President's Message
by Candy Hansen
July came and it got hot, all of a sudden! We went from
watering one time a day, mostly, to two to three times a
day for some of the most vulnerable plants. Living in
Central Texas will teach you to look at your plants to
see what they are telling you, not at a book with a
calendar in it, written someplace else!
Your board meeting in July discussed some exciting events
coming up. First, our joint meeting with San Antonio is
this month, on SATURDAY, August 4 beginning at 3:30 in
the afternoon with three of our members doing
simultaneous demonstrations. Should be interesting. Meat
will be provided, bring a dish to share and come be a
part of it!
September will bring us Hal Mahoney's visit, as this
year’s Lone Star Speaker. He is an excellent
teacher, consider doing a workshop with him, and watch
for dates so you can come to his lecture-demo for the
club. Visitors will pay for this opportunity, but this is
a special benefit for club members!
On another special date, not our usual Wednesday, in
October we will have two Texas speakers. Marty Klajnowski
will do a workshop, and Yvonne Padilla will do a
demonstration for us. Watch for more information coming
in the newsletter.
We, as a club, are 30 years old. Plans have been begun to
celebrate this momentous event. If you know of former
members, we will be trying to contact as many as we can
for our celebration. Let someone on the board know if you
have addresses.
Stay cool, keep your plants watered, See you at the joint
meeting,
Calendar of Events
Aug. 4 Monthly Meeting
THIS IS A SATURDAY! THIS IS OUR JOINT MEETING WITH SAN
ANTONIO
3:00 PM Zilker Garden Center
Refreshments by: EVERYONE
Aug. 15 Board Meeting
7:00 PM Zilker Garden Center
Aug. 22 Members workshop with Greg Setter
7:30 PM Zilker Garden Center
Sept. 21-23 Puget Sound Bonsai Assn.
Belevue, Wa. with David DeGroot
Oct.15-19 Bonsai on Board: BCI
2001 Majesty of the Seas
Oct 20-21 Bonsai Soc. of Gr.
Cincinnati Cincinnati, Oh.
Oct 26-28 Int’l Scholarly Symposium on Bonsai &
Viewing Stones
U. S. National Arboretum Washington, D.C.
Nov. 23-26 6th Asia Pacific Bonsai & Suiseki
Convention
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
General Meeting Minutes
by David Gordon
As this newsletter is going out earlier than usual, and
David is on vacation, the minutes will be in the next
newsletter. Sorry for the inconvenience.
ATTENTION ALL MEMBERS
There will be a new “wrinkle” to our
meetings. Please bring a tree that you may have a
question on and would like someone to give you an answer
between 7:00 and 7:30 PM. Whether you want help with a
styling problem or an insect problem - whatever you want
help with!
Board Meeting Minutes
by Jim Bauman
The meeting was called to order by President Candy Hansen
at 7:20 PM., in attendance were Alisan Clarke, Jim
Bauman, Gloria Norberg, Pat and Chuck Ware
Discussion for the Joint Meeting was first up and the
table layout was okayed, the entree will be ham -Alisan -
and fried chicken - Gloria, and to try to notify San
Antonio concerning the construction on Barton Springs
Road.
Old Business
The Nick Lenz L/D was discussed and Gloria will check
into this further.
Also, the notice to members to bring something between 7
and 7:30 PM before the meeting should continue.
Gloria discussed some future program choices.
New Business
Hal Mahoney workshop will be “Bring Your Own
Tree” for $35. and limit to 8 people. Observers $5.
The lecture/demo will be a “mother-daughter”
or a three-tree planting and he will select material
while visiting Candy. There will be a pre-lecture
“buy your own” meal with the artist at a
restaurant to be announced.
The workshop with Marty will be a “Bring Your Own
Tree” for $30. with a limit to 8 people. Observers
$5.
Gloria will line up the auctioneers for the September
auction.
