from the Greater Clearwater and surrounding areas

澄んだ水盆栽会

Sundamizu Bonsai Kai

April, 2012

2012, Issue 4 Page 2

March 7—May 20 Epcot International Flower &

Garden Festival

April 14: USF Spring Plant Sale

April 28/29: Green Thumb Festival, St Peters-

burg

May 6: Florida Botanical Gardens ,

12520Ulmerton Rd., Largo; showcase fine

arts museums, garden tours, demonstra-

tions by artists, pg 10 for more information

May 24-28 Bonsai Societies of Florida Con-vention, more information at http://bonsai-

bsf.com/?p=1114

National Events

Virginia Pine, Sand Pine and Spruce Pine by Clif

Pottberg

3-5

The Pond Pot & Japanese Black Pine by Steve Pilacik 6

Which is better: collect from the wild or grow from

small nursery stock by Clif Pottberg 7/8

The Wiring Corner 8

Sundamizu Bonsai Kai News 9/10

Additional Opportunities & Ads 10

Contacts, & General Info. 11

Inside this issue:

It’s free! Stay in

touch with Bonsai

activities!

Join the Meet-up Web-

site for the Sundamizu

Bonsai Kai.

Go to http://

www.meetup.com/

WestCen-

tralFloridaBonsai/

It’s easy and only takes

a minute .

Regional Happenings Buttonwood Bonsai—Inverness: Key

Training, 130 Heights St., Inverness, Fl;

Meets 2nd Saturday of every month. April:

public workshop with Bonsai Bob

Bob Eskeitz 352-556-4999 or

Duane Finch Sr 352-726-9261

Sundamizu Bonsai Kai—Clearwater:

Meets 2nd Saturday of every month. Moc-

casin Lake Nature Park, 2750 Park Trail

Lane, Clearwater. April meeting: 3 ring

circus

Clif Pottberg: 352-424-6000

Nick Sellas: 727-938-1985 or

nsellas5@gmail.com

Hukyu Bonsai—Tampa: Meets 3rd Satur-

day of every month at USF Botanical Gar-

dens. April meeting: 3 ring circus

Clif Pottberg: 352-424-6000

Lakeland Bonsai Club: meets 3rd

Thursday of every month; 7:00pm; First

United Methodist Church, 72 Lake Mor-

ton Drive, Room D-3, Lakeland.

Pres. Paul Cacioppo; 863-860-1173

Suncoast Bonsai Club—St. Peters-

burg: Meets 4th Saturday of every

month. This month’s meeting will be the

Green Thumb Festival

Pres. Linda Gibbons;

jgibb7@hotmail.com

All club meetings are open to the public

and visitors are welcome.

2012, Issue 4 Page 3

Virginia Pine, Sand Pine & Spruce Pine by Clif Pottberg In the early days of the eighties, Steve Pilacik wrote what might well be called the definitive book on Japanese black pines in America. He just wrote an article on them for our last month's issue. Because of his familiarity and expertise with Japanese black pines, Steve will be doing a continuing series on them and all their characteristics, as an important exten-sion of his writings on the species. I thought it would be an interesting concept to weave arti-cles about other pines that we can grow here in the south, and relate them to what Steve is teaching about the Japa-nese black pine. Some information will be the same for each but some will be different, so it can be useful to re-late the two. There are three short needled natives in the southeast: the Virginia Pine, the Sand Pine and the Spruce Pine, and they all have two-needled clusters, like the Japanese black pine, and unlike the Japanese red pine or Japanese white pine.. The three natives mentioned above have similarly sized needles, growing up to about 8-10 cm, or 3+ inches but they are often shorter. The longest by a little is the Sand Pine, Pinus clausa. its needles are also the thinnest which is a drawback for bonsai. We want to create a full foliaged look, like the big tree. It's possible to thicken the foliage cover of the Sand Pine, but it will take a little more care; a little more time. Another reason for this is that the branches tend to be dense (but casting only light shade), skinny and die back more readlily. All three pine species have thinner branchlets than the Japanese black pine, making them somewhat more in scale. Both the Spruce Pine, Pinus Glabra, and the Virginia Pine, Pinus Virginiana, have needles of similar thickness, greater than the Sand Pine, but their color differs. The Virginia Pine has mostly yellow green needles, while the Spruce Pine has very glossy dark green needles. Another minor drawback to the Virginia Pine is that its needles naturally twist. This makes it harder to stay looking groomed than the Spruce Pine. Thus, as far as the nee-dles of these pines are concerned, and the foliage in gen-eral the Spruce Pine is best. The Pine whose range is closest to us, in fact engulfs us, is the Sand Pine, growing throughout the center of Flor-ida, with an outlier range on the coast of the Florida pan-handle. So for us in the Tampa Bay area, or anywhere in central Florida, it is the easiest to find and collect.

