A PDF version of the newsletter complete with images is available for download at:

CBS Newsletter May 2008: Full Image Version

"A Pinch of this..."

...bring May....

Term of the month: NEBARI

Commonly known in horticultural terms, as buttressing, Nebari is simply the
spreading of roots above the growing roots just beneath the bonsai base. It is this
characteristic actually, which makes bonsai well anchored and grounded. This is also,
what allows the trees to grow with a matured appearance.

Of course, it was bound to happen. I goofed. Unfortunately, I had
misinformation about the type of elm we would be working on in April. The trees from
April were Ulmus carpinifollia, not parvifolia as was stated in the April 2008
newsletter. Either way the trees were all excellent material for bonsai, and Kelley
Adkins was greatly informative with his knowledge and experience with these trees.
But enough about the past. It only serves if we learn from it. We are in a peak
and busy season for bonsai here in zone 5. Accordingly, we have much to watch out for
and do. To this end, we have a guest this month who is a long-time and experienced
bonsai practitioner. Personally, I am faced with the task of actually deciding what
information will not fit in the newsletter this month. Believe me, which I prefer, and I
am thankful for all those who have submitted articles and I promise that we will get
them in, in future months.

This month's program

On May 18, 2008 we will be honored by the presence of yet another regional practitioner in the
person of Tom McCormack. Tom McCormack has been a member of the Greater Cincinnati Bonsai Club
for twenty years. He has served two terms of office on the American Bonsai Society Board of Directors.
Tom is a teacher, and has an excellent style of teaching bonsai. He regularly makes presentations at the
Cincinnati club meetings. He was even a guest presenter at one of our club meetings a few years ago. A
few years ago, our club took a field trip to the Krohn Conservatory followed by a tour of Mike Schied's
bonsai collection and Tom's collection. I still admire the pictures I took of Tom's trees; they are superb.

We asked Tom to do a presentation and workshop on azalea; however, we were unable to find
affordable stock in sufficient numbers to do a workshop, so we advertised, bring your own azalea. Tom
says he is versatile, so if you do not have an azalea that needs work, bring a tree that you would show, if
you could just get some help with it's styling. So do not miss this opportunity, bring in a tree.

President's Message- Mark Passerrello
Please take advantage of our guest, Tom McCormack, and his experience and
knowledge. Bring a tree to work on, perhaps one that you are getting ready for our One-Day
Show in June. On the other hand, maybe it will be ready for the big exhibition and show in
October. Either way this is a good opportunity to get advice from a long-time practitioner and
teacher.

Tree of the Month

Azalea 2008?Rhododendron indicum

I originally wrote this article two years ago. Since then I have added seven more azaleas to my collection. I grew up in Lake County, Ohio and there are still many ornamental plant nurseries along Lake Erie. I still remember seeing fields of small azaleas and rhododendrons. Anyway, the article here is the new and improved article.

