Bonsai News: December 2005

14 December 2005

The Sun News | 12/14/2005 | A nostalgic tribute to tacky decor

ASHEVILLE, N.C. - It was mostly a gag when Charlotte native Stephen Jackson decorated 37 fake trees in an old storefront and claimed it was the world's only museum for aluminum Christmas trees.
He got a lot of laughs that day back in December 2000. But when HGTV, National Public Radio, the BBC and dozens of foreign publications covered the Brevard-based 'museum,' Jackson decided that the world truly wanted a Graceland-type shrine for metallic Christmas trees.
This Christmas, his Aluminum Tree and Ornament Museum is going 'official' as a 60-tree extravaganza inside Asheville's historic Smith-McDowell Museum.
The Christmas trees themselves are collectibles from the '50s, '60s and '70s - with a couple of possible exceptions. Two of the trees are labeled as "very rare" aluminum palm trees and a third exhibit is the "world's only" aluminum bonsai tree.
All three look suspiciously homemade. "Genetic engineering done in our lab," Jackson claims. "Did you know that 550 feet of aluminum foil can be harvested from an aluminum palm tree?"
All 60 trees are crammed into three rooms, while the rest of the 6,000-square-foot Smith-McDowell House is filled with decorations from the Victorian period and early 20th century.
The contrast is jarring, but house manager Tammy Walsh says it's justified because the mansion was a children's dorm in the '60s, when aluminum trees were the rage. She's the one who came up with the idea of hosting the exhibit and admits there was some resistance at first.

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GREEN STUFF / EAST BAY

Bonsai and Suiseki Display 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.
Diablo Bonsai Club 'Year-End Wrap-Up' lecture and workshop. 7:30 p.m. today. The Gardens at Heather Farm, 1540 Marchbanks Rd., Walnut Creek. (925) 736-9157.

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Business fruitful thanks to application of science

Besides traditional experiences, science plays a crucial role in accelerating the floriculture development,' said Tran Huy Duong, the company's director.
In order to further scientific research aiming to develop new breeds of flowers and try out measures of improving flower-growing techniques, the director has cooperated with other local scientists to open a laboratory.
This research has helped the company breed various kinds of precious and rare flowers and bonsai, which draw the interest of thousands of flower lovers.
The company's distributing network has expanded to almost big cities and provinces nationwide, which supply around 5,000-10,000 flowers of various kinds each day.

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13 December 2005

Viet New Year festival coming

The festival will include a flower and bonsai festival, a conference on traditional culture, traditional cuisine and games, cultural activities, a Spring Press festival, and a trade fair. The event offers an opportunity for Vietnamese businesspeople to introduce traditional products, trade villages, and tourism destinations for Tet.
A calligraphy exhibition on President Ho Chi Minh?s Prison Diary and some calligraphy artworks will be opened. Along with Vietnamese traditional games, a make-up festival will be offered for foreigners living in Vietnam.
Members of foreign UNESCO Clubs from France, Italy, the Republic of Korea, Thailand, India, China, Russia, Ukraine, and Bangladesh will participate in the event.

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11 December 2005

Senior center books art show

More than 100 art galleries exist in Scottsdale, but the Via Linda Senior Center doesn?t balk at the competition.
After a year of preparation, 120 art students at the center will open 'Joy to the World of Art,' a show displaying work that includes paintings, photography, jewelry, drawings and bonsai plants.

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Master Gardeners

While working through the garden this fall, I took note of the tools and other implements that I use most often. Any gardener would welcome one or more of these at Christmas.
I like to use chopsticks when working with cuttings or planting seeds. They also make good mini stakes for young plants. Bonsai gardeners use them to help settle the soil or other plant medium. Wiggling a chopstick down into the soil all around a newly planted tiny tree insures more stability.

