As a more senior member in the club one of the mistakes I see over and over is the utter confusion of beginners who wander from grower to grower asking advice about what he can do with his tree. It's an age old problem which we all have experienced. Usually the tree is a nursery stock tree, possibly still in its black bag, the advice he needs usually is regarding the initial design/style that he wants to impart onto the tree. Which is the front, which branches need to be removed which to leave, what to wire, how to wire, what size of wire, what is the angle of the branch ?????. A myriad of questions face the beginner.
Most beginners fall into three categories:

• the confident,
• the capable and
• the nervous or cautious.

Newsletter  to SABA

The show has come and gone, and one realizes that the months of preparation is very dependent on the fact that we are dealing with a ‘living art’ and are very dependent on the weather as to what we eventually display, creating much anxiety.

The show was once again very successful with over 100 trees on display, and the expression of ‘wow and look at this one’ abounded. We were privileged to have Professor Eugene Mol, opening our show, with his passion for trees and the many books he has written on the subject, we may now convert him to a ‘bonsai addict’, and then one never knows..!

The visitors were given an opportunity to select the best tree, for the second year, and once again this exercise proved enormously popular. People were walking to and fro, finding it very difficult to select the best tree on show. At the end of four days the vote went to a magnificent Juniper by Thys Klem, followed by a Olea africana Forest (Thys Klem) and then a Chinese elm (super rosa), and created by Freddy Bisschoff. (See Main menu - Galleries - Signature Gallery 2010)

Another Easter Show has come and gone and what a fabulous show it was from every angle. Firstly it was a great effort and the  show was put together by around 20.30 which is a record and was only achieved by great planning and cooperation by members who got the hall prepared and delivered trees nice and early. The quality and variable specie of trees was appreciated by Bonsai lovers and there was plenty of finger pointing and discussion about the various Bonsai. The centre piece was a brightly painted back drop which brightened up the hall. The only draw back was the bark map of Africa which had to tidied up every few minutes because the thoughtless public walked all over it. But it caused many amusing moments.

Bending Large branches
Can you hazard a guess at what the most important point is  to consider  before actually attempting to bend a large branch or trunk?

Have another plan in case the bending plan fails!!

I must admit I am a sucker when given the opportunity to get out into nature to collect trees.  I’m first in the queue.  So when Ben organized a trip to the Piketberg area and asked if I would like to go, I was thrilled because it was an area I had not been to.

The dig area was very isolated and the terrain was rough to say the least. On top of this the heat was  oppressive. We arrived about 08.30 and by 09.00 we were climbing the mountain and it was already hot. As with most digs if you are new to the area it’s a matter of searching around looking at the foliage masses to check for the tell-tale grey foliage of the Olive. For this was said to be a supreme Olive area.

This is really strange weather for February, I remember in the past this time of year we had temperatures of 43 degrees. This year the hottest we have had has been 37 degrees. The big difference I think and please let me know what you think, the actual burning factor seems greater. When we hit 43 deg. Plants were fine but now with 37 deg. Some of my trees have burnt quite badly with a couple of small figs dying. That is unusual. But it still is early Feb so beware.

The Oyama Bonsai Kai logo has seen a number of adaptations over the years.  Have a look...

Widdringtonia cedarbergensis (Clanwilliam Cypress) is a species of Widdringtonia native to South Africa, where it is endemic to the Cederberg Mountains northeast of Cape Town in Western Cape Province. It is threatened by habitat loss.

PLANT NUTRITION       Part 1      Eddie Glass   ( Oyama Bonsai Kai 1995)
The way a plant feeds and grows has been the subject of much debate and research.

In 1630 the Flemish botanist Jan van Helmont conducted an experiment by planting a willow tree in a weighed quantity of dry soil and after carefully weighing the tree, soil and pot together it was watered and left to grow without fertiliser for a period of 5 years after which time by weighing everything again it was found that the tree had gained 165 pounds in weight and that only 2 ounces of soil had been used up. Van Helmont concluded that water was the element that made trees grow.
In 1779 Priestly discovered oxygen (dephlogisticated air) and found that green plants were able to manufacture it from air rendered impure by animal respiration. It was only in 1798 that Ingenhousz proved that in light, green plants absorbed Carbon di oxide and evolved Oxygen ant that the only source of the plant’s CARBON was the atmosphere. (Carbon represents about 50% of the solid matter in plants). This discovery led to the discovery of PHOTOSYNTHESIS, which is the process by which all green plants assimilate carbon and water to manufacture sugar  (with oxygen as a very useful by product!) with the aid of sunlight.