Azaleas have the unfortunate reputation of being difficult. They are not. They are just different. If you have grown them in your flowers beds,
you are probably familiar with some of their likes and dislikes, such as protection from the winter wind and light shade.
My first attempt at keeping an azalea, as a bonsai was a variety sold for Valentine's Day; it had pink and white-stripped flowers and large leaves for an azalea. I kept it indoors in the winter since it was a non-hardy variety. It lived for 4 years before I over-watered
it to death. Since then, I have focused on using nursery stock with much better success.
The natural growth pattern of azalea is that of a shrub. This means they want to be a multi-stemmed
bush, with weak apical growth, so their lower branches grow vigorously compared to their apex. Growth starts
about mid March but we usually do not notice until mid April when it is warm enough to explore outside.
Normally, they flower late May to early June. In Japan Satsuki azalea means "Fifth Month" because they flower
in May, the fifth month. Their flower buds begin to develop in August of the prior year to blooming. Leaves
grown in the summer turn color and drop in the fall, leaving a cluster of leaves around the flower buds. Because
azaleas are shrubs, they will resist developing a trunk. Interestingly, this trait causes them to easily back-bud.
Shoots will actually need constant thinning.
The Japanese swear by the use of Kanuma - Akadama ?soil? to grow azaleas. So far, I have not tried it. I
use our soil mix with an extra dose of Zack's favorite organic additive, used coffee grounds. Since azalea does
best with a pH of 5.0 - 5.4, the acidity must help. In addition, while the soil must drain well, some moisture
must remain, again the coffee compost helps. Peat moss is too wet. The roots of azalea will form a dense mat. If
you do not repot them every 2 - 3 years the root mass will become like a brick. Whatever you do, do not leave
nursery stock in field soil or straight peat moss. Repotting can occur from mid March until new spring growth
gets active. If you are like me and want to enjoy the flowers, wait until they finish blooming to prune.
Fortunately, most insects do not attack azalea. Planted in a flowerbed they are vulnerable to black vine
weevil. However, this is not a problem in a pot. Aphids will also attack new growth, so look closely to see if
they are present. Fungus and mildew can be a problem. You can control these with Orthene or Mifenoxan.
Neem oil may also be used but not when plant growth is active.
If you are looking for nursery stock, try "Herbert?, ?Hino Crimson" or "Coral Bell". Look for small
leaves and a good trunk line. Wait until early March to do major root work and repotting the first time, though
some references claim you can repot as late as June. When you select the branch structure, you plan to keep,
leave a stub. Taking a large branch can kill a section of the bark down the trunk. Similarly cutting major roots
can lead to specific branches dying.
Following repotting or significant branch styling, flower bud removal will help the plant's health and
will result in vigorous back budding. It is best to do this right before the buds become active. Remove them at
their base. The energy traveling up from the roots will divert to dormant buds all along the branches. If you
missed an early repotting, it is possible to do this just as the flush of new leaves begins to appear but avoid a
major root or branch removal.
Do not fertilize your azaleas while they are flowering. Also, meticulously remove all the dead blossoms.
If you do not, the plant will send energy to develop a rose-hip-like seed structure. This will weaken the plant
itself. Once you fertilize, growth will be rapid. Allow the stems to put out 6 - 8 leaves (more on weak parts,
such as the apex), and then pinch back to two leaves. Remove small extra branches after flowering or in late
May if you de-flower the plant. During the summer, you will need to continue the pinching regimen until late
July. Stop then to avoid pinching off next year's blossoms. Continue to fertilize unless temperatures are hitting
the 90's. Full sun is ok. However, in high temperatures and mid-afternoon be sure to watch for leaf burn. I keep
my azaleas in light shade.
In the fall it is ok to remove the inner leaves, they will fall off by winter anyway. This exposes branches
to light and air and encourages dormant buds to develop. This improves ramification. After flowering, the
azalea will send out five branches from virtually every branch kip. You will need to keep only two of them.
Usually one of these new branches will be growing straight up. Except for the apex, remove these. Of the
remaining four branches, remove the strongest, normally the longest. For the third branch to remove, I usually
take out the one growing in a direction that I do not need.
Azaleas also have the reputation of having brittle wood, resistant to bending. Everyone has a story about
snapping a branch while trying to bend it. Interestingly it is best to wire in late winter or early summer after
flowering. If you remove a branch, apply cut paste to reduce die back. New wood will bend its wood that is
older than two years that may snap. A clean cut with a very sharp tool is essential. There are many photographs
of beautiful azalea bonsai to use as your model. Usually, they are in an informal upright "pine" style. (I do have
a Hino Crimson raft planting.) Azaleas are also common in Saikei; I have even seen them used to simulate the
mountain laurel under story beneath the mountain pine trees. I have even seen a mini rhododendron ("Blue
Gem") in a literati style. Right now, I have a semi-cascade and a new whip that I am trying to cascade.
I know this sounds complicated, but the results are well worth the effort. No bonsai collection is
complete without an azalea, or four or five.
Ken Schultz

