by John Callaway

Join us Saturday, December 1st at King's Buffet for the club's annual Christmas Party. Festivities will begin at 6:00pm and continue on from there. Members and their families/guests will be asked to purchase their meals from the buffet. Wine will be provided by the club.

Many thanks go to Kenny Popp for allowing the club to collect native trees from Calvary Cemetery last month. Among the plants and trees collected were privet, honeysuckle, hornbeam, locust, and various kinds of reeds and grasses. The morning was a little chilly but did eventually warm into a very nice day. I hope we all get a chance to see the trees collected and how they progress in the years to come. More...

by George Buehler

CHRISTMAS PARTY
We will hold our annual Christmas party at the King's Buffet again this year. I hope that everybody can make it. The food is generally good, and the camaraderie with the other members is always fun. This is also a good time to give that dues check to Tom.

For those that need help in finding the restaurant, take the Blankenbaker Lane south exit off of I-64. Turn right at the first light and the restaurant is on the left - about 1/2 block from Blankenbaker. There is plenty of on-site parking.

In addition, we need to hold elections for the 2008 officers. As John reported last month, we have a couple of spots open, and it would be nice to have some new faces (and new ideas). If you would like to become an officer of your bonsai club, let John or me know so we can get your names on the ballot.

PLAN AHEAD
Before the rush of the holiday season starts, why don't you take a look at your bonsai supplies? Do you have enough wire, soil or pots for next spring's transplanting season. I will start sifting my soil components next month to remove all the fines, but, before I do that, I always spread out the components on some plastic on the basement floor to let them dry out. When the material is dry, the dust generally comes off easier. A negative is that as the dry components are sifted, there will be dust in the air. Therefore dust protection is necessary. I also size the dry material because I don't have to worry about it clumping together when it is dry.

Thinking about planning ahead, it may sound strange, but the best time of year to evaluate the design of your deciduous trees is coming up. In the summer, when the deciduous trees are in full leaf, it is hard to determine if the branch structure is good. However, when the tree has lost all its leaves, you can see the good and bad points of the tree.

Examine your tree and look for the branches or branchlets that are pointing down. Although we want to have some branches bending down to indicate an old tree, a decision needs to be made whether these branches need to be removed or shortened. The smaller branchlets growing down definitely need to be removed, while the larger down pointing branches may need to be shortened to help develop ramification.

Look for limbs which, when the tree is in full leaf, may be shaded by higher branches. Should those higher limbs be removed or can they be bent to allow more sunlight in to get to the lower branches? Remember that it is easy to cut off a branch, but adding a branch back is quite difficult. Therefore, before you cut off the branch rather than bend it, make sure that you really want to remove it.

Look for any limbs that are growing inward (toward the trunk). It is probably a good idea to remove these. But, once again, before I cut off the limb, I look at the overall shape of the tree and consider the open space versus the filled-in space - when the tree is in full leaf. Will cutting off the inward growing limb open up the overall tree to allow more sun to get to other foliage? However, usually the direction of growth is always out away from the trunk - toward the sun.

As you are examining the tree or doing maintenance pruning, watch out for the vegetative buds. These are generally very small at this time of year (late November) but, if you are doing this in January or February, they may be easier to see. These buds are very delicate and will come off easily. If you are trying to develop a certain section of the tree, you may want to remove the larger vegetative buds and leave the smaller, weaker buds. If the stronger buds are removed, stronger growth is promoted in the weaker buds. These smaller buds generally produce smaller leaves, which is what we are after in our bonsai.

If you are working on a flowering tree, a second problem arises. These trees produce their flower buds in the late summer. Therefore, there are both vegetative buds and flower buds. The vegetative buds are normally much smaller than the flower buds and can be distinguished by size. In a lot of cases, you will find a larger flower bud surrounded by the vegetative buds. When these trees are wired, careful attention needs to be given to both these bud types to prevent accidentally knocking them off.

If you do trim off branches, make sure the tool you use is sharp and the wound is cleanly cut so that it will heal properly. Don't try to remove a branch with a shear when it really needs to be removed with a concave cutter. This will result in a jagged wound, and the scar will probably never heal over properly. Try to preserve the uninodal border of the branch. This is a little thick ring around the branch next to the trunk. If this is left, the wound will heal quicker.

