Bonsai Tree Show Opens In Dhaka

Dhaka, Feb 28: Hidetoshi Ukita, Minister, Embassy of Japan in Bangladesh, told a function on Monday that the existing cultural relations between the two countries were developing further with the increase of the number of Bonsai lovers in Bangladesh.
As an outburst of the friendly relations, exhibition on Bonsai were also being held in Bangladesh on a regular basis, he said addressing the inaugural ceremony of a Bonsai Exhibition and Competition held at Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy in the city.
Ukita said, "Bonsai is a living art that represents scenery, seasonal feeling and natural environment. It is a great interest, hobby or even profession to undertake."
The Bangladesh Bonsai Society and the Embassy of Japan jointly organised the three-day programme that also included a workshop. Susumu Nakamura, one of the distinguished Bonsai Masters in Japan, conducted the workshop held on Sunday.
Professor Mahmudul Haque, Dr Shafiq Ahmed Khan and Yasuharu Shinto Forst Secretary of Japan Embassy also spoke at the function, among others.
A total of 80 Bonsai practitioners of Bangladesh took part in the daylong workshop. The exhibition will remain open for public from 10am to 6pm till today (Tuesday).
Bonsai is one of the traditional Japanese arts that became widely popular during the Edo period between 17th and 19th centuries. It is a re-appearance of natural scenery in planting trees and grasses in a pot.
It is, however, not enough just to plant a tree in a pot and allow nature to take its course, every branch and twig of the tree must be shaped or eliminated until the chosen image is achieved. Bonsai survives a long period of time, often far longer than the life of a human being.

 

 

Home and Garden Happenings

Bonsai class planned Bonsai for beginners is a hands-on workshop scheduled for 10 a.m. April 16 at For-Mar Nature Preserve & Arboretum, 2142 N. Genesee Road, Burton. Students receive a hand-made clay pot and the materials and guidance to start a dwarf conifer bonsai. Pre-registration is required. Cost is $27. For more information, call (810) 789-8568.

 

 

The Art Of Bonsai

SAN MARINO, Calif. Equal parts horticulture, art form, and philosophy, bonsai has cultivated a passionate following among people of all walks of life. From its ancient origins in China and Japan, the art of creating miniature trees has grown in popularity to become an international hobby reflecting both the diversity of its practitioners and the botanical variety of plants from around the world. Some of today’s best known bonsai masters will be exhibiting their work and demonstrating their techniques at a Bonsai-a-Thon on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 26-27, at The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. The event is open to the public from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. both days in The Huntington’s Botanical Center.
In addition to viewing displays of masterpiece trees, visitors can watch morning and afternoon demonstrations by bonsai masters Ben Oki, Ted Matson, Denny Roche and others. A pair of morning workshops for children and adult beginners will be offered on Saturday only. (Pre-registration and fees are required for the workshops; call 626-405-2125 to register.) An ongoing “Bonsai Bazaar will feature a wide array of merchandise for sale, from plants, pots, and gardening tools to painted scrolls, and collectibles. Visitors can also make bids on the silent auction throughout the day, enter a benefit drawing for the chance to win bonsai-related prizes, or participate in a live auction of trees, art, and other valuable items at 4 p.m. each afternoon. Proceeds from the event help support the Golden State Bonsai Federation Collection at The Huntington.
Additional examples of bonsai can be seen in the Japanese Garden area. The Bonsai Court, located across the zig-zag bridge, provides an authentic backdrop to showcase nearly two dozen beautiful trees of international merit.

 

 

Garden Calendar

SAT Bonsai Northwest: 5021 S. 144th St., Tukwila; 206-242-8244.

Saturday and March 19, 1:30-3:30 p.m. -- Root Prune Your Bonsai: Bonsai masters walk you through the basics of root pruning and potting. Bring your bonsai (smaller than 36 inches tall). $20; soil, instruction and tools provided.

 

 

Green Stuff West Bay

Bonsai and Suiseki Display Garden Fifty bonsai trees and suiseki viewing stones on permanent display. 11 a.m.-3 p.m. today-Fri., 10 a.m.-3:45 p.m. Sat., noon-3:45 p.m. Sun. Bellevue Ave., Lakeside Park, Oakland. (510) 763-8409.

 

 

Workshop Schedule

Free educational programs by experts in varied fields will be presented on wide ranging topics all day Friday, Feb. 26 and 27 at the Gulf Coast Garden and Patio Show at the Coast Coliseum. Many topics will be presented more than one time.

Sunday workshops

11:30 a.m., The Art of Bonsai: Patrick LaNasa, an accomplished bonsai hobbyist and founder of Mississippi's only bonsai club, learned bonsai technique while living in California nearly 20 years ago. He'll tell you how to do this artistic style of growing yourself.

 

 

BR Couple Shares Passion For Making Bonsai

Advocate staff photo by Travis Spradling

Howard Merrill, left, trims the root system of a San Jose juniper he is making into a bonsai as his wife, Jean, explains the process at a recent workshop at LSU's Hilltop Arboretum.