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10 December 2005

Flower artisans to be honoured

The Da Lat Flower Festival is to honour flower growers, not only in Da Lat but from all over the country. The event will take place from December 10-18, 2005.
The festival will take place for nine days and nights with 11 particular programmes to serve locals and tourists to Da Lat.
Besides, flowers and bonsai trees from ten provinces and cities of Vietnam will also be displayed at the festival.

 

 

08 December 2005

Holiday gift ideas for the gardener on your list

While working through the garden this fall, I took note of the tools and other implements that I use most often. Any gardener would welcome one or more of these at Christmas.
I like to use chopsticks when working with cuttings or planting seeds. They also make good mini-stakes for young plants. Bonsai gardeners use them to help settle the soil or other plant medium. Wiggling a chopstick down into the soil all around a newly planted tiny tree ensures more stability.

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07 December 2005

Thai, Asian spas are hot in San Francisco

The Centre for Thai Massage and Oasis Healing Arts in San Rafael, just outside San Francisco, is a popular weekend retreat for city residents.
The place offers Thai massage, yoga, as well as Thai herbal facial treatment and was founded by Kimberly Call, who is a Certified Thai Massage Practitioner and instructor from the Institute of Thai Massage, Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Osmosis in Sonoma County, north of San Francisco, is a Japanese- style weekend spa with Japanese bonsai and bamboo gardens, which were created by Robert Ketchell, a British horticulturalist who studied landscape design in Japan's western Kyoto prefecture. Osmosis claims it is the only day spa in the U.S. that offers the Cedar Enzyme Bath, a rejuvenating heat treatment from Japan.

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Ongoing Events for Adults, Teens, and Children

Bonsai Club Second Tues., 7 pm, Polly Hill Arboretum, West Tisbury. 508-693-9788; 508-776-8220. Oct. 11: meet at Donaroma's.

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GREEN STUFF EAST BAY

Bonsai and Suiseki Display Garden 11 a.m.-3 p.m. today-Fri., 10 a.m.- 3:45 p.m. Sat., noon-3:45 p.m. Sun. Bonsai and Suiseki Display Garden, Bellevue Ave., Lakeside Park, Oakland. (510) 763-8409.

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06 December 2005

Visiting Japanese students plant 170 hibiscus plants

Kota Kinabalu: One hundred and seventy Hibiscus plants were planted within five minutes in the Tropical Rainforest Park here by 165 secondary school students from Japan Monday morning.
'Definitely I am very happy and touched by their gestures coming all the way from Japan to do this,' said Datuk Iliyas Ibrahim, Mayor of Kota Kinabalu.
The students, comprising 16 girls and the rest boys, came from Konohama Gakun High School, Osaka, brought in by Japan Travel Bureau and Kay Tours Japan.
They were here for a four-day three-night trip, did white-water rafting in the Kiulu River, visited Klias Peninsular to see Proboscis monkeys, the islands in Tunku Abdul Rahman Park off the capital city and saw the Orang-utans in Rasa Ria's Nature Reserve, Dalit Bay, Tuaran.
Hirai Hiromichi, Chairman of Konohama Gakun High School, led the group who were also accompanied by 15 teachers.
Asked why he did this, Hirai, rated a pioneer in taking Japanese students for overseas trips, said: "It's good to contribute to the communities of nations, this time, it is Kota Kinabalu."
Asked why he picked Sabah, he said: " Sabah is still rich in nature while the rest of the world is damaged. So, we came to Sabah to let the students appreciate the beauty of real nature," Hirai told Daily Express.
"And I think Malaysians are trying their best to preserve this beautiful nature," he added.
Asked why should Malaysia protect nature, Hirai said: "We all know about global warming because of the Green House effect," said Hirai, whose father founded the 700-strong school which started off as a boys school but now has 80 girl students.
But what can Sabah cities and towns learn from Japan?
Datuk Iliyas, who has visited Japan, said: "I noticed there are a lot of parks in big cities like Tokyo and other big cities and I also noticed a lot of beautiful trees are planted along the road, like bonsai-looking trees," he said.
"And most restaurants arrange flower pots at the entrance and they look very beautiful," Iliyas noted.
"And the cities are very clean and definitely we can learn from them," added Iliyas who said City Hall planted a total of 48,000 Hibiscus trees in record 15 minutes on September 29 this year, in response to a national campaign launched by Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi.
Meanwhile, Kazue Okumura, Executive Director of Kay Tours & travel, told Daily Express: " There is a lot of potential in Sabah for student groups from Sabah, not only for sight seeing but also to participate in nature projects like this to contribute to the community," she said.
"Many schools in Japan are doing it now but Mr. Hirai Hiromichi is a pioneer and very active in this," she noted.
Hirai, 69, even attempted Mt. Everest but hadn't yet found time for Mt. Kinabalu. While here, some stayed at Rasa Ria while another group stayed at the Shangri-la's Tanjung Aru Resort.
They flew back to Japan immediately after the Hibiscus planting ceremony between 8am and 9am.