When I remove a branch at the trunk, I normally cut the branch leaving a small nub on the trunk. This allows the branch left to die back naturally. Later, when the nub needs to be removed, the resulting wound heals up quicker with a less noticeable scar on the trunk. You may also find that when using this method the uninodal border will swell so that it is much more visible.

If I cut a branch to shorten it, I use a grafting knife to slightly round the end. This way the branch end hardens off and heals quicker. Most of the time, I also cut the branch slightly longer than where I actually want the branch to end since some types of trees have a natural die back when a branch is "hurt" by cutting.

When I started this month's rambling, I had writer's block. I just couldn't figure out what I could write about at this time of year that would be time appropriate. As I looked at some of my trees, I could see some design changes that need to be taken care of. I think it is slightly early to be trimming and wiring, but late January or early February is an ideal time to do it. You can look at your trees as you put them away for the winter and make notes on each one for what you want to do to the tree to fix the design. Just make sure that you write it down. A simple sketch is also a good idea. You can use Linda Kossmann's technique of placing a strong light in front of a tree to project the tree image on the wall. Tape a piece of drawing paper or even newspaper on the wall and sketch the shadow lines with a pencil. As you look at the tree and decide which branch you want to remove, you can erase that shadow line from the paper to see what the removal does to the design. Remember, once again, it is much easier to remove the pencil mark than to try to glue the limb back onto the tree. If the tree is full with branches and branchlets, it may be hard to draw the individual branches, but this method will help you with the general shape and then more of the individual branches can be added by looking at the tree.

This year, my maples were in full color and really beautiful for a long time. I tried to get pictures of them to enjoy later. With our weather, normally they change color and then we have a real cold snap or heavy cold rain and the leaves are knocked off, so the flush of color is quite short. This year was different, the color stayed far longer than normal. I guess the whole year has been a strange weather year.

If I don't see you before Christmas, I hope your holiday is great and that you get all the bonsai things you put on your list for Santa.

by Randy Clark

I was sitting here the other day wondering what I should write about for the next newsletter article with not much success. My brain was smoking like the wheels of a really fast race car when I just said to myself "ah, just do something fun". Well, fun is relative, but to me it's expanding my knowledge and the world of bonsai. I have always been interested in promoting the use of our native plant species which are rather under represented in American bonsai and decided to focus on Elms thinking it would be a finite thing that could be discussed rather quickly. However, as always, I end up making things complicated by asking myself too many questions. So, instead of just talking about using our native species, I thought I'd mix things up a little and talk about the world of Elms and how they infiltrated the American Bonsai hobby the way they did and why. As we will find out, this will encompass the subjects of the Distribution of Elms world wide, American horticulture, the effects of plant disease, its movement through the world and the business of Bonsai. To get this going, lets' first talk about the distribution of elms around the world.

Surprisingly to me because I never thought about it much, Elms are found world wide but are, by whatever reason of nature, limited to the Northern hemisphere of our planet. There are around 25 species of Elm limited to a narrow band around the earth bound to the north by Southern Russia and Mongolia and to the South in the higher elevations of Kashmir. Virtually no Elms are found naturally in the Southern hemisphere. Members of the Ulmaceae family, the Elms are related to Zelkova also a member of the same plant family. Elms in general are very tolerant of a variety of environmental conditions, from dry rocky locations to the wet almost swampy locations of alluvial bottom lands. Only the European Elm (Ulmus glabra) has exacting requirements in that it must be given good drainage for it to prosper.

The species range from large broad spreading trees like americana and parvifolia reaching 80 feet or more to smaller species such as thomasii and villosa only reaching 23-30 feet. All of the elm species have good branching structure and strong root systems, so desired for bonsai. They are all very tolerant of significant pruning of both branches and roots, making them one of the easier plants to collect from their native environment and survive. In common to most elms however, they are subject to a number of diseases and are a favorite of a plethora of insects as a food source. It was the advent of Dutch elm disease around the world that had such a significant impact on the horticultural world, the distribution of foreign species and, ultimately, an impact on the world bonsai community.

