Loropetalum Envy

Loropetalum. Lor-o-pe-tal-um. Not as intimidating as it first looks, as far as latin names go.

So, what is it? (besides a cute picture from wikipedia?)

It's a shrub I saw, and could not identify, last time we went to Florida. It was blooming in February, with this beautiful, wispy magenta flowers, had moderately sized foliage, and pretty jagged looking growth habit. I didn't know what it was, but I filed it away, hoping to come across it again some day in a place with a name loudly declared. Whelp, finally found it. And now I'm wondering...

Can it be grown as a bonsai?

So far what I know of them (besides being attractive) is this:

-They like full sun to partial shade (can provide, check!)
- They prefer well draining, acid soil (can provide, check!)
- They cannot handle freezing temperatures, but most do well with a cooler period for flowering. (with effort, can provide, so tentative check!)
- They are tolerant of pruning (awesome, so check)
- They can be grown in large containers (Hmmm, how large? Will they tolerate root pruning?)
- Heat tolerant, but prefer cool roots (good to know, shade or mulch pot in summer?)
-They come in green and purple leafed varieties, as well as white and magenta flowering varieties (I'm not picky, and has no bearing on bonsai culture)

A search for Loropetalum bonsai comes up with very little information about growing these.... but does yield some awesome photos.

-I don't read french (and the only french I speak is probably not suitable for mixed company or hanging out with grandma), so the information available here is lost to me. But there are some good pictures at the end: http://www.parlonsbonsai.com/Loropetalum.html
-More information in a language I can't read, and can't even offer proper insults in. But again, nice photos!: http://www.bonsajacaj.sk/cl_bon3.htm

And plenty of others, some which are really stunning, but I don't trust the websites so I'm not going to risk infecting your computer and mine by clicking on them. Hmmm. Internet, you make me nervous sometimes.....

The winter requirements are challenging for me here on Long Island, I am just at the northern edge of where they can grow in the ground, but may die back to the roots as a landscape plant. This clearly is not optimal. I don't do a lot of tender species as bonsai, prefering stuff I can mulch and leave out without too much hassle in my winters. But I might be willing to make an exception for this one.

Anyone have experience with this plant? Thoughts, comments or photos you'd like to share? While tracking this down at a local nursery is unlikely for me, next time I take a trip south, I'll be keeping an eye out for some workable stock!

Speak for the Trees

The Trees are All Right

by Timothy Egan

In most of the American West, the trees are not the right height, which may
frighten Mitt Romney, and some of them are so old as to challenge the biblical
view of creation that Rick Santorum wants taught in schools.

The tallest
trees in the world, the coast redwoods of northern California, grow to 378 feet
— more than half the size of Seattle’s Space Needle. The oldest trees in the
world, bristlecone pines that cling to hard ground in Nevada’s Great Basin, can
live for up to 5,000 years.

The saguaro cactus, with its droopy,
anthropomorphic limbs, is the signature tree of the Southwest, though some say
it is not technically a tree. And the western red cedar, armored in bark that
Indians made into waterproof clothing, is a symbol of the Northwest.

This arbor tutorial is prompted by the slack-jawed ignorance of the last
Republicans standing in the bad-idea-fest that is their party primary. Every
week, it seems, the conveyor belt of craziness serves up another archaic idea
from the people who want to represent a party that claims at least 40 percent of
the electorate.

Just an exerpt from the above linked blog post. All politics aside, it's an interesting piece, and something well worth keeping in mind and (for me) in heart. Anyone who loves bonsai loves trees, yes? And wild spaces are places worth protecting.

Be the Lorax, speak for the trees.....

Look for a return from general plant news to bonsai this weekend.

Shoes and ships and sealing wax....

I discovered something yesterday. I cannot bend the thickest wire I have. Don't get me wrong, if I have a length of it and put both hands on either side, it bends easily. I cannot bend small areas with my finger tips while I am wiring a tree though. I spent a few minutes, very perplexed over this, and eventually just switched to two strands of a smaller gauge wire. I don't have many larger trees that might require the largest size of wire I have. Heck, I didn't even buy the largest size, but had it given to me as a throw in on a purchase at Golden Bonsai two years ago. I don't even know what gauge it is, but for reference it's about as thick as my pinky finger. I was going to use it to wire up a new leader on a Japanese Maple I acquired earlier in the year, but otherwise, in two years, I've have no use for it whatsoever. And now, knowing that I can't even bend it the way I need to, well.... it'll just keep the bottom of my wire tree balanced.