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05 December 2005

Sr. Mary DePazzi, an expert in bonsai

Sister Mary DePazzi always had an interest in trees, then learned she could have a forest of them covering a table top.
Bonsai, the cultivation of miniature trees, has been described as a four-dimensional art form - living sculpture.
"Bonsai is almost a painting," said Sister DePazzi, one of the region's foremost practitioners of the Japanese art.
Although legally blind for more than five decades, Sister DePazzi served her faith for 68 years, and helped found the Bonsai Society of Cincinnati and Radio Reading Services for the Blind.
She suffered a stroke in recent years. She died at Lourdes Hall, St. Joseph Heights, Park Hills on Friday. She was 89.
Sister DePazzi was born in Jamestown, Ohio, in 1916 as Catherine Shane.
After graduating from Notre Dame Academy in Covington, she entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame in 1935 and made her first vows in 1937.
After her first five-month service at a Notre Dame House in Aurora, Ill., she returned to Cincinnati and worked at St. Aloysius Orphanage in Bond Hill. After eight years she transferred to a Winnebago Indian Reservation school in Nebraska, then returned to St. Aloysius and continued to serve another 24 years.
At the orphanage, she was group mother and substitute teacher, and also served as a child-care worker and health care provider to the children.
In 1972, Sister DePazzi moved to St. Joseph Heights of Park Hills.
In the early 1950s, Sister DePazzi's eyesight began to fail due to macular degeneration, but she did not let it get in the way of her interests.
She became an avid "reader" of taped books, said Sister Carol Baglan of Covington.
"When I learned about the books and magazines on tape," Sister DePazzi said in 2001, "I thought I'd died and gone to heaven!"
In order to help others who were visually impaired, she became one of the founders of Radio Reading Services for the Blind. She served on the local board in Cincinnati, state board in Columbus and on the committee for 15 years.
Sister DePazzi was also doing bonsai and exhibiting with other enthusiasts before the Cincinnati Bonsai Society was formed in 1964. She belonged to all the committees and served as president from 1977 to 1979.
"She never let (blindness) stop her from what she wanted to do," said Baglan. "She would take her walking stick, get on a bus and go to her organizations. She was out and involved."
Some of Sister DePazzi's bonsai trees can be found at the permanent Krohn Conservatory Bonsai Collection. She asked that one of the trees from the conservatory be buried with her.
Survivors include a nephew, Richard Shane of Dayton, Ohio; a niece, Mary Kay Counos of Wilbraham, Mass.; and several great-nieces and nephews.
Visitation will be from 4-6:30 p.m. with a Mass of Christian burial at 7 p.m. today at the Provincial House at St. Joseph Heights, Park Hills. Burial will be at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday in the convent cemetery in Park Hills. Middendorf-Bullock Funeral Home in Covington is handling arrangements.