Prior to the industrial revolution of the 1830's, horticulture was pretty much a local industry throughout the world with the exception a group of European botanist who traveled the world collecting plant specimens for scientific reasons, but more importantly for purposes of commerce. American horticulture and landscape was in its early infancy and, for the most part, was accomplished through the use of native plant material. The exception to this are the large grand gardens of the wealthy who spent much time and money replicating the great gardens of Europe through the importation of foreign plants, but by and large was very limited in scope. One of the most frequently sited trees in early American art and literature was the American elm (Ulmus americana). We often find it in late 19th and early 20th century prints depicted as the grand street trees of the burgeoning cities throughout the Midwest and eastern United States. The Cedar or water elm was also frequently used as an Americana street tree in its native habitat of Texas, Arkansas, and northern Louisiana. As the American population began to migrate west, they took with them some of the plants with them, and as such the American elm was found from coast to coast. It's funny, people are like squirrels and, wherever they go, they plant what is familiar to them. As the industrial revolution got underway in earnest in the 1850's with the advent of greater transportation flexibility, horticulture in America became an industry. Plants moved from area to area, nurseries started to grow and sell a larger and larger variety of plant material, often imported from foreign sources, to the public. Along with that, however, came the movement of diseases and pests around the world. In 1910 in Holland, the first outbreak of Dutch elm disease was discovered and spread through much of Europe. The impact on the Elms was relatively minor because the potency of the disease was not as significant as what was to come. The disease (spread by the Elm beetle) was spread to the continental United States in a shipment of lumber from Holland to a furniture factory in Ohio in 1928. In the 1940's the disease mutated, but this generation of the disease was much more aggressive and spread though out the world like wild fire. The disease was devastating to the Elms of both Europe and the Americas from which they have fully not recovered to this day.

As a side note, the Dutch elm disease is initially spread by the Elm bark beetle. Once the microfungus is in the tree, it can be spread from tree to tree by contact of the root systems. Often an infected tree will die and new sprouts will come up, but they will usually die within 5 years or so.

The devastation caused by the Dutch Elm disease caused much to change in the US nursery industry. As a result, the industry looked for a replacement tree and through the efforts of the US Department of Agriculture. In 1914, USDA plant explorer Frank N. Meyer sent seeds back from China of Ulmus parviflora for study. Seedlings contributed to the prairie state forestry project in 1935-1942 made their way into the American nursery and landscape industry as a resistant Elm species to the disease. From that initial introduction, Ulmus parvifolia was widely planted in the 1950's and 60's in the United States as an elm replacement as well as tolerance of many climates. Even today one will usually only find Ulmus Parviflora in retail garden centers, in lieu of other American species. In Europe small communities of the native elm survived and have remain healthy even to this day. The European horticultural community began a hybridization program of native species with other species known to have some resistance to the disease and continues to this day.

Now you're asking yourself, what does this have to do with bonsai? Well, there is a relationship in the plant material used for bonsai. In Europe and Asia the native elms are used in bonsai quite often even to this day, even though the Asian U. parvifolia is used as well. In Europe, you see fine examples of U. Minor, U. laevis and U. procera. In Asia, U. parvifolia is the predominate tree used for bonsai in that it is native there and has been used for generations. In the United States, the vast majority of bonsai elm are U. parvifolia because of their introduction into the nursery and landscape industries in the 1950's as a replacement for the native trees. It makes sense that this would be the case in that American bonsai was pretty much started on the West coast by the Niessi Japanese (Second generation American born Japanese around the 1930's) who dominated the nursery and landscape maintenance business on the West coast at that time. The Bonsai art form was initially introduced into the United States by their parents or grand parents who immigrated to the US between1890 and 19ll ( Issei Japanese) who were familiar with U. parvifolia as a bonsai subject in their native Japan.

We've talked quite a bit about the history of elms in bonsai and why some are more prevalent in our hobby than others, but, in the end, one can count on one hand the number of elms that have broad usage. By far U. parvifolia and its cultivars account for 90 percent of the bonsai. As we discussed earlier, all of the elm species have the right characteristics for use in bonsai and should be used far more than they are. Of the American species, all of them, with the exception of U. crassifolia, are native to our area and our attention to them should be far greater then it is. U. alata (winged elm) is an excellent candidate, even though it is a little more difficult to wire because of the wings, but guy wiring is an acceptable method for the simpler wiring. One of the best candidates U. rubra (Slippery or Red elm) is one of the best elms of our area that has many outstanding features. For one, it is now understood to be the only American elm that is resistant to the Dutch elm disease, can be easily wired, significantly trimmed, and collected without difficulty in the early spring.

