Of all the trees native to California, the coastal redwood is the most recognized around the world. Mostly because they are known to millions of school children as the record holder for tallest tree in the world. Well, they may be the tallest trees in the world, but we discovered at our June meeting, they make great small trees as well. Tim Kong argued the case for using coastal redwoods as bonsai at our June meeting.

Sequoia sempervirens, or the common “coastal redwood” is native to the California and southern Oregon coastline. The foliage is fine, compact, and needle-like. The bark is thick, resistant to insects and aggressively generates new buds. All characteristics that make them ideal species for bonsai culture.

Tim began the meeting with an introduction to the costal redwood and by bringing along several very special specimens he has collected and styled as bonsai. Tim has always been a great bonsai teacher for clubs in the Bay Area. In fact, the overall goal of Tim’s presentation was to show that coastal redwoods make ideal material for bonsai beginners. To prove his point, he enlisted the three new guys at the meeting (who were hoping to lay low and check out the BSSF for the first time) into pruning and preparing some semi-raw material for styling. Tim and his new friends spent the first part of the meeting reducing the new growth on the trees. Redwoods bud profusely along the bark and new leaves replace plucked ones in a week. So any “misguided” pruning is replaced by an army of new shoots that will replace lost branches or mistakes. New growth is easily wired into position with application of copper or aluminum wire.

Tim supplied the membership with a fact sheet about redwoods that dealt with the basics of redwood horticulture. Copies of this fact sheet are kept in the library. A couple of points from Tim’s handout:
Soil: Redwoods like porous soil with more organic substance than standard mixes. Addition of a small amount of fir or redwood bark to the mix helps. However, the trees will tolerate any good bonsai soil.

Watering: Redwoods prefer to have their soil moist and can resist standing in water for long periods of time without damage. All good traits for a tree to have if you are a beginner learning how to water bonsai.

Pruning: Major pruning is tolerated at any time of the year. The feather-like new foliage can be pinched back as desired. As mentioned above, no need to worry if a needed branch is destroyed.

Repotting: Best to repot redwoods in early to mid-spring, but they tolerate being repotted anytime of the year (with proper after care of course).

Propagation: Redwoods are one of the easiest to propagate and survive collecting. You should look to collect trees from post logging areas, gardens, land for housing developments at anytime of the year. Trees can even be started from pieces of root and burls (clumps of woody material rich with active buds found at the base of mature trees. As for starting from seed - Tim writes “forget about it!”. With so many sources of decent sized stock materials around the area, unless you plan on a long, long life, starting a tree from seed should be your last resort.

As for redwood styling, you are usually limited to two options. Trees growing in the wild usually grow tall and straight. As a result, we are limited to tall formal upright bonsai. The intense back budding by redwoods gives another option, using the twisted and contorted roots as the base for a tree. Trees styled from the sprouting roots of a redwood are extremely interesting because they are full twisted bark, natural crevices, and exaggerated curve.

Redwood trunks are also great subjects for carving. With a few power tools and chisels, you can create natural looking shari on the trunk of your tree. This is used to give the tree a natural look or to increase the taper of a tall formal upright tree.
In the Bay Area, we are fortunate to have a good supply of redwood material. Even if you are unable to collect trees yourself, several vendors in the area sell excellent starting material at decent prices and in a range of sizes to fit your growing area. These collectors have slogged through muddy fields and fought through forests to put these specimens in pots. The trees they offer are already rooted and ready for styling. No guesswork needed when wondering if they are going to survive.

Once you have taken the time to acquire and get your tree styled for the first time, you will find that it grows very quickly and needs a lot of maintenance. If you have a large collection of trees, you may find the time to care for your other trees could be diluted. But, if you are just starting out, you’ll find that the rapid growth means less time to a show-able tree and the instant gratification drives your dedication to the hobby.

Living in San Francisco, we always have to be aware of the special circumstances we experience when growing trees. For example, some trees species cannot adapt to our cool to chilly summers. Luckily, with redwoods, we have perfect conditions considering we are in the natural range of the tree. Coastal redwoods tend to grow well in many climates. They can suffer in the extreme hot and dry summers of the central valley and they must be protected from frost and freezing. Appropriate measures must be taken to keep the trees out of such situations.

So, thanks to Tim for an always entertaining program and to our new members, welcome to the club!

Good luck!

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