We (my son and I) went to Green Garden nursery in Northport yesterday. Mostly, I've been searching for a pot for a banyan style schefflera, but you can't go to Edna's and not look around. And I can't go there and not walk out of there with at least three things I didn't actually go there for. In this case it was two J. maples and a Sargent Crab apple. One of the maples and the crab apple are just whips, though the lowest part of the trunk on the smallest maple is nicely shaped. The larger maple is destined for shohin (heck, all three of these are eventually). I found the pot I wanted for the schefflera. It's an interim pot, shallower than the pot it is in now, but not as shallow as I'd like yet. Heck, it is a poor match for the tree in general, expept it was the only pot that was the right width, length and depth. As schefflera are tropical trees, I'll be repotting this sometime in the next week and will post pictures then.

My son turned seven last week. Two years ago, we started a tradition. Beside the usual birthday stuff (this year, he wanted these things called Bakugan), he also gets to pick out a piece of bonsai stock, something that will be his tree in years to come. Sometimes he likes to help water them, sometimes I take care of them (let's face it, mostly I take care of them, but watching him water his trees is too cute for words). This year he picked out a Japanese Maple. The trend is generally whatever tree I've spent the most time on before we go is the kind he picks out. He always picks out the tiniest trees he can find ("Because I'm small too"), and this year I was pretty impressed by the piece he picked out. It's only five or so inches tall, but rather than just being a thin, whippy trunk, the bark is mature and rough (rather than smooth and green like most of the rest of the similarly sized maples), the trunk well shaped and quirky, and the tree, in general, is going to be a nice little shohin in a couple of years. The leaves are abnormally large, however, so we'll see how they reduce in time. Edna actually gave him the tree in question as a gift, which was very sweet of her.

Rowan and his little maple under the big maple in our yard.

Happy Birthday Ro!

Persimmon?

So this is less an informative post and more a post looking for information. I've been looking for a certain variety of persimmon as stock for some time now. Diospyros rhombifolia, or Princess Persimmon. These have very tiny fruit, about an inch across, and I've been wanting to get my hands on one, even just a very small (read: twenty year project) piece of stock to try. If anyone knows someplace on Long Island that sells them, or a reputable online dealer (Brent at Evergreen Gardens had them, but he's sold out :( ), please, let me know!

Bonsai Study Group, from Matsu Bonsai

If you note my blogroll, you'll see a blog called "Matsu Bonsai."

The folks over there are involved with a new bonsai forum, the Bonsai Study Group.

http://bonsaistudygroup.com/

It's apparently just finished testing and is now open to the public. I've always enjoyed the posts over at Matsu, and I'll be dropping by myself to check out their forum there as well.

Welcome to the neighborhood, BSG :)

Maples!

This is less a news post, and more a call for information.

So typically, the most common maples we see as bonsai are Japanese maples and Trident maples. But there is a wealth (over 160 species in the genus) of different maples that could be used. While some might be unsuited for smaller sized bonsai, due to a lack of leave reduction and long internode size, almost any maple has the qualities needed to thrive in bonsai cultivation (tolerance to root pruning, quick healing, etc). But traditionally we focus on two species of maple, to the near complete exclusion of so many other interesting and potentially beautiful choices.

I've been working a bit with my own local maple species as bonsai. And while none of these have been in cultivation long enough for them to warrent anything other than the name 'prebonsai material,' I am looking foreward to the next few years working with them.

So what's my call for information?

I'm looking for people who have worked with non traditional maple as bonsai stock. I'd like to hear your opinions on them, your experiences with lead reduction, root pruning, or any other observations you have with a particular species. I'd be interested to know what prompted you to give it a try in the first place. Was it simply cheap local material to practice on? A beautiful yamadori you couldn't resist? Recommendation? I'd also like to see pictures of any you've been working on, in any stages of development.

Now, the why.