It will grow on very poor and infertile, very sandy and dry soil and it must grow in such soil, for the roots soon rot with more than a little soil moisture. As most know, pines grow much better with mycorrhizal fungi in the soil, but with Pinus clausa we must be careful to collect from a Sand Pine stand, for the more normally useful fungi don't do well in a soil that is fit for a Sand Pine. Whatever we collect, it is always wise to collect some extra soil from near the tree which has as much humus in it as possible, and incorporate that into your training pot mix. Next most capable of withstanding dry soil is Pinus virgin-iana, and it normally grows in fairly sterile soil, shaly and sandy barrens and lower mountain slopes. Of course, these environments often result in very stunted trees, and you'll likely find the best collectable shapes and sizes of any of these pines. Find a dryish, shaly, sunlit field and you may be able to collect many wonderful specimens in a single day. Another nice thing about finding such an environment is that the root systems may well be more branched, even fibrous, and much easier to collect. However, its range is also farthest from us, descending only into the upper third of Alabama, and only touching the top of Georgia and south Carolina. Anywhere from there north, however, you'll often find large stands all the way into eastern Ohio, and near to the northern ends of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Unlike the Sand Pine, the Virginia Pine will take a wide range of soil moisture and thus is easier to keep alive in a pot. Of course, watering regularly with an intensely well drained and well aerated bonsai soil, any of these pines should do well -- It's always a good idea to collect some of the native fungus mycelia with it whenever you can, no matter what you're collecting. Longest lived and least likely to die back or suffer shad-ing out is the Spruce Pine. One reason for this is that the Spruce pine is typically found as individual trees scat-tered in moister mixed hardwood forests, and so have had to develop more shade tolerance than most other pines. Further, because of this shade tolerance, the lower branches stay alive and more vigorous than most other pines. They also withstand the most moist growing condi-tions when they occur, which is another reason why they live longer. Pinus glabra is also the fastest growing and grows largest

2012, Issue 4 Page 4

Virginia Pine, Sand Pine & Spruce Pine by Clif Pottberg

of the three, and that is why it also is the most bendable and workable: faster growing wood is generally softer. Consider the flexibility of the fast growing satsuki azalea relative to the easily broken slow growing kurume azaleas for example. The bark of each are different but beautiful, so each will look rough, gnarled and powerful with a little age on them. Pinus glabra has the smallest and best adhering plating; Pinus virginiana has the most colorful, and Pinus clausa, while often very thickly barked, tends to peel off easily, in large pieces. Not easy to collect for us down here in the deep south, and, worse, it is harder to find growing individually in thicker woods, but the Spruce pine is findable on longer trips up the coast. Further, various forestry service nurs-eries carry it and it's well worth the effort. As far as their pruning and bud pinching they are all very similar to the Japanese black pine. Needle plucking is the same, each of them being two needled pines. Easiest to needle pluck and most accepting is the Spruce pine, and the Sand pine is the hardest, since any part of the plant is individually less vigorous than the others. All are fine pieces of material to work with, though. How-

ever, in my mind, Pinus glabra is the best of the three for

most efforts. I believe it is a worthy competitor of the

Japanese black pine as an excellent material for bonsai.