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04 December 2005

High-tech treasure hunters give throughout the year

Small gift exchanges are available all year to the growing number of people participating in the hide-and-seek sport of geocaching. It's a high-tech treasure hunt giving the finder permission to take something, leave something and say something.
A geocache--typically a weatherproof container with small items for exchange, a pen and log book--is placed in a hidden spot, usually on public land. The hider places the global positioning system coordinates and perhaps clues for finding it on a web site, like www.geocaching.com.
A cache was often used by early explorers, hunters and miners to hide items they wanted safe or would need later, as in the origins of the name Cache la Poudre River.
A quick search of the web site using the zip code for Red Feather Lakes, 80545, revealed 71 pages of sites radiating out 100 miles and extending into Wyoming. The number of records for that zip code was 1,403. Most of the sites were on U.S. Forest Service or Colorado State Forest land.
With the help of Chuck and Nancy Bell and their GPS unit, the novice Team Bell chose a site near Lost Lake on national forest land. The site is about 3 miles northeast of Red Feather Lakes and cached by Team Fegel on March 7, 2005. The geocache, named Lost Lake View, is at N 40º 49.9222 W 105º 32.536. It showed an icon for a "travel bug" at the site.

Photo of Chuck Bell, by the ammunition-box cache held in the branches of ponderosa pine, holding GPS unit.
On the spot.

Chuck Bell holds the GPS unit that led
his team to a cache northeast of Red
Feather Lakes. -- Photo by Linda Bell

There were hints: "Route planning can make the difference between an uphill walk to the cache and a difficult ascent." An encrypted, longer hint said: "Some people misspell it as bonzai, but it really should be spelled bonsai, and is pronounced 'bonesigh.' The container is not actually in a bonsai, but it sure looks like it."
Three hours later, after many false starts up and down boulder fields, through slot canyons, pushing and hoisting an English setter over sheer rock, Team Bell finally stumbled upon the "uphill walk" where signs of a large, newly broken branch off a ponderosa signaled that others had come before. Soon the GPS sounded a celebratory beep--Team Bell had arrived.
As novice geocache hunters, Team Bell neglected to plot the route on a geophysical map of the area. But this didn't detract from the enjoyment of the chase or the fun of finding the cache.
The cache ammunition box was well camouflaged in the low branches of a windswept, bonsai-shaped ponderosa. The 360-degree views were incredible. Team Bell signed into the logbook and was surprised to learn it was the sixth entry. The cache had an FTF (first to find) entry for March 19.
Contents of the cache revealed a small boxed jigsaw puzzle, miniature magnetic kitchen utensils with funny faces, two postcards from Wisconsin, a magnifying strip, but no travel bug. A read of the log revealed "Grandma Phyllis took the dog tag back to Wisconsin with her in exchange for the two postcards from Lake Superior."
A travel bug, which looks like a dog tag, is a trackable device that can be carried from cache to cache. Perhaps Team Fegel has some idea through a tracking mechanism where it is now.
Team Bell followed the informal protocol of leaving something in the cache --a Poudre Wilderness Volunteers pin--and taking something away. Nancy Bell said their easy downhill descent was a welcome contrast to finding the cache.
A topic paper on geocaching prepared by the Rocky Mountain Region of the USDA National Forest Service states that at present there are no regulations governing geocache sites on Forest Service land. Points of concern are that "pack it in, pack it out" and "leave no trace" practices are not supported by geocaching. The paper also notes that caches are off the developed trail systems and could cause unauthorized trails.
The paper concludes: "There is no limit as to how long a cache remains in a location, and there is no guarantee that it will ever be removed even after the hunt has come to an end. Some caches are even considered permanent."
The geocaching web site cautions users against placing caches in designated wilderness areas or other specially designated botanical, wildlife and archaeological sites.