Texas Garden Show wants a “lecture” but Pat
will find out if it is in Palmer or Convention Ctr. - if
latter, we won’t do it.
Pat brought three books for us to look at. Gloria made
the motion, Jim seconded, that we purchase all three for
the library. Agreed.
It was noted that Elaine White donated the book, Ancient
Trees by Anna Livingston & Edward Parker to the
library. Everyone expressed appreciation for the gift.
It was decided not to do the outreach to the Asian
Association.
It was reminded that the budget is due to be presented to
the membership in November. Consequently, we will start
thoughts about it at the next board meeting.
Alisan told us that September 2nd is our club’s
30th Anniversary. It was decided that we should have a
party to celebrate. Everyone will bring ideas to next
board meeting as to what we want to do. Some ideas were
expressed.
Adjourned at 9:00 PM.
Come one - Come all Covered Dish Dinner Combined meeting
of San Antonio and Austin
SATURDAY August 4, 2001
Zilker Botanical Gardens Arrive between 3:00 and 3:30
PM
Eat somewhere around 5:00 or 5:30 PM
Three demonstrations going on at the same time
Greg Setter
Terry Ward
Elaine White
ALL THREE TREES WILL BE RAFFLED
COME AND MEET THE PEOPLE YOU WILL BE WORKING WITH ON THE
CONVENTION 2002
LOOKING AHEAD!
1. Start getting together all the trees, pots, tools, or
WHATEVER that you no longer wish to own - Bring to our
September meeting! It is time for our ANNUAL AUCTION!
AND, undoubtedly, you will find something that you will
take home in its place - something you have been looking
for and “cannot live without”. PLUS, you'll
have a whole lot of fun doing it!!!
2. Plan on taking the workshop with Hal Mahoney on
September 25. There will only be 8 people in this
workshop. For $35. to work with an artist of his caliber
is truly low cost. He is a “master of design”
so if you have a tree that needs to be redesigned, sign
up. But, he can do everything!! That means thinking about
what you want to do and start getting it together. DON'T
wait until the night before, PLEASE!
3. If you can't make the Hal Mahoney workshop because it
is a week night, come to the workshop on Saturday
afternoon, October 13th with Marty Klajnowski, one of our
Texas speakers. She is capable of doing shohin to
“whatever” and for the cost of $30. you can
get this expert teacher to help you. There e will only be
8 people in this workshop. Again, find your material now
and prepare it.
Texas Bonsai Archives CD
Volume I of the archives is available on a CD which can
be read by both Macs and PCs. Original formatting of
text, graphics and photos remains intact not matter if
you are running Mac OS or Windows.
Volume I begins with Newsletter 1 of 1982 and concludes
with the fall 2000 edition. You can read about 'things
bonsai' in Texas of the past and today. There is a
comprehensive, searchable index of all forty-six issues.
The CD is priced at $12.50 and includes mailing. Please
make your check payable to the Lone Star Bonsai
Federation (not Texas Bonsai). Mail it along with the
address where you want the CD sent, to:
Texas Bonsai CD
12001 Red Hawk Cove
Austin, TX 78739-5640
Please allow 7-14 days for delivery.
Hal Mahoney
Hal has over 30 years of bonsai experience. He began
teaching bonsai in 1976 when he introduced bonsai as a
credit earning course into the Science Curriculum of a
local public high school.
He is a past president of the Bonsai Society of Greater
New York and of the Long Island Bonsai Society. He is
also a founder of the Eastern Suffolk Bonsai Society and
of the regional Mid-Atlantic Bonsai Societies.
Hal served as a vice president of Bonsai Clubs
International and served for several years on the
Editorial Board of Bonsai Magazine. Hal has published
many articles on bonsai.
“Hal’s innovative techniques in bonsai are
renowned.” In addition to classical bonsai, his
major areas of interest include Chinese Rock Penjing, Saikei, and Water and Land
Penjing.