Sand pine foliage

Virginia pine foliage and cones

Spruce pine foliage and cones

Pinus glabra bark

Pinus virginiana bark

Pinus clausa bark

2012, Issue 4 Page 5

Virginia Pine, Sand Pine & Spruce Pine by Clif Pottberg

Typical Sand pine

growth

Typical Spruce pine growth

Typical Virginia pine growth

Preview The Bonsai Display at The

Epcot Flower & Garden Festival on

YouTube:

www.youtube.com/orlandobonsaiTV. It’s

called “walk through the bonsai exhibit at

Epcot.

2012, Issue 4 Page 6

The Pond Pot & Japanese Black Pine by Steve Pilacik Even though I have been growing JBP for over 42 years I still try to keep up with worthwhile literature on the spe-cies. I discovered that EBAY was an excellent way to up-date your Japanese Literature Books on bonsai. One eve-ning I saw an issue of Bonsai World, the catch said new technique for growing JBP. I had to own this issue of the Journal. Even though I do not read Japanese-the Japa-nese use sketches to illustrate their points very nicely. I placed my bid and waited for the auction to end-I won the journal and awaited it coming to me from Japan. When the Journal arrived from Japan, I opened the Jour-nal up to the article I was anxiously awaiting. The first photograph showed a JBP in two pots-the smaller being a pond pot the other a regular nursery pot. The nursery pot was larger than the pond pot. Pond pots allow the roots of your tree to grow into the soil in the nursery pot. The theory being that the JBP will produce numerous fi-brous roots and this allows the JBP trunk to thicken more quickly that a regular nursery pot. Also when repotting your main root system is not disturbed allowing the JBP to continue growing without interruption, Of course, I had to test this theory. The results were the trees planted in pond pots grew about 50% quicker than those just planted in nursery pots. I like to wire my trunks of JBP when trees are young—the pond pot planted trees were growing into the wire in less than six months!! I liked the results so I planted more trees in pond pots be-fore planting in nursery pots. The next two pictures show examples

The trees I am showing examples of are JBP grown to be Shohin Bonsai. However, this technique will work on all sizes of bonsai. This technique may also be used with trees planted in the ground. My suggestion would be us-ing very large pond pots to allow for very large trunks. When digging these trees you will not disturbed the root systems, since the fibrous roots stay in the pond pots. When growing Shohin size JBP I use sacrificial branches to thicken the main trunk. Theory suggest that were one allows a branch to grow long –the area below the sacrifi-

cial will thicken. (Figure 1)

When growing JBP for Shohin Bonsai one must take care to prune lower branches to allow for ramification. One also must needle pluck to allow light and air to freely en-

ter the inside of the tree. (Figure 2)

When you feel the JBP is ready for its bonsai container plant directly from pond pot to bonsai container –there are more than enough feeder roots to nourish the tree. This pond pot technique works with basically all species of trees one would use for bonsai. I chose JBP since I have done more experimentation than other species at this time.

Figure 1 Figure 2

2012, Issue 4 Page 7

Which is better: Collect from the wild, or grow from small nursery

stock? By Clif Pottberg There have always been two camps of thought in bonsai

about how to get the best bonsai.

On the one hand, there are the adventurers, going out into

the wilds, and finding massive beauties often with extrava-

gant curves and beautiful deadwood. Some of the biggest

and best bonsai in the world have been collected trees.

These trees, in order to truly demonstrate their remarka-

bly powerful features, must be larger collected material for

the most part. For many people, this is beyond their ca-

pacities, especially when the tree is, for example, half way

up a mountain, or several miles into a wilderness area.

If you wish to go into the wilds for big beautiful material,

you have no need to go farther than into the Florida

swamps to find massively based and hugely tapered bald-

cypress – or into the high hills of Georgia, south Carolina

and West Virginia for wonderful pines. If you want to go

further, take a vacation into the wild western reaches of

Colorado, Utah, and the Sierra Nevadas for the incredible

junipers. The pines and baldcypress and even some of

the desert junipers will survive here with judicious care.

