifts and uniquely beautiful bonsai pots in every shape, form and color. If there is a potter who knows bonsai pots, it’s Andy. He keeps a greenhouse full of beautiful bonsai. As a master potter who offers weekly pottery classes, Andy also mixes his own proprietary clay blends and over 100 of his own colored glazes. Bring your unusual trees for him to make unusual personalized pots. Pots for all purposes can be commissioned year round. While you are on the tour of gallery and studio, check out the masterpieces of many talented local artists.

Andrew Sankowski 26002 Oak Ridge Drive Direct (281) 684-4411

The Woodlands, TX 77380 Fax (281) 363-9032

andy@mossrockstudio.com

Houston Bonsai Society, Inc. P. O. Box 540727, Houston, Texas 77254-0727

www.houstonbonsaisociety.com

HBS Board Members

President Pete Parker peteparkerbonsai@yahoo.com

1st Vice President Scott Barboza markyscott@me.com in charge of Education 2nd Vice President Hoe Chuah hoe.chuah@gmaill.com Secretary Ryan Vollert rmvnucks@gmail.com Publicity Ken Cousino krcousino@yahoo.com

Treasurer Eldon Branham elmo4635@aol.com

in charge of Membership Webmaster Anthony Cutola acutola@gmail.com

Member at Large - O Gale Childers f5gale@macconnect.com

Member at Large - O James Kelly kurstyn.castillo@gmail.com

Member at Large - O Ryan Vollert rmvnucks@gmail.com

Member at Large – E Soon Cheah soon.cheah@gmail.com Member at Large – E John Williams KappiJon3@gmail.com

Delegates Past President Hurley Johnson hurley@all-tex.net

LSBF Delegate Hurley Johnson hurley@all-tex.net

LSBF Alternate Pete Parker peteparkerbonsai@yahoo.com

BCI Ambassador

TTSBE Representative Alan Raymond amraymond@suddenlink.net

Refreshments

Website/email Anthony Cutola houstonbonsai@gmail.com

Newsletter editor Shawn Nguyen hbs.news@yahoo.com

The Bonsai News of Houston is a monthly publication of the Houston Bonsai Society, Inc. Copyright © 2011. The contents of this publication may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the consent of the editor or a member of the Board of Directors. Exceptions exist, however, for certain not-for-profit and non-profit bonsai organizations or associated bonsai and bonsai nursery newsletters, including without limitation the American Bonsai Society. HBS participates fully with reciprocation of contents and material between other LSBF member organizations and others. Authors who submit articles for this newsletter thereby give permission to such organizations to reprint, unless they expressly state otherwise.

Space for advertising in The Bonsai News of Houston can be requested by contacting the newsletter editor or a member of the HBS Board. The rates for a business-card-size ad (approximately 3 1/2" x 2") are $10 per month, and $75 per year (12 issues). A full-page ad is $50 per month. Rates are subject to change without notice. 3½" x 2" classified ads are run free of charge for one month once per 12-month period for non-commercial members. For special requests or questions related to The Bonsai News of Houston, contact the newsletter editor or a member of the HBS Board.