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.