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02 December 2005

Peace of Japan

SCOTLAND is the ideal place for a Japanese garden, because you've got the granite, the pebbles and the natural streams,' says Penny Underwood, garden designer and author of Designing and Creating Japanese Gardens. There might be similarities in the landscapes, but is it really possible to recreate the tranquillity and symbolism of a Japanese garden here in the UK? Underwood's answer is 'yes', but she can't promise that it'll be easy.
The author herself has refurbished the Kyoto Garden in Holland Park, London and created an award-winning Japanese-style courtyard garden for the Gardeners' World Live exhibition. Having admired Japanese gardens from afar, it was a trip to Kyoto which got her hooked. 'Entering the first garden had a profound emotional and intellectual effect on me, which lasted several months,' she says. Another trip soon followed, culminating in a six-week study tour, under the tutelage of Yasutaro Tanaka, a renowned designer who created the Zen garden at St Mungo Museum in Glasgow.
Underwood's new book aims to help widen our understanding of Japanese gardens, providing the historical and cultural backdrop, as well as practical advice on how to incorporate the techniques into your own garden design. "When I talk to people about it, often they say 'oh yes, bonsai', but that's got nothing to do with Japanese gardens," she says. "Or they might mention gravel, but they don't understand why it's used." The gravel question is fairly easily answered - water is seen as a vital part of a Japanese garden, but in areas where it's not easily available, raked gravel symbolises the flow.
Underwood explains that there isn't one specific template for a Japanese garden, but rather that certain elements have emerged over the years, with Taoist, Shinto and Buddhist beliefs, myths and legends woven into developing designs. From temples to teahouses, these gardens have had to fulfil many different purposes. One thing that has held true over the years is an awareness of the natural world and an acknowledgement of the inter-dependence of plants, rocks, gravel and water. The choice of materials and arrangements instantly creates a distinctive air. "It's a feeling you get, an awe-inspiring feeling," says Underwood. "These gardens appeal to the senses."
Most of us can come up with a few ideas about what elements make up a Japanese garden, but the reasons why they're there aren't so commonly known. Stepping stones, for instance were used historically to provide a route to tea houses, and later were used as a means of directing the gaze towards particular features. Stone arrangements are highly valued in Japanese gardens, with granite the most popular choice. Andesite, a volcanic rock, is used for more dramatic rock groupings.
Arrangements have different symbolic meanings - one popular choice involves a triangular arrangement, representing man, heaven and earth. One of the tips Underwood includes for choosing garden rocks is to always try to get rocks from the same source to enhance the impression of a natural scene. If you're really keen to learn more, she advises tracking down the 11th-century treatise Sakuteiki for full instructions - luckily, it's available in English translation.
Perhaps one of the most glaring differences between British and Japanese gardens is the amount of space given over to planting; you're unlikely to find rolling lawns and herbaceous borders in Japan. "Plants in Japanese garden design are endowed with symbolic and philosophical properties and are treated with due respect," says Underwood. Pines are particularly popular and may be nurtured to look windswept, suggesting hardiness and longevity. Another technique is "cloud pruning", where layered pads of growth are developed over many years, creating a "stairway to heaven". Underwood says that few Japanese homeowners would undertake this sort of work themselves, instead employing specialist gardeners.
Along with pines, maples, with their stunning autumn colour, and flowering cherries, with their short-lived blossom, are two of the most popular types of plants for this type of garden - the cherries are seen as bringing hope for the future and the assurance of rebirth. Bamboos, too, are admired, not just for their looks but because of their characteristic strength and ability to bend in the breeze without breaking, a trait known in Japan as "bamboo mentality". One plant whose popularity we might find surprising is moss - it's seen as a luxuriant ground cover and is commercially cultivated and sold in slabs. Accent plants are important too, and ferns or hostas often accompany rock placings, water basins and stone lanterns. Shrubs such as azalea, Japanese box and camellia japonica are also popular, chosen with a specific location and function in mind, rather than just to flesh out a border.
Perhaps one of the most striking differences between British and Japanese gardens is to do with function. Here we want our gardens to be multi-purpose: a space for dining, for children to play, perhaps to grow vegetables, and with borders providing year-round colour. In complete contrast, Japanese gardens are often seen simply as a place for peaceful contemplation.
So is the Japanese style really compatible with a British lifestyle?
"It may be preferable to dedicate a part of the garden to a Japanese style, where it can be isolated from all western influences by using bamboo or other screening," says Underwood. She also points out that if you aren't a Buddhist, you will have to ask yourself whether or not you want the heavily symbolic aspects of those beliefs in your garden. Practical considerations, such as the availability of plants and getting hard landscaping materials imported, also have to be considered.
Furthermore, be prepared for maintenance. If you are using gravel in your design, then you may have to remove leaves on a daily basis in the autumn and rake every day to remove all traces of human interference. It sounds like a lot of very hard work, but anyone who's ever experienced the tranquillity of a Japanese-style garden might just be prepared to rise to the challenge.
Underwood certainly thinks that this style of garden has the power to reconnect us with the natural world. "It's expressing the world order, that's how I see it, and our recognition of this planet on which we depend." So if you didn't think gardening was deep and meaningful, think again.