There is a whole world of Elms that can be used for bonsai, if only they were more readily available. I, for one, would love to try U. castaneifolia for its Chestnut like leaf pattern and U. villosa for its Cherry-like bark. As always, some of the best things are found in your own back yard, so get out there and check things out.

by Vance Wood

I found this on the MABA web site. It is used with permission of the author - ED

Anyone who has trees, specifically bonsai trees, is aware of the quasi-personal relationship you develop with them. Bonsai are different than other cultivated plants in that cultivated plants, indoor and outdoor, are generally cared for only with the plant's health in mind. The grower is concerned, mostly, with keeping it alive, healthy, blooming, and only nominally with its shape.

Not so with bonsai. Although in bonsai the grower is concerned about the health and well being of the tree, the grower can be driven by, if not obsessed with, the shape as well. In fact, it is the shape that defines bonsai as a work of art. The challenge is to get to that point, defined as art, and have a healthy and vigorous tree at the same time. Once arriving there, the challenge is to keep the tree beautiful, an ongoing, never ending active participation in every aspect of growth.

Consequently the growers of bonsai tend to be a little more concerned about their plants than someone who might own an African Violet would be. There is, after all, a sizable investment in time, perhaps years, and effort put into each one of them. The death of a bonsai may mean that the end result of years of work has been to provide fuel for the fire. And, of course, on some level there is the loss of a friend. In my opinion, it is not possible for someone with the artistic sensitivity to work on a tree for perhaps twenty years and, in losing it, feel, "Oh well, it was just a tree."

On the other end of the spectrum, there are those that seem to justify their callus approach to bonsai as a process of killing trees, some sort of sacrament necessary to learning bonsai. Understanding that a pot is an un natural environment for a tree to live in, the death of a tree is not a hard goal to achieve. The idea in bonsai is not to go there.

Those of us who find ourselves in the role of teachers would rather be involved in the artistic aspects of bonsai, being bored with the mundane things like water and soil. But we forget the elementary aspects of Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water. If the bonsai grower does not understand these essentials or possess the knowledge to apply them, then they will never make a bonsai that lives or purchase a bonsai that doesn't die. Because of our "want it now" philosophy, many of the bonsai purchased perish because of lack of knowledge. The same can be said of those trees we attempt to make into bonsai ourselves. Good intentions are not always enough.

Because the process of learning bonsai is different in the West than it is in Japan, where it may be a family business or through an apprentice arrangement, we in the West tend to learn bonsai by doing bonsai, whether we know what we are doing or not. The Consequence is the killing of trees. Most enthusiasts in the West are not willing to take the three years to learn about soil, exposure to the elements, how to water and the basics of pruning limbs and roots. We jump right in the middle of a complex subject and try to do it all all at once.

We manage to kill trees either through ignorance or neglect, not because we enjoy it. To kill a tree is to fail, and no one enjoys failures, especially their own. However; if we can't profit from someone else's failure, we are doomed to learn through our own. Hopefully we take the time, at some point, to determine the cause of failure and not to repeat the process.

Lastly there is the cutting edge of bonsai where advancements in the art and technique take place. This can cause the demise of a tree or two. When one considers that the greatest innovator in the art today, Masahiko Kimura, spent eleven years in apprenticeship before he set out on his own. And in reading things written about him, it becomes obvious that everything he does is examined under a microscope by an army of critics looking for a reason to condemn his work. It is safe to assume that his failure rate is very low. If it were not so, I am certain we would have heard innuendos concerning how many trees he kills in order to accomplish one of his amazing projects. The only reason he can do what he does is because he has a complete mastery; knowledge and technique, of what it takes to keep a tree alive.

Of course the master is concerned with art, he has to be, because bonsai is ultimately an art. Bonsai at this level is like architecture. What good is an architect as an artist, when his beautiful designs are not structurally sound enough to stand under their own weight? The answer is obvious; he is incompetent. The same is true of bonsai. What good is a bonsai artist if his completed work does not survive?

Someone who works on the level of Kimura cannot afford one failure, let alone many. So it follows that for him to proceed with his art in boldness, he must, of necessity, be totally confident in his ability to keep a tree alive. Without that confidence it would be impossible for him to accomplish the things he dares to do. Is there some sort of magic in what he does? He is, after all, called the magician. Is there a trick or some incantations in his work? If anything, it is that he has taken the time to do what many will not: That is to understand Earth, Wind, Fire and Water, and how a tree grows. There is nothing mystical, metaphysical or magical about Kimura, he is a total master of horticulture. His artistry tends to make us forget that point.