Unlike Japan, there are still countless miles of junipers in

the west, and huge but stunted pines, still filled with fan-

tastic collectible material – if you are careful not to tres-

pass onto protected lands. So many centuries of collect-

ing in Japan have removed the vast majority of collectable

material, but we still have abundant stock of beautiful ma-

terial on unprotected lands.

However, there are drawbacks to collecting, beyond the

obvious ones of scorpions, sunburn or frostbite, falls from

cliffs and the like. They include the fact that in so many

cases it is rational to dig up such a specimen slowly, care-

fully pruning the roots over one or several seasons, to

reduce the likelihood of loss.

Then, when you have successfully transplanted your tree,

you may still have problems. The primary problem is that

very few large collected trees have very good root sys-

tems which look like the root system of a very big adult

tree. They may be gnarled, but they won’t likely look like

an adult tree. They may be thick and buttressy, but the

likelihood of a good, full nebari is very slim. Worse, if that

is the case, there is very little you can do about it, unless

you are willing to graft on a new set of roots. That some-

times may take as many years as it would have taken to

grow such a tree from scratch – or at least quite a few.

Thus it may be very difficult to get a masterpiece bonsai

from a collected piece of material.

Some collected material, like the western junipers, have

so much driftwood that roots aren’t a concern – the drift-

wood is the key and focus. Even then, many times the

tree is made less impressive by a lack of a visible spread-

ing root system.

Still there may be drawbacks. Most desert junipers have

much coarser foliage than ones found in most gardens,

and certainly coarser than the ones the Japanese moun-

tains were lucky enough to have been graced with, the

delicately foliaged shimpaku juniper. Yes, you can graft

on new foliage of another sort to give the tree a better

look, but there again, it will probably take several years;

it’s not instant in most cases. How else, then, can we

achieve larger bonsai material for powerful bonsai? One

answer lies in the ability of plenty of fertilizer, good

actual production of a bonsai during the

"Visions of the American West" Bonsai

Convention and Learning Seminar in

Denver, Colorado at the Denver Marriott

Tech Center, June 21-24, 2012. The

American Bonsai Society, Bonsai Clubs

International and the Rocky Mountain

Bonsai Society are sponsoring the event.

Eligibility:

Any person who lives in North America,

including Puerto Rico, is eligible. He or

she must have been involved with the art

of bonsai for less than ten (10) years.

Any past winner or runner-up is ineligi-

ble to enter. Participation in the second

stage is limited to two (2) competitions.

For more information, go to:

http://absbonsai.org/latest-news/87-new-

talent-bonsai-competition

The Joshua Roth New Talent Bonsai

Competition Supported by ABS

The Joshua Roth New Talent Bonsai

Competition is an annual competition to

recognize and promote new bonsai talent

in North America. First prize is an exclu-

sive course of instruction with an ap-

proved bonsai teacher. The first stage of

the competition is a judging of photo-

graphs of previously designed trees by

the entrant. The second stage will be the

New Talent Bonsai Competition sponsored by American Bonsai Society

2012, Issue 4 Page 8

Which is better: Collect from the wild, or

grow from small nursery stock? By Clif Pottberg drainage and plenty of water to mas-

sively enhance the growth of a plant.

Most bonsai enthusiasts, reading all

the books they can find, are tempted

to be so careful by the warnings

about over fertilizing.

When we want to grow a plant

quickly, we can. Put it in the ground

or a very big pot in good loamy soil.

Start with a carefully well spread

roots system. Then keep fertilizing it.

It won’t take nearly as long to achieve

a particular size of bonsai as you

might think.

I grow a multitude of trident maples,

crape myrtles (to be sure, they are

fast growing on their own), junipers,

podocarpus and others, and can add

12 to sixteen or more feet of height in

a year, and inches of girth , even on

a relatively small plant – when it is

carefully watered and fertilized.

If you think you perceive a strong

point of view, you are right. If you

want an adventure, go collecting. If

you want a big piece of material, and

gamble you’ll find one that’s great in

all its parts, go for it. However, it

really is much easier – an often just

as fast – to tend your garden and

have a few really big pieces that you

just continue to grow, allowing ram-

pant growth. Prune (often) just once

a year to bring the plant back to man-

ageable height, and you’ll be sur-

prised how nice your plants will be

very quickly.