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Gifts That Feed A Grower's Love

Another thoughtful gift would be a membership to a local public garden, a gift certificate to the garden's store or a nursery. North Carolina is rich in public gardens, and many of them have special activities and plant-sale previews that are open only to members. Members also generally get advance notice of trips, tours and classes.

There are local plant societies as well. The Winston Salem Rose Society has an active membership. Bundling a gift certificate to a rose nursery and a membership to the society would make a nice gift. There's also the N.C. Bonsai Society, which meets at Miller Park.

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The olive has its day in the sun

Villa Mille Rose (House of a Thousand Roses), in the Napa valley town of Oakville, is another of Ainsworth's stops. Here, Italian socialite Maria Manetti Farrow rules over an earthly paradise filled with grape vines, bonsai trees and gardens that seem to sing, thanks to the opera that Farrow pipes through outdoor speakers whenever she's in town. As Farrow's white poodle Gioia trots at her feet, the olive oil maker leads visitors around her grounds and even, when the season permits, sends them home with crates of surplus produce.

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01 December 2005

Ongoing Events for Adults, Teens, and Children

Adults

Bonsai Club Second Tues., 7 pm, Polly Hill Arboretum, West Tisbury. 508-693-9788; 508-776-8220. Oct. 11: meet at Donaroma's.

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Chinatown Revisited

Philadelphia's Chinatown began with a single Chinese-American laundry in the 1860s and has grown into a thriving residential neighborhood and a major cultural and business district. 'Chinatown In/Flux,' an ambitious project of site-specific public art now on view throughout Chinatown, was organized by the Asian Arts Initiative to explore the transitions that are still taking place in this diverse community. Gayle Isa, executive director of AAI, explained that the organizers chose seven artists with very different backgrounds and sensibilities to offer a variety of perspectives on the Chinatown community, as well as to 'jar stereotypes.' Planning for the project started three years ago and all of the artists made visits to Chinatown to meet with people from the community.
JiHyun Park, a New York-based installation artist who immigrated to the U.S. from Korea in 1999, also addresses local commerce in Chicken Broccoli. As a tribute to the American-invented Chinese restaurant staple, Park constructed 20 hand-painted cast resin fake bonsai trees with tiny dioramas of broccoli and chickens and installed them in a storefront filled with decorative ceramics. Skowman Hastanan's piece, Tell me a Story, in the window of the Serendipity Caf�, doesn't directly comment on the commercial operation, but rather on the past and present of all of the people who enter and pass by. Her decorative bead curtain was made from strings of jewellike clear acrylic beads containing prints of old photos and quotes from AAI's oral history project in three languages. Hastanan was born and raised in Thailand, but has lived in New York since 1973.