When Howard and Jean Merrill's daughter was asked to describe her parents, she said, "They like to torture little trees and play with dead people."
As retired chemists, the Merrills are quick to admit that their passions are bonsai and genealogy. At a recent Saturday morning bonsai workshop at LSU's Hilltop Arboretum, they demonstrated how to make a bonsai from a small juniper they salvaged from their yard.
Howard Merrill pulled the juniper from a nursery pot and, after cutting more than half of its branches off, he attacked the root system -- first removing the dirt with a probing chopstick and then chopping off dead roots and pruning the live roots.
"That looks pretty serious," one participant remarked as Merrill continued his methodical assault.
"We have killed a few over the years," Jean Merrill laughed as she cast a critical glance over the lines her dirt-speckled husband chose to follow in designing the bonsai.
Dressed in grey happi coats sporting pins from various bonsai clubs, the grey-haired couple said they got interested in bonsai in 1972 and now have about 100 miniature trees and plants in their collection.
Make that 101 with the new juniper, which Howard Merrill placed in a shallow clay bonsai pot, wired in to stabilize it and protect it against meddlesome squirrels and packed it with a special potting mixture. Sitting atop a custom-designed lazy Susan mounted over a large tray, the new bonsai curved gracefully left and then right and sported a white dead streak down the center of its trunk where it had been bumped with the lawnmower while still in the ground.
"You get pretty attached to them," Jean Merrill said, admitting that it is difficult to part with their bonsais. "They're kind of like children."
Bonsai is a Japanese word that means tree in a tray or, more specifically, miniature trees grown in shallow pots to resemble mature trees in nature. It is considered a living, growing art form. It is the aged, mature character of a bonsai that is highly prized; however, an artist can create the illusion of age in a year or two of training the plant.
A bonsai can be fashioned from almost any type of tree, shrub or vine, although it should have small leaves or needles. The Merrills said they also look for a large trunk, mature bark, a good root system and trees that are well acclimated to Louisiana. Most are grown outside as they can't tolerate prolonged periods indoors (with the exception of some tropical plants).
There are several basic styles of bonsai, as defined by the trunk line -- formal upright, informal upright, slanting, semi-cascade and cascade style. Two basic techniques are used to shape the bonsai -- wiring and/or weighting the branches (like using braces on teeth) and the "clip and grow" method, Howard Merrill said.
The investment the artist makes is mostly time and patience, though the special clay bonsai pots from Japan can be expensive and hard to find, they said. They use a blend of aggregate material and soil conditioner for potting the plants and have set up a self-watering system because the bonsais generally require watering every day it doesn't rain.
"They require a little bit of time most of the time and a lot of time at certain times of the year," Jean Merrill said. "February is a busy month because that's when we repot most of the plants."
Bonsai plants sold on the side of the road are rarely true bonsais as they may have been created only days before without proper care or conditioning to ensure a long life, the Merrills said. Many have rocks glued to the surface to hold them in place so that air and water cannot penetrate to the soil.
The lifespan of a well-cared-for bonsai is generally the same as that of the same tree growing in the ground. Many acquire great age and can outlive the artist who created them.
Anyone interested in learning more about bonsai is welcome to attend a meeting of the Louisiana Bonsai Club of Baton Rouge, which meets at 7 p.m. the third Thursday of each month at the Baton Rouge Garden Club, 7950 Independence Blvd. For more information, call (225) 275-2917.
The club's next bonsai show will be held from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 9 and 10 at the garden center. A lecture demonstration will be held at 2 p.m. both days. The show is free and open to the public.

 

 

RI Extension Offers Spring Garden Series

The University of Illinois Extension service will present its spring Home Horticulture Series from 7 to 9 p.m. Mondays, beginning March 14 and ending April 25, at the extension office, 4550 Kennedy Drive, East Moline.
Topics will include landscaping with trees and shrubs, how to grow healthy plants, irises, bonsai, orchids, roses, bees, African violets and conifers.
Cost is $6 per evening, or $30 for all seven classes (a savings of $12). Pre-registration is required. Space is limited. To obtain a registration form, call Nancy at the extension office, (309) 796 0512.

April 11: “An eye on iris,” by Kim and Jerry Schoeberl of the Davenport Iris Club, and “Bonsai,” by Jerry Zimmerman of the Quad-City Bonsai club.
The Schoeberls will talk about bearded, Siberian, Japanese, miniature/dwarf, and spuria iris. You will learn their care and how they vary.
Zimmerman will discuss the history, styles, classifications and types of bonsai. He will explain how to get started and how to maintain bonsai, answering the question “Why doesn’t my tree look like a bonsai?”

 

 

Home And Garden Happenings

Bonsai classes offeredMark and Becky Hanner of Stone Garden Nursery in Otisville will teach bonsai for beginners at 7 p.m. Wednesday at For-Mar Nature Preserve & Arboretum, 2142 N. Genesee Road, Burton.
Students receive a handmade clay pot and the materials and guidance to start a dwarf conifer. Tools are provided. Class limited to 20 students. Preregistration required. Cost is $27. For more information, call (810) 789-8568.

