Blogs: Posts
Keep up with a few of our club members who are keeping a blog of their bonsai (and bonsai related) activities.
by Eric SchraderGet to work!
Oct 25th: If you attended the Marco Invernizzi workshop either to watch or to work then you know that the time has come to get some work done on conifers and many other trees. I’ve been puttering around in the yard grabbing a tree here and a tree there for some work. I have a lot of pine trees now so I have a lot of needles to pull. I started with the younger trees which are generally smaller and require less work... read more »
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by Eric SchraderA Trip to Michigan and Back
Oct 4th: Dory, Bryce and I took a little trip to Michigan for Yom Kippur this past weekend. Apart from the fact that I hate spending five hours on an airplane it was a quite enjoyable trip. I grew up in California, so I am accustomed to seeing golden brown hills all summer, but it was a refreshing reminder of my six years of living in upstate New York to go to a place where everything is green in the summer... read more »
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by Eric SchraderFor the Conifer lover, fall is a time of much work.
Sep 28th: This simple phrase means so many things. Fall is a time when those who grow pines, junipers and other conifers reap the rewards of a long spring and summer of fertilization and growth. Other than candle cutting and fertilization there is not much to be done to a pine tree during the summer. In contrast, maples, birch, and so many other trees are worked on throughout the growing season, whenever the growth becomes too long or escapes the design of the tree... read more »
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by Eric SchraderAn afternoon of work with John Boyce
Sep 9th: I have the pleasure of attending a monthly workshop given by John Boyce and hosted by various members of the club. Since the departure of Ben Petrasanta, who generously provided space at DDCC for our meetings we have spent the spring and summer going from one house to another each month. This month our meeting happened in the back yard of Joe Dellea.
John, Ron Weaver, Joe and I started by examining the recently completed firing of pinch pots from our July meeting... read more »
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by Eric SchraderIt can be so frustrating
Aug 7th: I have been at this little hobby of ours for a few years now, six I believe. When I first started I got a little Japanese Maple from my father and began the process of turning it into a bonsai. It was in a five-gallon can and it was four or five feet high. I took it to the 3rd thursday workshop and proceeded to cut the top 90 percent off, leaving it only about 8 inches high. There were branches, but those all had to go because they were as large as the trunk and wouldn't be good for the final design... read more »
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by John EdwardsFrom the Prez.
Jul 26th: With six to eight weeks more of growing time left in the summer I’m continuing to watch my trees grow. Regular feedings, pinching new growth where apropriate and given the current cycle of warm weather attempting another round of defoliation on maples and elms (probably the last for this year). My junipers continue to fill out and need some thinning as well as a redwood that has just exploded with growth... read more »
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by Eric SchraderI went hiking so you don’t have to
Jul 24th: I love hiking, and I love being out in the wild; the time that I manage to spend putting one foot in front of another is almost as good as the time I spend wiring my trees :-)
Over the fourth of July I went hiking in the Sonora Pass area. My main goal when I am hiking is to find trees that will inspire my bonsai designs. These can be anything from the blue oaks that I saw on the drive up there to those gnarled windswept bushes that are white pines at tree line... read more »
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Tags: Hiking, inspiration, jin, Shari, Wilderness | No Comments »
by John EdwardsFrom the Prez.
Jun 27th: Summer is officially begun on the calendar and in the daily cycle of sun and fog and cool temperatures for those of us on the western side of the bay. Though it may be gray overhead our trees continue to grow and their needs for water, fertilizer and trimming continue at an accelerated pace. Now is not the time to slack off. Check your pots daily for watering needs and if you have not already committed to a regular program of feeding sit down with a calendar and mark at alternating weekends to feed all your trees through mid September... read more »
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by Eric SchraderStyling Live Oaks
Jun 17th: A few years ago I bought a large live oak tree from super-collector Tim Kong. It has a nice root base and two trunks, one of which splits a little above the base into two smaller trunks. The architecture of an oak is so far removed from that of a traditional bonsai shape that I cannot even begin to comprehend styling one with a first branch, second branch, back branch structure as is taught in many books... read more »
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Tags: inspiration, nature, oak, Wiring | 2 Comments »
by Eric SchraderThe future is looking sketchy…
Jun 7th: Possibly one of the most important things that I try to do with my trees is to plan what they will look like in a few years. Whether I do this mentally or on paper or in the computer, this is an important part of the bonsai process. When I first acquire a tree it is usually because I have seen it and found some potential in it that the current owner did not see, or did not care to take the time to execute... read more »
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