One of his Chinese Rock Penjing is featured in the book,
Outstanding American Bonsai and an Hinoki cypress that he
designed is now residing in the Pacific Rim Bonsai
Collection.
He is currently involved in developing techniques for
CLAFT style forest plantings and saikei.
Hal has been a demonstrator at many major conventions
across the United States, including our own LSBF
Convention that was held in Corpus Christi.
Congratulations to past-president Roger Patterson and his
new wife Angela on their marriage on July 15th. The
Bonsai Society wishes them the best of luck in their
future and much happiness.
Japanese Black Pine
by Mike Hansen
(Ed. note: those of you that watched Mike in the 7-7:30
session at the last meeting might not have been taking
notes; therefore, I am reprinting part of an article
written by Mike in our June 1991 newsletter)
There has been an abundance of confusing and conflicting
information about the Japanese Black Pine published over
the past several years. The following grooming
information only applies to trees that have been styled
in the intended basic shape, that are growing in a porous
soil mixture with a pH of 5.0 to 6.5, and that are
healthy, have good color and have been growing
vigorously. If your tree does not meet all of these
criteria, correct the deficiency before attempting to
groom the tree.
Step 1.
Grooming begins in the late Fall and Winter. Visually
divide the tree into three equal horizontal zones stacked
on top of the other.
Beginning at the top of the tree, remove by pulling,
either by hand or with a sturdy pair of tweezers, all but
four to six pairs of needles from each branch and twig on
the top one-third of the tree. Leave four pairs of
needles on the larger or stronger branches, and six pairs
on the smaller or weaker twigs. Leave all of the needles
on very small or very weak twigs.
Repeat the process on the middle one-third of the tree,
only this time, leave six to eight pairs of needles on
each twig and branch. Again, leave eight needle pairs on
the smaller or weaker twigs, and six needle pairs on the
stronger branches. As on the top one-third of the tree,
leave all the needles on very small or weak branches.
Repeat the process on the lower one-third of the tree,
leaving eight to ten needle pairs on each branch and
twig. Again, do not remove any needles from very small or
weak branches.
Wire the branches and twigs that require shaping and wait
for Spring.
Step 2.
After the candles begin to grow in the Spring to the
point where the sheath covering the candle breaks open
and the individual needles can be seen, holding the base
of each candle with one hand, carefully remove one-half
to two-third of each candle with the other hand. Try to
break each candle with a twisting motion. Do the whole
tree at one time.
Step 3.
When the new candles have matured to the point that the
new needles are open, divide the tree into the same three
horizontal zones that we used in Step one. This time,
beginning with the lower one-third of the tree, cut off
all the new growth, leaving about one-sixteenth of an
inch stub at the base of each new candle. Be careful not
to remove the remaining old needles. Leave the new candle
on any small or very weak branches that have short or
weak new growth.
Wait 10 days!
Now, remove the new candles on the middle one-third of
the tree, leaving any very weak or short candles whole.
Wait 10 more days!
Complete this step by removing the new candles from the
top one-third of the tree.
If the tree is healthy and vigorous, it will produce a
second set of buds that will open by Summer. Often, many
new buds will form and open on each branch. When this
happens, prune away all but the two smallest candles on
each branch and twig. The length of the new needles will
be about one-half to two-thirds as long as the original
needles and the growth will be very compact.
Step 4.
By mid-Summer, the second budding will have hardened off
and the tree will set new buds at the tips of the new
growth for next Spring. Using tweezers, carefully remove
all but the smallest two buds on each branch and twig.
Step 5.
Repeat Steps 1 through 4 next year. Repeating this
process will produce a very finely ramified Japanese
Black Pine bonsai with short, dense, dark green foliage.
The key to success is watch the tree to know when to
perform each step and not by watching the calendar. If
you have several Japanese Black pine trees, you will
notice that not all of the trees are ready for each step
at the same time.
Bound by ceramic, The gnarled bonsai remembers Roots
probing deep soil.