 

 

Garden Calendar

Bonsai Northwest: 5021 S. 144th St., Tukwila; 206-242-8244.

Feb. 26 and March 19, 1:30-3:30 p.m. -- Root Prune Your Bonsai: Bonsai masters walk you through the basics of root pruning and potting. Bring your bonsai (smaller than 36 inches tall). $20; soil, instruction and tools provided.

 

 

A Bonsai Garden Called Kishkindha Vana

It is said that the art of Bonsai originated in Chinese village long ago. It is an art involving miniaturizing plants and growing them in pots.
Incidentally, there is a mention of a 'miniature forest' in Ramayana. It is the Kishkindha Vana developed by Dadhimukha, the maternal uncle of King Sugriva. Kiskhkindha was the name of a mountain. The word is also used to signify 'a narrow space,' 'a compact space.'
Kishkindha was also an army base during the rule of Sugriva. It was indeed a challenge for Dadhimukha, the developer of Kishkindha Vana, to keep the monkey-army from plundering his garden full of fruits, flowers and nuts. It is said that Dadhimukha developed a fascinating technique by which he could ensure that the trees did not grow so tall as to draw the attention of the monkey-army, at the same time, retain all the characteristics of those trees. It is also said that Dadhimukha's garden produced innumerable varieties of fruits and flowers throughout the year.
He had created special conditions in his garden so that the trees would bear fruits even in non-seasons. Certain parts of his garden were cool, while others were warm. Some spots had rainy atmosphere while others were misty. All in all, his forest boasted of all possible climatic conditions throughout the year. Therefore, it was no wonder that he could grow all kinds of fruits in his Garden. When Lord Hanu-man broke the news of having seen Seetha to the eargerly waiting Rama and the monkey-army, Sugriva was so pleased that he allowed the army to feast upon Dadhimukha's forest. The monkeys were astonished to find so many varieties of fruits in one place, not to mention the delight of eating non-seasonal fruits.

Indians knew Bonsai!

In addition to mythological reference to miniature gardens, there is also enough evidence to show that knowledge of miniaturizing trees was known to Indians. Look at this passage from Upavana Vinoda, an ancient treatise on gardening art:
Ishtaka chite samantaat purushanikhaate vate tarurjaatah
Vaamana eva hi dhatte phalakusumam sarva kaalamiti.
(Dig a pit, build a wall with bricks inside all around, fill it with mud and plant a vata (pipal) tree. Such a tree will remain dwarf, yield fruits and flowers throughout the year).
India is a country of multiple climates and geographical features. If one travels from southern tip to northernmost region of Kashmir and from Kuch to the evergreen forests of Assam, one can perhaps see all varieties of weather that can be seen on our planet. Indians, from ancient times, have revered trees as manifestations of the Almighty. Trees are in fact worshipped even today. Indians have been worshippers of nature since Vedic times. The tradition of nurturing and worshipping plants such as the Tulasi and banana, trees such as coconut and arecanut has been in vogue in India since centuries. It is a pity that in to-day's society, not enough attention is given to growing plants in our houses. Scarcity of free space in urban homes is also contributing to this. Still, there are people who try to grow plants wherever possible — in balconies, inside drawing room, on roof-tops etc. Some people have started developing Bonsai gardens.
Is it not wrong to curb the freely growing plant and deliberately make it dwarf? Is it not against nature? Just as it is a sin to hurt a human being, will it not be a sin if one willfully injures a plant just for the sake of art?
However, depending upon the situation, if one embarks upon a novel experiment, it need not be condemned outright. We should be open enough to appreciate its benefits. It would be equally imprudent to go to the extent of saying that this is a great art and everyone must practise it.
While teaching about plants to children and students of Botany, often the teachers take them to a botanical garden or to a nearby place to familiarise them with those plants. In a highly urbanised setting, it may sometimes be very difficult to show a tree, which grows in deep jungles. Although one has access to dedicated magazines and television channels, nothing can replace direct experience. In such circumstances, the Bonsai concept can be of great help. Bonsai technique allows us to have a miniature forest. Students of Botany can actually see a miniature tree, which is 400 years old! Just as well-maintained zoos can be great assets to a country, gardens too can be of immense value.
Bonsai technique also allows us to preserve plant species that are on the verge of becoming extinct. To develop a miniature garden of rare trees in a small area can be of great educational value. However, it should not be considered as a substitute for conserving our forests.