I'm working on compiling a list of the nontraditional maples that could be used in bonsai cultivation. I would like to include more information than what is available to me in books and the internet. I can include my own experiences with my own local species, but so many of them I do not have personal access to. It means that while I might be able to make cultivation notes from research, I wouldn't actually know that (insert x species here) has long internodes, making it difficult for small bonsai cultivation, but it can tolerate radical root pruning, or that (insert y species here) has leaves that while they seem unreasonably large in the wild, reduce drastically for good use in even shohin bonsai.

That kind of personal experience is what I'm searching for. Eventually, I would like to put up the list on my website, Kitsune Bonsai, if I can get all of the information I need. Contributors, whether of useable information or photographs, will be included. I recognize that I simply cannot experience every species of maple on my own, not even in the next ten years.

Drop me a line here, or at the website if you have worked with any nontraditional maples you would like to share with others who might be hesitant to try experimenting with their own local maple species. Even if it's "I had trouble with this one," that's a help!

I feel like local native trees are all too often over looked in bonsai, in favor of published, more well known "traditional" trees. I enjoy working with traditional subjects, but it is also a huge boon, and even an adventure, to discover and experiment with local species to find what works and what might not. The eventual plan is to detail all of those local species, but of course I have to go and start with the most difficult!

Favorite Blogs

Though I'm sure that of the (small) number of people who read my blog are familiar with many of those Bonsai blogs I personally read and check on a regular basis, I've decided to share them on a more permant basis anyway. So my favorite bonsai blogs will now be featured on the sidebar to the right (unless I muck with the layout again. The green wasn't doing it for me). I'm sure more will be added as I find/am directed toward others, or as some of those I love begin update more frequently.

A girl can dream, right?

New domain!

First my big news. Though it may not be very exciting to anyone but me! Kitsune Bonsai can now be located on the web at its own domain, www.kitsunebonsai.com. I've almost finished transfering all of the information from the old page over (I'm hoping to finish moving the galleries for special events and workshops there today), and have already begun adding new content that has been languishing away on my computer. On the old website, I'd been doing all of the work in raw HTML coding, and frankly, had gotten to a point where if I saw another [a href=], I was going to throw the computer out the window. The software I'm using with the new site however is extemely streamline and easy to use, and will ensure that I can work on the site from anywhere, even without an internet connection. It's been a beeze to do the redesign that had been beyond my own HTML coding know-how, and I'm very happy with how the new site looks- professional, simple, but still with personality. I can't really ask for more. Well, maybe to get off my rump and finish writing up the articles and species guides!

In other news, the Holiday Party was great. We had a better turn out than expected and everyone brought some great dishes to share. The Auction went well, with some really *great* pieces of stock up on the block. The Marco tree featured earlier in the blog was the only thing I really wanted to bring home with me, but it went for much more than I would have been able to pay for it, much to my chagrin (though it was worth every penny of the final going price!!!).

I've been officially elected as the Bonsai Society of Greater New York's Vice President for the '08 year, which is also pretty neat. I'd been asked about it months ago, and have been fairly certain it would be the cast, but now it's actually offical. We'll be having a board meeting sometime after the holidays to work out a class/workshop/meeting plan for the next year, and hopefully we'll be able to bring in some great speakers for the Society!

Hope the upcoming holidays are treating you all well, and you haven't lost your minds just yet! Happy Holidays everyone!

Site Updates, BSGNY news and more

This past month has been a crazy time for me, and though I've been continuing with bonsai activities, there hasn't been the time or impetous to get the information up in this format. Life should slow down again for me- though it'll be speeding up for the rest of you as Christmas season grabs hold and shakes the crazies out.

Golden Bonsai website is down- thanks for your e-mails guys- due to technical issues. We'll be getting that sorted out as soon as possible!

Tonight is the monthly BSGNY meeting held at Farmingdale Campus at the Horticultural greenhouse. We will be doing a ficus workshop, so grab your tools and a pot and come on down. Free for members with a reasonable fee for non-member guests. You'll get to go home with a nice little tropical that you can work on over the winter while the rest of your trees take the deep sleep, and more knowledge on the species in general. Drop me a line here if you need directions or info, I'll be checking here and my e-mail all day.

