bonsai, bonsai expert, Santa Cruz Bonsai Kai club

The Art of Bonsai aka Tree Art

Robert Stoll joined Santa Cruz Bonsai Kai in 1989 two months after it started. He and I have something in common. We both have won a bonsai specimen that remains one of our favorites. His will be featured at the club?s upcoming bonsai exhibit while mine lives a quietly on my patio.

Robert Stoll at his work bench explaining bonsai techniques.

Recently I spent some time in the garden of this knowledgeable man while he shared stories of the history of bonsai and what the art means to him. Robert will be displaying three specimens at the show this year- the juniper chinensis procumbens ?Nana? he has been training since he won it 20 years ago, another ?Nana? specimen and a pfitzer juniper that can be traced back to 1901. He dug it up 15 years ago and has been training it ever since.

An example of Penjing style bonsai

Robert has dozens of bonsai but one that caught my eye was a lovely example of Penjeng which is a style that displays an artistic or social statement. This one had a boat ?floating? on sand near rocks and a miniature tree. Robert said he wanted to depict the statemen ?At the end of the day everyone needs a safe harbor.?

The word bonsai comes from two Japanese words that provide the most basic definition of this living art form. “Bon” means tray or pot, while “sai? means to plant. One of the reasons we all admire bonsai is how old they look -appearing to be veterans of years of struggle against natural forces. Some are actually hundreds of years old and handed down in families while others look very old utilizing techniques help further this illusion.

There is a technique called jin which causes weathered-looking dieback on a branch and is created by stripping a branch of bark. In nature, deadwood is created when a tree is hit by lightning, exposed to sustained periods of drought or when branches snap due to ice stress, wind or weight of snow. The wood dies off and is bleached by intense sunlight. Robert has many examples of this technique.

“Root over rock” Trident maple

As living things, bonsai are always growing, leaves and stems being pinched, branches wired into natural looking shapes, the trunks thickening and sometimes developing nebari, that most sought-after look when the surface roots of the tree or root flare are visible above the growing medium.

Be inspired and have all your questions answered about growing bonsai from the experts. Don?t miss the upcoming 30h Annual Santa Cruz Bonsai Kai exhibit Saturday and Sunday, April 14 & 15 at the Museum of Art and History at 705 Front Street in Santa Cruz from 10:00am – 5:00pm each day. Entry fee is $5 per person which includes the museum. Kids 12 and under get in free so it?s a great way to spend the day.

Saturday activities include a performance by the Watsonville Taiko, Japanese flower arranging, origami demonstrations and Sumi-e ink painting. On Sunday the Santa Cruz Todo Kai will be performing. There will be a shamisen musical instrument performance and the origami and Semi-e ink demonstrations will be ongoing throughout the day.

Every plant sold or raffled at the show comes with an invitation to the monthly Santa Cruz Bonsai Kai club meetings where new enthusiasts are welcomed and nurtured.
Besides taking in the beautiful bonsai on display you can purchase finished bonsai and starter plants as well as get experienced help with trees purchased. There will be door prizes and refreshments. You might even win the raffle for the demonstration specimen created each day at 2:00 pm by Bonsai Artist Jonas Dupuich on Saturday or if you come to the show on Sunday the one created by Sensei Katsumi Kinoshita.

April gardening tips, gardening tips, groundcovers, water saving techniques

April in the Garden in the Santa Cruz Mountains

Spring might have officially started mid-March but judging from the wonky weather it’s hard to tell. We did experience a ?Miracle March?? with a pretty good dose of needed rainfall along with some very cold weather. You never know what to expect in March around here.

Sherman, my Welsh springer spanial, enjoying a spring day in Scotts Valley

But now we?ve turned the corner on spring with flowers bursting open within hours on these nice days. The Black-headed grosbeaks have returned to my yard for the breeding season. Like clockwork they show up on almost the exact day each year. It?s my version of the swallows returning to San Juan Capistrano.

Looking forward to the rest of spring, here?s what I?ll be doing around here in April.

Hopefully we?ll have plenty of April showers. This latest rainfall is surely? welcomed. One of the perks of a cool, rainy spring is that shrubs and perennials have longer to establish a good root system before hot weather arrives, ground covers have time to spread and shade the soil, conserving moisture come summer. What strategies can you follow that will make your garden low maintenance this summer and give you extra time to enjoy it?