Audumbara leaves

There are several species of plants that can grow into becoming tall trees in wilderness, but can also grow in limited space. Plants like Audumbara (fig) and neem can be grown in a pot. These plants are known to have great therapeutic value. Aud-umbara tree has the capacity of reducing atmospheric pollution and removing toxins.
It is said that Lord Narasimha, after killing Hiranyakashipu with the help of his fingernails, was given a dressing of the juice of Audumbara leaves by Chanchu Lakshmi to relieve Him of the burning sensation in his fingers. Audumbara is known to be disinfectant also. The beneficial properties of neem is known to the entire world today. The smoke emanating by burning dried lea-ves of neem can kill microorganisms. These plants can be grown in a miniature form in every house. Performing pooja and meditation in close vicinity of certain trees is known to be highly beneficial in one's Sadhana.
We don't suggest Bonsai plants are substitutes for natural forests. Nor do we suggest that everyone should indulge in developing Bonsai Gardens. We are only suggesting that interested agencies can take up this concept as a novel way of preserving and exhibiting the vast flora of our planet in an amazingly small space. We are not much enthused about consi-dering Bonsai as a mere decorative art. We are also exploring the possibility of using for medicinal purposes, the leaves, twigs, bark, flowers and fruits that wither from these Bonsai plants.
In our Kishkindha Vana (name given to Ashrama Bonsai Garden), we have some of the most valuable plants:
lFicus microcarpa (China) lPhyllanthus myrtifolius (Malaysia) lPrimus halepensis (China) lMurraya panniculate (Malaysia) lStrophalanthus (Malaysia) lSyzygium campanulatum (Malaysia) lJuniperus formosana (China) lBougainvillea 'Scarlet Qu (China) lAcer buegerianum (China) lLagerstroemia indica (China) lCasuarina equisetifolia (Indonesia) lEhretia microphylla (China)lCamellia japonica (China) lWrightia religiosa (Malaysia) lBauhinia Kockiana (Malaysia) lPseidp, issaemda flava (Malaysia) lCitrus sinensis (Philippines) lMichelia alba (Malaysia) lPodocarpus macrophylla (China) lFicus glamorata (Malaysia) lMicrophylla koreana (Indonasia) lBreynia officinalis (Taiwan) lFicus microcarpa (China) lIxora 'Dwarf Orange' (Malaysia) lAnacardium occid-entale (Indonesia) lPachira Macrocarpa (Malaysia) lMalpighia coccigera (China) lCros-sostephium chinese (Indonesia) lPunica granatum (Indonesia) lLoropetalum chinensis (China) lBucida spp (Philippines).
The age of these Bonsai plants range from 2 to 150 years. We have also started a 'Bonsai Nursery' where we have developed Bonsai Audumbara trees.
It is said, the art of Bonsai originated in China more than two thousand years ago. However, the art made its reappearance in the third century, in the Han dynasty. But it seems that the art of cultivating miniature trees flourished in China much before this.
The word Bonsai means 'pot tree' (bon=pot or tray, sai=tree). Eventhough miniature trees were cultivated in pots in Japan in the ninth century, it was not until the thirteenth century that the art of bonsai became popular in the Japanese society. Even then, it was a hobby of the nobility and priesthood, who gave the art a spiritual character. However, by the nineteenth century, the art became popular among the masses.
While Bonsai art in the west is regarded as a leisure hobby, the oriental cultures have regarded the art with far deeper intellectual reverence. It is said that the Buddhist monks in China used the trees in the trays to establish a special link with the Almighty.
Some authorities believe that Ayurvedic medicine had great influence on traditional Chinese medicine. The travelling Chinese medicine men used to carry with them living plants to treat ailing people. In order to make their transportation easier, these plants were constantly trimmed. Eventually, the medicine men realised that this treatment of constant trimming reduced the plants' leaf size, as well as encouraged plants to develop dense twigs. In a way they reflected the image of a much larger tree in miniature. Such miniaturized trees were so fascinating to look that it assumed that some were sold and others propagated to achieve a similar appearance.
In both Chinese and Japanese mythology, forests, cliffs, waterfalls, mountains and valleys were believed to be the homes of spirits and therefore venerated. They believed that the presence of trees aided them in their meditation. And miniature trees therefore smoothly found a place in the homes of the ancient orient societies.

 

 

Green Stuff West Bay

Bonsai and Suiseki Display Garden Fifty bonsai trees and suiseki viewing stones on permanent display. 11 a.m.-3 p.m. today-Fri., 10 a.m.-3:45 p.m. Sat., noon-3:45 p.m. Sun. Bellevue Ave., Lakeside Park, Oakland. (510) 763-8409

 

 