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Japanese maples offer fall landscape splendor

I know many of you have probably had fall come and go but in my area it just getting started. Right out my office the Japanese maples are starting to show their first hints of fall color. The trees were really healthy and exquisite in form.
I was in a town just the other day and noticed several huge lace-leaf or dissected types showing color. I could only guess at their age and for sure a landscape value that was priceless.
I am a believer in Japanese maples and have grown several but there is much mystery associated with this group of plants. These small trees are brilliant in the spring, with new red color, followed by exotic foliage throughout the summer, and often ending with a fall blaze of crimson, orange and yellow.
The Japanese maple is versatile and can be used as a bonsai, a small tub planting or an awesome accent, or several can be grouped artistically. But there are hundreds - if not thousands - of selections that most of us know little about.
The Japanese maple is known botanically as Acer palmatum. Nurserymen usually think of the Japanese maple as having two leaf types: non-dissected and dissected.
Japanese maples can be grouped by three types-uprights, lace-leafs and bush-dwarf types. Among the uprights are the linearilobums, which have long, narrow lobes on each leaf. The lace-leafs, are dissectums with pinnately dissected leaves. The growth habit of the lace-leaf type is usually cascading or weeping. The bush-dwarf group includes maples that are slower growing, and bushy.
One of the most popular varieties in the non-dissected group are Bloodgood, a recognized award winner, Oshu beni and Senaki. Some of those notable in the dissected group are Crimson Queen, Ever Red and Tamukeyama.
A large area in the United States from zones 5 through 8 is fortunate to be able to grow the Japanese maple. They prefer well-drained, moist, slightly acidic soils. I like them best with morning sun and afternoon shade, or in areas with dappled light. Even though I have seen gorgeous specimens in full sun, I still like some shade.
Supplemental water during the summer helps prevent leaf scorching. They take 10 years to reach 15 feet. Some of the oldest plantings of Japanese maples in the United States are in the 50-foot range.
Those in the dissectum group have more of a layered, mushroom shape in the garden, and their heights are usually much shorter.
Newly leafed-out Japanese maples are gorgeous in early spring combined with azaleas, dogwoods and phlox. They are exceptional in rock gardens and in combination plantings with full-size and dwarf conifers like the gold thread false cypress.
The slow growth rate, coupled with the many groups, sub-species and cultivars, intimidate many gardeners from getting started. But once they do many find it becomes a passion.
Standing in front of an old lace leafed Japanese maple creates an indescribable feeling, mostly awe. If you have the opportunity, the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis has one of the best collections and is well worth the visit.
If you don't have a Japanese maple, get one or two. Remember fall is a great time to plant them.

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PATHFINDER December 2005

Richmond Bonsai Society meets the fourth Monday of each month at 7 p.m. at Imperial Plaza, 1717 Bellevue Ave. Details: 359-2041. Richmond Horticultural Society meets for Christmas party at 1 p.m. Dec. 5 at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, 1800 Lakeside Ave. Details: 272-2663.

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GREEN STUFF / CONTRA COSTA

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. Bonsai and Suiseki Display Garden, Bellevue Ave., Lakeside Park, Oakland. (510) 763-8409.

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Finish up fall chores

Gift ideas for the gardener in your life are endless. One idea is a fine-quality set of pruners. There are many to choose from. I happen to like the Felco pruners. There are hoses that are guaranteed for life as well as specialty digging tools.

You might want to start someone on a new hobby by giving them a book on bonsai, a bonsai tool kit and some small bonsai starter plants.

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Garden Calendar

WATSONVILLE BONSAI CLUB: Meets at 6:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Mondays of the month at Kizuki Hall, 150 Blackburn St., Watsonville across from the Watsonville High School tennis courts. Call 724-9283.

SANTA CRUZ BONSAI KAI: Meets at 9 a.m. on the third Saturday of the month at Live Oak Grange, 1900 17th Ave., Santa Cruz. Call 761-3531.

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