AND, you’ll have much better nebari

and root spread than you usually can

get when you collect a wildling.

California juniper

Windswept sand pine on the Florida coast

Another juniper – too

big for bonsai, but…

The Wiring Corner As a brief introduction to a series of

increasingly complex wiring lessons, let

us start, not with wiring, but with the

wire itself.

There are two forms of wire used in

shaping bonsai, as most people in bonsai

know. However, since the earlier form

of wire, copper wire, became signifi-

cantly more expensive than aluminum

wire, even that which has been anodized

to look as inconspicuous as copper, few

people any longer use copper.

Copper has a number of benefits, how-

ever. First, as it ages, it becomes darker

than anodized aluminum. Second, as it

is bent to be put on a branch, it becomes

harder and holds a branch much more

strongly than aluminum. You can put it

on when it is very soft and easy to work

- easier than aluminum – and it becomes

harder; you can use a smaller gauge and

get more holding and bending power.

Therefore also the cost of the copper

should not be measured by its gauge, but

by its effective bending power, thus

decreasing the difference in price. We

are talking about annealed copper wire,

too, which is more expensive than un-

annealed.

Granted, aluminum is more readily

available, but if you do a quick web-

search for bonsai copper wire you’ll find

plenty.

There are times when aluminum wire is

superior to copper. By having to be a

larger diameter to bend a branch, it will

have less likelihood to damage the

branch as it is being put on. This is es-

pecially important for thin barked plants

like azaleas and is, in fact, why alumi-

num began to be used in the first place.

If you can’t find annealed copper wire,

you can always anneal your own if you

have a source of un-annealed wire. Just

put your copper on a bed of hot coals

and it will be soft soon. After that, try

not to bend your wire any more until you

are using it or it will become hard again.

Next: the OTHER old fashioned way to

bend branches.

2012, Issue 4 Page 9

March 10 Meeting Many thanks to our hospitality team for

the refreshments and homemade

goodies. Thanks, Karen & Lee!

Have you ever wondered whether any possibly great bonsai pieces of material are all

around you, underfoot and gone unnoticed? You'd be very surprised. In the simple cate-

gory of weeds there are many which make super material, and fine shapes.

Our own Marian Borchers has been collecting weeds for a long time and turned them

into stunning bonsai and/or accent plants. She now has many wonderful examples and

will bring examples of many species and talk about where to find them and how to care

for them.

We'll also have a brief discussion of how to root cuttings easily, with new techniques to

ensure better success.

May Meeting Preview

Sundamizu Bonsai Kai News

Our next program will be what we have

long called a "three ring circus"

The idea is that three people each do a

demonstration of styling on a tree. We

learn by watching the different results,

both of tree shape, and the artist's tech-

niques.

The multiple demonstration can be on the

same species, created into different

styles, or three different species, worked

into the same style.

In this case, we will use large Juniperus

squamata prostrata , also known as Juni-

perus procumbens nana, also known as

Dwarf Japanese garden Junipers, do-

nated by Bonsai at Pasiminan

You will see how different, good stylists

can create many different effects with

equivalent material.

It is always a unique experience for we

can learn much by seeing how the eye of

different artists can see such different

opportunities, thus a way to train our own

eyes.

This has always been one of the most

popular - and most educational - bonsai

programs. As always, we will also have a

raffle with fine material.

PLEASE NOTE: this month we will be

outside in the picnic area, next to the

birds' area, and nearer the front entrance

to the park, on the left

Next week Hukyu, the Tampa club, will

also have a 3 ring circus, this time creat-

ing a single style out of different types of

trees. If you enjoyed this program, you

can come and learn next week how to

use different materials for a given style,

and meet other nice bonsai people at the

same time. We will also be shortly inviting

them to our program as well.

Hukyu meets at the USF botanical gar-

den, also at 10 AM Saturday morning,

exactly one week after our meeting (April

21st).

Don’t forget to join us for lunch

on Saturday after the meeting.