Bonsai Guide Reshapes Tours To Export Love Of Tiny Trees

Yoshihiro Nakamizu, 52, used to think bonsai were mainly a costly way for old people to kill time.
But he has changed his mind about the art of dwarfing trees and bushes in shallow pots.
Now he makes it his business to educate foreigners about the wee trees, which he also ships around the world.
The root of the idea came to him about 10 years ago when he visited a bonsai festival in Ueno, Tokyo.
Contrary to his old ideas about bonsai, the festival was teeming with foreigners, and plenty of young ones at that.
But Nakamizu noticed they had trouble getting information at the entrance gates: The help staff just didn't understand what they were trying to say or ask.
After a few years of seeing the same problem, Nakamizu decided to make bonsai his niche business.
After 25 years as a company employee, Nakamizu quit his job and launched Bonsai Network Japan Ltd. in June 2000 in Kazo.
His business includes acting as a tour guide for bonsai fans from abroad and exporting bonsai and bonsai tools overseas.
He has now exported bonsai and tools to more than 30 countries, including Britain, the Czech Republic, Russia, Brazil, Egypt and Vietnam.
"I think the number of people overseas who like bonsai and Japanese culture will increase in the future. I want to help those people," he said.
His former work and interests have helped hone his new business acumen. Previously, he worked as a planner and sales promotion staffer at a travel agency. He also studied English on his own, thinking he would like a global career one day.
Even back then, in his 40s, he had the seed of the idea that bonsai might be a worthwhile Japanese cultural tradition to bone up on, and he enrolled at a school that taught bonsai.
Times were tough for the first three years of his bonsai business, despite his Web site in English that brought in customers. He lost money, had to borrow cash and couldn't get enough clients to cover costs.
For his first tour, he took a Danish couple to the popular "Bonsai-mura" (Bonsai village) district in the city of Saitama, where many bonsai shops are located. It was almost like volunteer work because he turned so little profit on the gig.
He even got ripped off when he shipped bonsai overseas and didn't receive payment. He also lost money when his bonsai got damaged during shipping.
But he learned.
With growing contacts, his business finally seems to be on track. Last year, Nakamizu guided 10 groups from the United States and other countries to bonsai shops and bonsai festivals in Japan. He also went along as an interpreter with bonsai specialists he dispatched to Spain and elsewhere.
"In some foreign countries, bonsai isn't just a temporary boom," Nakamizu said. "Its popularity is growing steadily."

 

 

The Flower And Fruit Festival In February

If you missed the vegetable fruit and flower show over the weekend, then you really missed something. This is an annual affair, held religiously in February for the past 45 years at the VJTI campus.

A special pavilion on bonsai was arranged by the Indo-Japanese Bonsai Group supervised by a professional Japanese master.

 

 

Social Clubs And Events

SANTA CRUZ BONSAI KAI: Learn to create and maintain bonsai trees in this local bonsai club which meets the third Saturday of the month at 9 a.m. Offering lectures and workshops. Visitors welcome, $35 to join for the first year, $25 after. Call Robert at 429-5205.

 

 

Miss. Nursery Sells Bonsai

Rick Guy/The Clarion-Ledger

Dana Quattlebaum with Brussel's Bonsai trims one of the trees in the greenhouse at the facility just outside Olive Branch.

Brussel Martin of Memphis, 54, established the nursery in 1978 after years of growing bonsai in his parent's back yard.
"When I was 5 years old, I can remember being instantly captivated by several bonsai my father brought back from a California business trip," he said. "As a teenager, I began to seriously study the art of bonsai. What started out as an artistic endeavor in my parent's back yard quickly grew into a business."
Martin began selling bonsai through the mail and traveled to shows across the country in the 1970s. In the early 1980s, he made annual buying trips to Asia. About 60 percent of the stock is imported.
The nursery moved last May into a $2.5 million complex with a pagoda-influenced roofline and an entrance flanked by Chinese foo dogs, symbols of good luck.
It has 60,000 square feet of greenhouse space and 8,000 of shipping, production space and a showroom and lecture hall. The nursery has 22 employees.
The greenhouses are rows and rows of small wonders planted in small containers, each filled with a special soil-less mix composed of clay aggregate and finely ground pine bark. Ficus, maple, jade, cypress, pine, juniper, holly, ginkgo — and even Redwood forests — fit in containers many of which are small enough to decorate coffee tables or fireplace mantels.<>

Rick Guy/The Clarion-Ledger Heidy Morales checks rows of bonsai trees in the greenhouse at Brussel's Bonsai just outside Olive Branch.