Botanica, Inc. is Louisville's Horticultural Connection, bringing together a network of nearly 70 groups and serving as a community resource for information on garden club meetings, plant sales, garden tours and horticultural events produced by numerous garden and garden-related organizations throughout the region. Botanica's annual directory of gardening associations is online at http://www.botanicakentucky.org/.

For the past three years, Botanica has aggressively led the movement to establish and maintain a Conservatory and Botanical Gardens near downtown Louisville. A Master Plan was developed and a design proposed. The design features a tropical conservatory, exhibit areas, presentation and meeting rooms, a gift shop, café and other visitor amenities. The purpose of the Gardens is to provide an educational and leisure tourist activity for residents and visitors alike.

Feasibility Study results released in 2005 indicate that the community can support such an amenity and supports Botanica's goal to develop the project on or near the Waterfront to take advantage of burgeoning residential and commercial development there. Additionally, and of great importance, is that this is an easily accessed and centrally located site for local and regional residents. Based on an urban site in close proximity to other tourist attractions, the Study determines that a Botanical Garden would generate more than $2 million in economic impact in its first stable year.

At the request of Louisville Mayor Jerry E. Abramson, Botanica submitted a formal proposal to the Louisville Metro Government detailing the organization's plans to build a Botanical Garden near the city's developing waterfront. The request came two months after members of the Botanica board met with Abramson and 9th District Councilwoman Tina Ward Pugh to discuss obtaining an option to lease the property - a 30 acre, city-owned tract across from the river at the intersection of River Road and Frankfort Avenue. The parcel, which lies along Beargrass Creek, long was used as a scrap yard and now is a capped landfill.

While city officials have expressed concerns about the stability of the tract, Botanica is addressing those concerns with information about new engineering technology and samples of other development stabilization techniques being used along the river.

In the meantime, Metro Parks has included this tract into its design of the new Champions Park, a linear park running along the waterfront which will feature sports fields and amenities. The 20-acre site Botanica as identified, has been slated for soccer practice fields.

Botanica continues to try to make its voice heard to champion the Conservatory and Botanical Gardens project as a much-needed addition to Louisville's landscape. For both residents and visitors, a Botanical Garden is a natural extension of this community's welcoming front door and a wonderful window to the natural surroundings found throughout the world. Through its economic, education and conservation opportunities, it will be yet another jewel in Louisville's crown.

If you would like to be part of this important community conversation, please call 311 (574-5000 from some cell phones) or go to http://www.louisvilleky.gov/ and click on "contact us" and let the Mayor know that you support a Botanical Garden on the waterfront.

For more information or to become a member of Botanica, please go to http://www.botanicakentucky.org/.

by John Callaway

October was the month for our annual Fall Colors Show at Green Tree Mall. I was not able to make it, but I'm told that it was an outstanding show. Gene Sewell and others always do a great job setting up for this event. Seeing the trees all dressed and ready to shine, and especially those deciduous trees whose leaves have started to turn beautiful colors, is always special to witness.

This month we will be having a special collecting trip. Kenny Popp has arranged for us to collect new trees Saturday November 3rd at Calvary Cemetery. We will be meeting at the cemetery at 9am Saturday morning. Please dress appropriately and bring any tools that you think might be useful (See Earl Cormney's article in last months newsletter).

In addition to the November 3rd collecting trip, I would also like to invite members to my home on Saturday, November 10th. We will meet at 10am to discuss and work on preparing trees for winter storage. This includes any wiring tasks that may need to be done, cleaning of the soil surface, and heating and lighting requirements that certain trees may need. All are welcome, but I do ask for those who plan to attend to RSVP (502 418-9552) by Thursday, November 8th for directions.

As the year draws to a close, I am asking for nominations/volunteers to fill the various GLBS positions. If there is no other interest expressed for any of the positions, I may ask that those who currently hold a position remain another year. I think 2007 has gone well, and, with the publishing of the 2008 calendar, next year may prove to be even better. Here is a list of the GLBS positions:

• President
• Vice President
• Treasurer
• Secretary (currently vacant)
• Show Chair
• Meeting Chair (currently vacant)
• Newsletter Editor
• Publicity
• Board 1
• Board 2
• Board 3
• Board 4