Want a little info on ficus before coming down? Normally I'd link you, but with the site down I'll post it here directly.

Ficus Information and Care:
Ficus are amoung the most popular species for indoor bonsai. With over 800 different species of this tropical evergreen shrub, there are over a dozen species and nearly one hundred varieties that are suited to bonsai.

Also commonly known as Figs, these trees are not frost hardy, and should be brought inside when day or night temperatures drop below 60F (15C). Living outdoors in the summer months will benefit them greatly, but bring them in when the weather starts to turn colder. Though they will not die from temperatures below 60, it will lead to a deterioration of health, and is simply best avoided.

The Fig's popularity as indoor bonsai stem from their tolerance of normal indoor conditions in many homes: Low light and low humidity. This is not to say that they do not require better light and humidity to flourish inside. Supplying your ficus with a humidity tray and/or a grow light if you do not have good natural lighting will help the tree flourish during the colder part of the year.

Many figs tolerate hard pruning quite well, and though you can prune any time of year with these tropicals, in spring or during periods of strong growth are your best option. Figs will bleed a white, milky sap when pruned.

Though they are evergreen and tropical, ficus will go through a period of dormancy when brought inside. They will not lose their leaves, but new growth will slow or stop all together, especially due to the amount of light they will be getting in winter. Do not fertilize during this period unless strong growth is being exhibited. As they are always in leaf, fertilize with a heavy nitrogen mix, 10-10-10, 10-5-5, etc.

That's just the blurb from the website, and unfortunately, there is only so much space for information on the sidebar of each section for me to write in! That might be changing in the future with full species info in a whole reference section, though it would be a while in the making. For more information on Ficus, a great website is Jerry Meislik, aka, "The Bonsai Hunk" and one of the best sources of information on these trees that I know.

http://www.bonsaihunk.us/index.html

The holiday party for BSGNY is also coming up! Officer elections will be held, as well as a auction for some of the trees worked on over the last year! The works of some of our speakers such as Guy Guidry, Arthur Skolnik, David Benavente and Marco Invernizzi will all be up on the block, as well as anything else the members would like to donate. All proceeds go toward the club. The party will be held at the usual place (Farmingdale Horticultural Center on the school property), on December 14th. Feel free to contact for more information.

As Autumn

This is our first real autumn day it seems. Though the weather started out nasty, it's beautiful, sunny, crisp and breezy now. My maples have just started tinging with fall colours, later than I expected, but then it's been unseasonably warm here on Long Island these last weeks. I spent much of this afternoon removing old wire and re-wiring where needed for the rest of the winter. There's still no sign of frost warning, and until then I'm letting the trees soak up what's left of the autumn sun in their usual spots on top of the bench and the tables. My pomegranate is suitably confused, and I've had to keep pinching out flowers to help it conserve energy it doesn't need to be wasting! It, along with several serissa will be wintering it over with Rich at Golden Bonsai in the greenhouse. A few smaller serissa cuttings and the Indigo will be staying here with me unless it proves to be an issue. I live in very small quarters, and don't even really have space for a small grow light (I can squeeze one it if just a little extra something is needed, but that's it!), and we shall see if they also need to head into the green house.

On the webside of things, work will be starting soon on the Bonsai Society of Greater New York's website. Yes, I'll be doing that as well. Will I ever get back to my own site? Not in the next month, I doubt it. I don't mind at all, in fact, I'm looking foreward to getting that updated. Rebecca, one of the other club members, will be helping me with the project, for which I am grateful. The site hasn't been updated in around a year, and sorely needs the tlc.

Tis the time of year for clearance at nursery's, and though I've severaly limited myself, due to funding, I did manage to snag an azalea that I can't wait to putter with, and an Andromeda. While the azalea will be nice, it's the Andromeda that I am excited about. I'll post more on this later, as it's time to get my son off of the bus!

Correction

I misunderstood over the phone. This weekend's event is the

Hofstra Flower and Garden show at Hostra University. For more details, check here:
http://www.hofstra.edu/Community/flwsho/index.html

The website for Golden Bonsai Nursery is up and going. A lot more time will be spent on it, but I personally think it's looking great thus far. Come check it out, and better yet, come visit the shop! :)
http://www.goldenbonsai.com