"Starting in April, we'll have azaleas and gardenias blooming," McDonnell said.
Employees use golf carts to move plants from greenhouses to the packing area where hoppers filled with styrofoam peanuts hang overhead.
A 4-year-old, 6-inch-tall ficus sells for $23 — and that's a starting point for a hobby that can grow into a serious addiction. "Orchids have the same type of collector," McDonnell said.
Trees known as specimen plants cost $500 or more and occupy their own greenhouse. Some of them sport "sold" tags — although the owners must wait two years to take them home. The U.S. Department of Agriculture requires plants to be quarantined for two years after they're imported.
Amory lawyer Michael Malski, who keeps a collection of 35 bonsai outside his home and flies in specialists two or three times a year to prune them, said Brussel's Bonsai is well-respected among collectors.
Malski said he's taken with bonsai because he likes the way they look. "Bonsai are very peaceful and very pleasant," he said.
Martin specializes in pruning, wiring and shaping the trees. McDonnell handles the technology. "Our contributions to the business are very much equal," McDonnell said.
About 60 percent of the nursery's business comes from catalogs and online sites for 10-12 companies such as FTD, ProFlowers and Hallmark; 30 percent comes from its own catalog and Web sit (www.brusselsbonsai.com); and 10 percent from wholesale customers such as garden centers, McDonnell said.
"Seven years ago our largest customer was Home Depot," McDonnell said. "Home Depot relied on us to merchandise and order and fill its stores. That became a big headache, and we pulled back from that."
The nursery owners turned to technology to expand the customer base to Internet shoppers who wanted to send bonsai trees as gifts.
"We realized we could import and grow bonsai very well and we were good at shipping," McDonnell said. "The Internet allows us to focus on those two things without having personnel maintain displays and go to garden centers."
Holidays drive sales. "We filled more than 14,000 orders last Mother's Day," he said.
The company is privately owned and wouldn't release its earnings.
Brussel's Bonsai mails out its catalog at the end of each March, and business typically picks up in April due to catalog customers placing orders, he said.
"Seven years ago, we sent out 15,000 catalogs," he said. "We'll send out 130,000 this year."
Olive Branch is ideal for a bonsai nursery. Its water contains a level of acidity that's healthy for the plants, its climate is similar to Japan where some of the trees originate, and Memphis is a 20-minute drive away and home to the Federal Express hub.
"We can receive orders until 7 p.m., and any order we receive before then we'll ship today," McDonnell said.
In March, the company will expand its reach to QVC TV, the home shopping channel. Martin is scheduled to appear March 21 and sell ficus bonsai and azalea bonsai.
"We expect to sell 1,700 trees in eight minutes," McDonnell said. "If we do well, they'll invite us back."
Olive Branch Mayor Sam Rikarddoubts many of the 29,000 residents of his city know Brussel's Bonsai is there or what it is.
"I think people across the country know it's there, but it's a quiet, little secret to those in our area," he said.

 

 

Green Stuff West Bay

The Art of Pruning Deciduous Trees & Shrubs An in-depth study. Register at the beginning of class. 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Sat. $32. Landscape Horticulture Dept., Merritt College, 12500 Campus Dr., Oakland. (510) 436-2418.

Bonsai "Chokkan -- Formal Upright Style," a lecture and workshop presented by the Diablo Bonsai Club. 7:30 p.m. today. The Gardens at Heather Farm, 1540 Marchbanks Rd., Walnut Creek. (925) 736-9157.

 

 

Bonsai Basics

Bonsai trees are a beautiful addition to a plant collection and a popular gift. Bonsai masters spend years refining prized trees and a mature bonsai tree can be worth over £1000.
Fortunatley for us, Bonsai masters need to make a living, and now, many garden centres stock ready made bonsai trees. These may be between 5 and 10 years old, and how much you pay will often dictate the quality with lower priced trees often being untrained plants at less than a year old.
But by no means write it off as an expensive hobby. Bonsai enthusiasts say thay the person who still has their first tree is rare. As with any plant, the care of these little trees can be trial and error. Even if you plan only to admire the beauty the tree already has, there are still a few techniques required to mantian it.
If you were given a Bonsai as a gift, chances are it'll have a layer of stones glued over the soil. Remove these. they will stop the soil from getting water and allow it to harbour pests.
When you bring any plant home from the garden centre, it will take a month or two to acclimatise to your home. Even an evergreen will drop a few leaves at first, so don't worry about this. Just get into a routine of watering and feeding the plant regularly.
First of all, give the soil a good soak as soon as you bring the plant home. There's no need to submerge the pot in water, just a mug or two of water over the soil in the pot. Then forget watering for a few days. Over watering is a bigger killer of houseplants than underwatering. In the words of many an expert; Just leave it.
After a few days, test the soil with your finger to see if it's still moist. If it is, there's no need to water. If not, give the plant a little water (not too much, though).
Don't even think about fertilising for at least a month, and then, only in Summer.
The best indoor Bonsai are derivatives of the Ficus or rubber plant. These are tropical plants from hot, humid environments, so will probably thank you for a daily misting of the leaves. All that's needed is a spray bottle of water and a few squirts to make sure all the leaves get some moisture.
Non tropical trees - such as Juniper, Maple and pine don't do well indoors. The air will be too warm and dry for them. If you have one of these, keep it in the garden unless a frosty night threatens to kill the plant.
If you plan to work on the tree at all, leave it alone for at least six months before you start and then another six months between each treatment. Unfortunatley, Bonsai is not the hobby for you if you like instant results. Any living thing will take time to recover after any treatments ant trees are just the same.
The most basic treatment is pruning. To prune correctly you must find out the type of plant your bonsai is and research when the best times are to prune old and new season growth. Generally, new growth is pruned during the growing season to maintain the shape of the bonsai, whilst pruning of hard wood (old season growth) is done in mid-autumn.
One of the main forms of pruning for bonsai, especially evergreen coniferous bonsai such as junipers and cedars is 'finger pruning'. This involves pinching back new growth which does not come within the general shape of the bonsai or is at the top of the bonsai - helping to encourage bushy foliage and a more tree-like looking bonsai. To do this, take the growth between your thumb and forefinger whilst holding the branch with your other hand and remove with a twisting movement. This is better than trimming the growth with scissors, this leaves an unnatural look and leaves the foliage an unsightly brown.
Bonsai is an art that has been around for thousands of years and it's impossible to even scratch the surface in one article. Fortunately, there are hundreds of specialist sites devoted to bonsai on the internet and evn clubs devoted to the art.

