journal - Toronto Bonsai Society

Founded January 1964
JOURNAL
May 2014
www.torontobonsai.org
Schedule of events
Meetings are held at the TBG (Toronto Botanical Gardens), at 777 Lawrence Avenue East, Toronto, in
the studio rooms upstairs. The first meeting is free for non-members.
Bonsai 101: 6:30 – 7:20
Bonsai 101 is held in Studio #2 upstairs, at the TBG. Beginners should read 'INTRODUCTION TO
BONSAI', (click on link), posted on the TBS web site.
May 12: windswept
John Biel is going to prune and wire a collected windswept larch.
June 9: critique
Year-end Bonsai 101 wrap up with John Biel.
General meetings: 7:30 – 10:00
May 12: demonstration, discussion, slide show on larch bonsai
June 9: year end meeting
Nursery crawl: to be announced
TBS spring show: Saturday, May 24 - Sunday May 25
Garden hall 8 am: bring in your bonsai, bonsai stands, shitakusa, suiseki, and scrolls
for display. Volunteers needed for set up, please contact any member of the executive
team (see last page for contact details).
Studio rooms upstairs: sale of trees, bonsai soil, tools, wire, books.
Back yard meetings, workshops – to be announced
On the cover: Reiner Goebel's American larch bonsai (Larix laricina). Photo taken by Reiner.
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President's message:
by Carlos Bras
The next bonsai meeting is this Monday May 12th. In the Bonsai 101 class, John Biel will demonstrate how to prune and
wire larches. Our regular meeting will start at 7:30 pm as usual with a larch discussion and a slide show.
During the second part of the evening there will be a larch workshop. We will have 8 trees available, with trunk calipers
between 1/2" and 3/4", and some with double trunks. The workshop fee is $20.00 and availability is on a first-come-firstserve basis. See Otmar or Kem at the members' desk prior to the meeting to enroll.
May is a busy month with our annual spring show and sale. Please come out early on Saturday the 24th to help in the setup the show and to volunteer in the sales area.
The library will be closed for withdrawals this month, as it our second last meeting of the year. Please return your books
and any other material that you may have taken out.
June 9th will be our last meeting before our summer break, but we will have our usual member garden socials and
workshops during the summer. If you would like to host one of the events please contact me.
Collecting American Larch (Larix laricina)
by Reiner Goebel, April 9, 2002, (reprinted from the TBS website)
Location
The American larch is a member of the pine family. It grows in most parts of
Canada and the north-eastern United States. In Canada, it ranges from the
Mackenzie River area in the Northwest Territories through northern British
Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario (except for its
southern-most areas), Quebec and the Maritime provinces. In the United States, its range includes north-eastern
Minnesota, almost all of Wisconsin, a northern strip of Indiana, all of Michigan, the north-eastern part of Ohio, and the
New England states north of a line drawn from about Erie, PA to New York City.
It is a lovely tree!
Features
Let me start by describing the numerous attractive features of this
tree. Larches form beautiful root systems once they become
established in bonsai pots. Indeed, surface roots may have to be
thinned out periodically. Looking up the trunk, one is immediately
struck by the beauty of the bark. Gorgeous! It is similar to Japanese
black pine.
Larches are usually well branched and because they grow quickly,
their branch structure becomes well ramified within a few years.
Before the new needles emerge, the impression of ramification is
intensified because the fat little buds can look like branch stubs.
Flowering on larches can be conspicuous in those years when they
produce an abundance of purple female flowers, which eventually
mature into cones quite in keeping with the somewhat dainty
appearance of the tree. Larches are attractive to view in all seasons:
they are well ramified when bare; their dainty spring foliage is held in
tiny rosettes of greyish-green; these needles develop into mature
pads of foliage by summer, and turn a golden yellow by late fall.
Locating the tree
A lovely tree, indeed, and well worth collecting. I usually go scouting for trees in the fall – I can concentrate on the trees
without having to worry about digging them up. In fall, larches are easy to find because with their yellow foliage, they
stand out like beacons among the cedars, spruce, pines and rocks.
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The weather at this time of year can be miserable. But, more often than not, it’s glorious: crisp fall air, cloudless sky, and
silence broken only by the odd bird and the sound of waves crashing onto the shores of Lake Huron. Under conditions like
that, finding a larch worth collecting next spring is a bonus!
The American larch usually grows in the neighbourhood of other trees; it rarely occurs in pure stands. Although I have
read that they are intolerant of shade, my experience of where larches grow indicates otherwise. This may be due to the
fact that if they grew in full sun where I collect them, they would be too exposed to the elements to survive. They may
have settled for surviving in sheltered but shady conditions rather than eking out a living in an exposed but sunny spot.
Anyway, I consider them shade tolerant, especially in bonsai culture, where parts of their needles can turn brown by
August, detracting from the beauty of the fall coloration.
Collecting in spring
Larches are best collected in spring, at a time when their buds have burst to show the green of the emerging foliage. They
are somewhat difficult to get through the first six months after collecting. The difficulty stems from the fact that they often
do not form very compact root systems. They send two or three main roots a great distance away from the trunk, with all
the feeder roots too far away to make it practical to keep them. The older the tree and the drier the growing conditions, the
worse this problem seems to get. I have found that trees growing in wettish conditions are more likely to have good root
systems, and therefore stand a better chance of surviving being dug up.
Soil
The soil in which collectible larches often grow can be intermixed with rocks of all sizes and shapes, roots of other plants
and the skeletal remains of those that died long ago; it is often not more than a foot deep and usually shallower. Such
shallow root balls allow immediate planting in bonsai pots, although I try not to overdo it and give them plenty of room and
therefore soil to grow into.