Plant in masses. When designing or reworking your garden, make it

ajuga reptans, a groundcover for shady spots

easy on yourself by planting fewer varieties but in greater numbers. Planting this way will reduce the number of different maintenance tasks for that area. For example, if you have a large hillside that you want to cover, plant it with a groundcover like ceanothus gloriosus which fans out 6-15 feet. Some manzanitas like arctotaphylos uva-ursi eventually spread to15 feet each. Sage leaf rockrose and germander are also good for sunny areas. A shady spot could be planted with ajuga, creeping mahonia or Walkabout Sunset lysimachia.

Another time saving strategy is to group plants with similar moisture needs. This may sound like a no brainer but if you have just one prima donna in a bed of more drought tolerant plants, you’ll be dragging the hose over to that bed for just one plant or having to run your irrigation system more for it. If you find that some of your plants are not quite as low water as you’d like, move those to their own spot. In general, plants with large leaves usually require more water and transpire faster while drought tolerant plants typically have one of more of the following characteristics: deep taproots and leaves that are smaller, silver, fuzzy or succulent.

ceanothus ‘Carmel Creeper’ – A low maintenance, low water groundcover for sunny spots

Avoid putting thirsty plants in hard-to-reach places. If the irrigation system doesn’t reach that far, keep it simple by planting drought tolerant woody shrubs or perennials there.

Pluck weeds when the soil is moist and before they have gone to seed. Even if you don’t get the entire root of more persistent weeds, just keep pulling at the new growth. Eventually, the plant will give up having used up all of the food stored in its roots. I?m still battling hedge parsley with it?s sticky seed balls that will cling to my shoelaces and the dog?s fur if I don?t get it before it sets seed.

Plant edibles among your other plants near the kitchen. Tricolor sage looks great alongside other plants with pink and violet leaves. Purple basil planted below the silver foliage of an artichoke is another great combination. Lemon thyme growing next to a burgundy colored dwarf New Zealand flax would look spectacular, too. And don’t forget to plant decorative and delicious Bright Lights swiss chard with its stalks of yellow, orange, pink, purple, red, green and white throughout your beds. It?s one of the easiest vegetables to grow.

So get the lemonade ready to enjoy all your free time later this season.

Gamble Garden, indicator plants, phrenology

Planting with Weather & Climate in Mind

Flowering bulbs beds @ Gamble Gardens

The other day I stopped by historic Gamble Gardens in Palo Alto. I had some free time before my eye appointment and Sherman, my dog, wanted to stretch his legs. You can mark time with the events in the botanical world and this garden is packed with good examples. School kids were tending the vegetable starts and beneficial-friendly flower beds. Volunteers were looking after the formal rose garden and tulip beds. Visitors like me and Sherman just wanted to take in all the early spring beauty.

Phrenology is the study of key seasonal changes in plant and animals from year to year such as flowering times, emergence of insects and migration of birds. When do they occur each year? Phenology is a real science that has many applications. In farming and gardening, phenology is used chiefly for planting times and pest control. Certain plants give a cue, by blooming or leafing out, that it’s time for certain activities, such as sowing particular crops or insect emergence and pest control. Often the common denominator is the temperature.

Websites like USA National Phenology Network at http://www.usanpn.org/ offer lots of information on the subject.

Indicator plants are often used to look for a particular pest and manage it in its most vulnerable stages. They can also be used to time the planting of vegetables, apply fertilizer, prune and so on.

Here are some common garden plants and what they indicate:

When daffodils begin to bloom, sow peas.
When dandelions bloom, plant spinach, beets and carrots.
When lilac leaves are the size of a mouse’s ear, sow peas, lettuce and other cool-weather crops.
When lilacs are in full bloom, plant beans.
Once lilacs have faded, plants squash and cucumbers.
When apple trees shed their petals, sow corn.
When dogwoods are in full bloom, plant tomatoes, peppers and early corn.
When bearded iris are in bloom, plant peppers and eggplants.
When locust and spirea bloom, plant zinnia and marigolds.

When forsythia and crocus bloom, crabgrass is germinating. When this happens the soil temperature at a depth of 4″ is 55 degrees. Treat with an organic pre-emergent.
When crocus bloom, prune roses and feed your lawn.
Mexican bean beetle larvae appear when foxglove flowers open.

Record your own observations. Another great site is National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service at http://attra.ncat.org. Sites like these can also help you design orchards for pollination and ripening sequence, design for bee forage plantings, design perennial flower beds and wildflower plantings as well as plantings to attract beneficial insects and enhance natural biological control. How cool is that?

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