 

 

Flower Market Heats Up As Tet Approaches

The market for flowers and bonsai trees is heating up as Tet (Lunar New Year) approaches.
In Ho Chi Minh City, most garderners also forecast an increase of at least 15 percent in the prices of flowers and bonsai for Tet. One month before Tet, flower shops in the city had already begun stocking up on flowers, with the most popular ones being roses, chrysanthemums, and ornamental trees.
The two biggest flower growing areas in the Mekong Delta, Vinh Thanh in Ben Tre province and Sa Dec in the province of the same name, also entered the race to prepare for Tet from one month ago. Pham Van Hieu, Chairman of Vinh Thanh district People's Committee, said farmers in the commune have prepared around 20 million flowerpots, and the area's specialty is bonsai trees shaped into animals.

 

 

Local Miniature Garden Company Going Strong

Beginning with bonsai trees in Japan, the tradition of miniature gardening, which is thousands of years old, is being carried on in Wayzata.
Designer Kathryn Swenson operates under the “gnome” de plume Gnomenclature, the company that provided a 39-piece miniature garden display for the opening of the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum’s Visitor Center last week.
The 20-foot by 15-foot display greets visitors as they enter the 45,000-square-foot visitor center. Combining vegetation with fantasy, it includes live bonsai and dwarf conifer trees, as well as fairies, a waterfall and a working train, all in 1:12-inch scale, the same scale as a typical doll house.
Swenson, the CEO of Gnomenclature, 236 Minnetonka Ave. S., and designer of its products, started her company about three years ago.
Swenson said she has always been an artist. For decades she worked as an interior and architectural designer. But she had also cultivated a passion for gardening during those years, and about eight years ago, she began creating miniature gardens at home. “The idea for miniatures just came to me,” she said.
She began with what she called a fairy garden at her home. Her passion for miniatures grew, until she started Gnomenclature, which now offers two lines of products.
Swenson’s first line features 1,200 different designs of fairies, cottages and little bridges. All of them are featured on the company’s Web site, www.thefairyshouse.com. Another line of 1,200 new designs will be available in March, Swenson said.
As she learned more about miniature gardening, she realized it has a long history and has also become very popular with a particular group of hobbyists. Railroad gardening, landscaping around a model railroad, is a culture she didn’t realize existed until its members started buying her creations, which officially went on the market four years ago.
Swenson was approached to do the arboretum project by Peter Olin, the arboretum’s director and a University of Minnesota professor in the horticulture department of the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Science. He had included her garden at her home on Lake Minnetonka in tours sponsored by the Arboretum.
And she created a wonderful exhibit to complement the opening of the visitor center, he said. Her assistant, Nancy Mason, put the exhibit together using her landscaping skills and Swenson’s creations. Olin said she spent a lot of time creating detail compelling enough for a woman he saw to get on her hands and knees to get a better photograph of the display.
For more information about the arboretum, call 952-443-1400. To contact Gnomenclature, call 952-929-9282.

 

 

Daffodil Bonsai Of Rooster Shape

A gardener is making a bonsai of daffodil to the shape of a rooster in Suzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province, Jan. 31. As the Spring Festival is approaching, lots of landscape gardens in Suzhou prepared various kinds of seasonal flowers to welcome visitors during the holidays. 2005 is the year of rooster according to Chinese lunar calendar. (Xinhua Photo)

 

 