April 14 Meeting: 3-Ring Circus

2012, Issue 4 Page 10

Here is something that seems worthwhile to bring to everyone's attention: White Bear Bonsai is having a major sale in

connection with their move from St. Paul, MN to Charlotte NC. Some nice trees are available: They're not cheap, but

they are beautiful. http://www.whitebearbonsai.com/

Thanks to Joan Lindsay from the Suncoast Club.

Bonsai Sale

If you would like to see some wonderful bonsai trees, a

couple of our members went over to the Jim Smith

collection and Christy took Photo's. You can view them

without becoming a member of Facebook by putting

this in your search bar:

http//www.facebook.com/SuncostBonsaiSociety. There

are 300 photos and they show the tree, the tree root

structure and the information on the tree. Again,

hanks to Joan Lindsay and members of the Suncoast

Club

Viewing Jim Smith’s Trees

www.evesgardengifts.com

(check out scratch & dent area)

INFANTE SERVICES, INC

1820 Gunn Highway

Odessa

813-926-2271

www.infanteservices.com

M-F 7:30-5:30 Sat: 8:30-3:30

MEYERS NURSERY

9491 Rockhill Road

Thonotosassa, FL - near Fowler Avenue

and U.S. 301

813-986-5896

www.meyersnurseries.com

LANDMARK NURSERY

853 E Lake Rd S, Tarpon Springs, FL

34688

(727) 938-2971

Monday – Friday 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM: Sat-

urdays 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM

www.landmarknursery.com

Thanks to Palmer Ogden, Chris Frye and

Lois Powell. Let us know of any others

you find!

Do you like to visit nurseries looking for

the perfect tree, and unusual specimen or

perhaps looking for a good deal. We need

your help to identify some local nurseries..

Here’s a few that our club members have

recommended.

EVE'S GARDEN GIFTS

5602 Land O Lakes Blvd

Land O Lakes, FL 34639

Phone: 813-996-5012

Fax: 813-996-2831

Monday-Friday 9a-5p; Saturday 10a-4p

Help us find some local nurseries!

May 6 Event

The Florida Botani-cal Gardens Foun-dation is hosting an event to showcase fine arts museums in the area on Sun-day, May 6 from 10 to 4 at the gardens at 12520 Ulmerton Rd., Largo. Muse-ums attending are the St. Petersburg Fine Arts Museum, Dunedin Fine Arts Center, Leepa/Ratner Museum, Florida Craftsmen, and the Morean Arts Center. There will also be

garden tours and

each museum has

decorated a rain

barrel to be raffled

off.

www.matsumomiji.com/

Matsu Momiji Bonsai We specialize in

Japanese Black Pine

Travel for Lectures,

Demonstrations,

Workshops

the Greater Clearwater

and surrounding areas

澄んだ水盆栽会

Sundamizu Bonsai Kai

the Greater Clearwater and surrounding areas

2012, Issue 4 Page 11

Sundamizu Bonsai Kai means Clear Water Bonsai Club

(Pronounced soon”da mi’ zu) Nick Sellas 727-938-1985

nsellas5@gmail.com

Clif Pottberg: 352-424-6000

clifton@pottberg.com

Meets 2nd Saturday of each Month

Moccasin Lake Nature Park

2750 Park Trail Lane, Clearwater

Directions to Moccasin Lake Nature Park

From Southbound US 19 or McMullen Booth Rd (CR 611):

turn west on SR 590 for 0.8 mi

turn left on Calamondin Ln for 0.3 mi

turn right on Edenwood St for 364 ft

turn left onto Beachwood Ave for 0.2 mi

turn right at Park Trail Lane

From Northbound US 19:

turn east on Drew St for 407 ft

turn left on Fairwood Ave/Park Place Blvd for 0.6mi

turn left at Park Trail Lane

Proceed to the back of the parking lot. This is closest to the

classroom. If you have large material/plants you are bringing,

we will open the gate for dropoff and then you can return to lot

to park.

Annual Membership is $24 per individual or $36 per family

and includes:

● Monthly meetings

● New friends

● Lots of fun