Our trip to Japan, 2008

Linda and I were fortunate enough to have friends who invited us to visit
them in Usyioma Japan, about 80 miles north of Tokyo. We arrived April 9. North
of Tokyo at that time of year the cherry trees were still blooming. Japan is a very
mountainous country and depending what the elevation is, you need a jacket and
there may still be snow on the higher elevations. Most deciduous trees had not
leafed out. Later we traveled by bullet train to Kyoto and later to Osaka. Each city
we visited was a little further south and a bit warmer. The Azaleas were starting to
pop in Osaka and the tulips and rhododendron were blooming in Kyoto.
The bonsai highlight of our trip was an English speaking tour of seven bonsai nurseries on April 11.
Yoshihiro Nakamizu started our tour at Kamura's. Ryan Neill, the American from Colorado who has been
apprenticing for Kamura for three years gave us the tour of Kamura's garden. Each nursery we went to where
we were special guests gave us a cup of green tea and rice crackers. Omiya has an area founded in the 1930's
where many bonsai artists located. This was our next destination. Entitled "Bonsai Village" we were able to
walk between nurseries. Unfortunately, many did not allow photographs. Our last stop was Kobayashi's. I did
not think it was possible to top Kamura's; but Kobayashi's collection is more traditional, and he has an extensive
Tokonoma display area for the trees he had shown in Kokufu-ten, the big bonsai show held in Japan in February
each year. Omiya has a street fair and show the first weekend in May.
One other stop we made was at Mansei-EN, a nursery that specialized in Shohin sized bonsai. At least I
felt that I could afford one of their trees. We did go to see the bonsai collections at both the Kyoto
Conservatory the Osaka Conservatory. There were eight vendors selling plant materials at the main entrance to
the park. I saw many very affordable items I wish that I could have brought back. But that is another story.
We did take about 800 pictures.
Ken Schultz

Insect of the month - European pine sawfly larvae (Neodiprion sertifer)

The European pine sawfly larva is a 1/2 to 1 inch long worm that appears during the month of
April, around the same time that Bradford pears bloom. They seem to prefer Mugho, Scots, Red, and Black
pines. However, they tend to avoid Ponderosa, Pitch, Austrian, and White pines. In summer, the adult fly lays
eggs inside needles near the branch tips. When the eggs hatch, the worm-like larvae feed on the old needles, and
can easily defoliate a tree in a single day. Since they only feed on old growth, the current year's candles are
unaffected, and so the tree will likely survive, but will only have foliage at the branch tips. I have found that
spraying the larvae with undiluted rubbing alcohol will kill them instantly, without affecting the tree's health
(the alcohol evaporates very quickly) the downside to this method is that several applications are required, as
larvae emerge several times over a period of days. I have also had success with applying a product containing
merit (e.g. grub-ex) in mid-August. While this product is labeled for soil-borne insects, I have found that it
dramatically reduces the population the following spring. Also, the use of imidacloprin (e.g. Bayer advanced
tree & shrub), applied, as a soil drench in the fall may also be effective, though I have not tried this method yet.

Additional sources:
Jane C. Martin / Columbus Dispatch
Craig Harmer / www.gardensolutions.com
OSU Fact sheet http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2555.html

Ken Schoenfeld

What you missed if you were not at April's
meeting

Kelley Adkins gave a very informative presentation
on both his history in bonsai and with these elms,
and the provenance of these particular trees
themselves.

But the best part was working with him on these
trees. He made it around to all participants 2-3
times. We started with his instructions to start
slow and be sure that we had uncovered all of the
large roots at the base before we began any branch
removal or root pruning. If we had pots sufficiently
large enough, he was happy to advise us on getting
trees potted. However, he definitely stressed that
we should over-pot the trees for this year so that

we can stabilize them in their new states of
training. Since there was not a bad tree in
all of the ones that he brought, I believe we
all got our money?s worth both in raw
material and in a guest who was very open
and personable as well as extremely
knowledgeable and experienced. If you
missed last month, it was your loss and our
clubs gain.

From the Circulation Desk of the C.B.S. Library

1. I have the new C.B.S. membership cards for 2008; so please see me if you don't have your
card yet.
2. If you have any bonsai (or related subjects) books, magazines, videos or CD's that you would
like to donate to the C.B.S. library, please let me know. All such donations should be tax
deductible, since we are a 501c-3 non-profit organization.
3. Please return any overdue library books, magazines, videos and CD's to the Librarian at our
monthly club meeting so other club members may have access to them.

Thank you.

Please contact John Young if you have any questions or comments about any of this. You may either
send E-Mail him at jyoungjfy@sbcglobal.net or give him a call at (614) 267-4168.

As a reminder, if you checked out any books, magazines or videos from the C.B.S. library last year
please return them as soon as possible. They are now OVERDUE!

Thank you in advance for your cooperation, and yes the library will be open this month.

Just so, we have an idea of who is bringing a tree to the June show please fill out the following and bring
it to the May meeting. Thanks

John Young, Librarian