The Bonsai Book

The book contains more than 150 pages of beautifully photographed bonsai trees and unique natural stones from the collections of renowned Filipino bonsai artists like Dorie Bernabe, Fely S. Gupit, architect Roberto Gopiao, Willi Hahn, Teddy Lim, David Du, Dr. Oding Reyes, Yumie Gupit, Vic Ceballos, et al, photographed by Edison and Belen Noblela.
It also provides valuable information on bonsai culture and art.
Most of the bonsai featured in this book will be exhibited in the Philippine Horticultural Society’s Annual Exhibit slated Jan. 27 to Feb. 8, 2005, at the Manila Seedling Bank in Quezon Ave., corner Edsa, Q.C. and in the annual Philippine Bonsai Society grand national show in March.
The book will be available at all Goodwill Bookstore branches.
According to architect Roberto "Bobby" Gopiao, Philippine Bonsai Society president, the ancient Chinese monks were nature lovers. They wanted to mingle with trees and animals, but there were times when these hermits had to spend long hours meditating, praying, contemplating and doing chores indoors.
Hence, these monks brought in trees and tried to plant them in containers. The limited space in the temples gave these men the idea of reducing trees to smaller sizes.
Buddhism spread to other parts of Asia and Japan was one of the countries who accepted this religion.
The ancient Japanese readily appreciated and loved the art of bonsai. Discipline, orderliness, simplicity and love of nature are character traits of the Japanese people and these are what they used to make their works of art.
The exact beginning of bonsai is now lost in time for no records were found.
The oldest existing proof of its beginning can be seen on a Japanese scroll painting which is about 800 years old, showing a dwarf tree in a ceramic container.
Bobby relates that early Japanese nobilities showed a strong interest in unusual botanical specimens. These nature-dwarfed trees were weathered into unusual, fantastic shapes, and noble men collected them from all over Japan.
The shaping underwent many changes before the dwarfed trees became what we know as bonsai. There was even a time when the highest goal of bonsai art was to create the most grotesque, unnatural or bizarre shapes one can imagine.
Bonsai or the art of dwarfing trees was learned by the ancient Japanese from the ancient Chinese monks of the Buddhist temples.
The essence of bonsai art is to evoke the spirit of nature. Although the Chinese claimed to have originally "invented" bonsai, it is the Japanese who developed and perfected the art through the years.
"The essence of bonsai is to evoke the spirit of nature," says Bobby Gopiao.
"Your bonsai can take you virtually anywhere you want to be ... in a forest, mountain, by the riverbank or anywhere you can picture yourself by using your imagination and the miniaturized tree. That imagination will give the spirit of nature reflected in the bonsai, but that spirit will only be brought to life by your work on the plant," he added.
During the mid-19th century, today’s aesthetic principles based on asymmetric balance were adapted.
In 1909, the bonsai first appeared in the western world through a garden exhibit in London, England. From, then, interest in bonsai enormously increased worldwide.
"It is neither hard nor expensive nor time-consuming to start bonsai," Gopiao says.
"There is no need to go to Japan to obtain the materials, to educate yourself and develop your skills and artistry. Bonsai clubs are everywhere locally and the Philippine Bonsai Society is one of them."
The Philippine Bonsai Society was formed to assist hobbyists and beginners. The Society holds exhibits annually to entice people to the elegant and serene beauty of the Japanese art of dwarfing trees.
In these exhibits, interested parties are encouraged through lectures and demonstrations, workshops and field trips, bonsai hunting, all sponsored by the PBSI.
The society also publishes a bonsai magazine twice a year featuring educational articles, pictorials, how-to-do and listings of plants for bonsai and their care; a directory of reliable and legitimate bonsai artists and experts.
Bobby says it’s easy to find potential bonsai materials you can start with. In your own garden, a neighborhood park, or in a plant nursery, there may be some fruit trees or flowering trees stunted due to neglect.
Ideal for bonsai are bougainvilleas, fire trees, narra, mahogany, tamarind, guava, kamias, starfruit/balimbing, mulawin aso, bignay, golden shower, kamachile, bantigue, Palawan, cherry, kasuy, balite, acacia, calachuchi, callos and many more.
Grow them in shallow pots and put stones and rocks between their roots to further stunt their growth.
Occasionally trim the crown by pinching excess leaves. Once every 2 or 3 months, give some branches a heavy pruning. Remove branches that look out of place or useless.
Every 8 to 10 months, (or 1 to 2 years for some species), you can uproot the plant and trim the root system by removing tertiary or fine roots. Then, put the plant back on the pot, giving it fresh organic soil.
You can expose large roots by sitting them on rock. Cover the root with sphagnum moss for several weeks to allow the root to adjust and attach itself to the rock eventually. Fertilize the plant sparingly or it might grow un-proportionally big.
Do not drench the bonsai plant when watering. Just moisten the soil and spray-mist the crown once or twice a day and a little more when the day is too hot and dry.
You can put your bonsai plant indoors but do not let it stay there for more than a week without sunlight. But with artificial lighting and good ventilation, you can let it stay longer in a room.
To achieve that natural bent or twisted look, you can wire the trunk with a flexible copper wire to direct the branch or trunk to your desired bend and twist. You can hang some weights like a big pebble or an old battery to a branch to pull it down.
There are 3 kinds of bonsai according to size:
The Mame or Bean bonsai, so-called because of its miniature size, is about 8 inches in height and can be held in the palm of your hand.
Next is the regular bonsai which is between 1 to 2 feet in height and the last is the giant which is between 3 to 5 feet in height.
You must remember that bonsai trees are dwarfed versions of the natural trees. Hence, the bonsai should be in right proportion when scaled down several times the natural size.
There are several bonsai types or forms to choose from; the formal or erect; the cascading (branches are trained downwards below the rim of a tall, slim pot); the wind-swept (all branches are trained to grow in one direction only as though they are blown by a strong wind); the layered crown (the leaves are grown in several layers leaving space in between); forest bonsai (a group of trees planted together on a tray to give effect of a forest) and bonsai kei (a tray planted with several trees to form a garden landscape complete with accessories like mini bench, lamp, bridge, boulder, rock, etc.).
A bonsai tree can also be grown perching on a big rock to look like a tree growing at the edge of a cliff. To know if your bonsai is in the correct proportion, you should view it from side to side and from above. This way, you will have an idea which branch must be removed or retained.