Growth Habits
With rare exceptions, larches do not produce branch elongations in the year they are collected. Instead, the buds open to
form short-needled (from 1/4″ to 3/8″) rosette-like clusters. The short needles of the first year are very attractive, but
unfortunately I have not been able to duplicate that needle habit and length in later years, even though I water sparingly
and fertilize only lightly once a tree is established. Over the summer, the newly collected tree will form next year’s buds in
the centre of the rosettes – usually a sign that the tree is going to make it.
Care
After a tree has been dug up, I may set it in the lake or some puddle nearby if
feel that soil and roots are on the dry side. The root ball is then allowed to
drain and is wrapped in a plastic garbage bag for transport home. I try to pot
up my collected trees the next day. If I cannot get to them right away, they are
kept in a sheltered spot and misted as often as I think of it. It is important that
the few roots remaining are not allowed to dry out and that the whole tree is
kept in a very humid environment. I would love to be able to arrange for a
constant drizzle and mild temperatures for about a week or two after I come
back from collecting!
Before planting the tree in a pot, I let the root ball soak in a Superthrive
solution, and soak it again after potting up is finished. The tree is then kept in
the shade (pretty well total shade) and out of the wind as much as possible.
And there it stays for the next two to three months, getting watered frequently
with a fogging nozzle as described above. During this time, I do not water the
root ball, because it stays moist from the drippings produced by the constant
fogging. I treat all my collected conifers this way, and it seems to work.
Once I am satisfied that my collected larch is going to make it – the tree is
producing new growth or forming next year’s buds – I move it into regular
conditions of full sun or light shade and stop watering the whole tree as a
American larch (Larix laricina)
matter of course. I usually don’t work on my newly collected trees until the
third growing season. At that time, I may also repot the larch and start treating
it as a bonsai.
Because larches are native to our region, overwintering them is not really a problem. I simply dig them into the ground,
inside their pots, and up to the rim of the pots, in a sheltered spot in my garden.
Indeed, the larch is a lovely tree!
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Havelock collection: creating memories
Photos by Daniel Monroe
Announcements
TBS library
The academic year is coming to its end, meaning that there are only 2 TBS meetings left before the TBS library closes
down for summer. All borrowed books must be returned either on May 12th or June 9th. If you already know that you will
not be able to attend the June meeting, please bring the books you have borrowed this coming Monday.
Seasonal bonsai guide
Information about what to do in May (click on link) is listed on our TBS web site, under 'Bonsai Care'. It's time to get your
tools and supplies ready for the busy repotting and rewiring season ahead.
Tools and supplies
Contact Gim Retsinas (email address on back cover) concerning any tools, wire, or other supplies you need, ahead of the
meeting May 12.
June publishing deadline: Friday, May 30.
Links to other local bonsai clubs
Bonsai society at the RBG: http://www.BonsaiSocietyatRBG.com
Matsuyama bonsai society: http://www.informdurham.com/record/OSH1103
Misseto bonsai club: http://www.missetobonsai.org/
Kitchener-Waterloo bonsai society: http://www.kwbonsai.com
Buffalo bonsai society: http://www.buffalobonsaisociety.com/
Ottawa bonsai society: http://www.ottawabonsai.org
Societe de bonsai et de penjing de Montreal: http://bonsaimontreal.com/#&panel1-5
Valavanis bonsai blog: http://valavanisbonsaiblog.com/
Bonsai society of upstate New York: http://www.bonsaisocietyofupstateny.org/
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Regular TBS meetings
Meetings take place on the second Monday of every month, except July and August, at the TBG (Toronto Botanical Gardens), located
at 777 Lawrence Avenue East, at Leslie Street, in the auditorium on the west side of the building at 7:30 pm. The general meetings
frequently include: demonstrations of bonsai techniques, critiques of bonsai trees, and workshops, in which each participant styles a
tree with the help of an experienced member. These meetings are preceded at 6:30 pm. by the Beginner sessions, held upstairs.
A small fee is charged for workshops, and a tree, wire and instructor are provided. To participate in workshops, it is necessary to
register in advance of the meeting so that materials can be provided.
Members are encouraged to bring in bonsai to show and work on during the meetings. Wire is provided at no charge. Non-members
may attend a meeting at no charge to see if the club is of interest to them.
Library hours and policy
The library is open to members at the beginning of our regular meetings. Members may borrow books free of charge for one month.
Late returns cost $2 per month with a minimum charge of $2. Please return all materials the next month, and before summer.
Membership desk
The membership desk will be open at all meetings. The opening time may be extended for the first fall meeting to assist with renewals.
You may also register for workshops there.
Tools & supplies
Tools and supplies are sold by the club at most meetings. It is a good idea to contact the executive member in advance of the meeting
for specific tools and supplies.
TBS Executive
President
Carlos Bras
[email protected]
Vice-President
- looking for volunteers
New Member Hosts
Kem Shaw
[email protected]
Karen Brankley
[email protected]
Webmaster
Daniel Monroe
[email protected]
Recording Secretary
Sylvia Le Roy
[email protected]
Treasurer
Jean Charing
[email protected]
Past-President
Keith Oliver
[email protected]
Journal
Greg Quinn
[email protected]
Librarian
Nathalie Vacaresse
[email protected]
Membership Secretary
Tools & Supplies
Gim Retsinas
[email protected]/
Members at Large
Lily Tsirulnikov
[email protected]
Otmar Sauer
[email protected]
John Hoffman
[email protected]
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The Journal was founded in
January 1964, is published
monthly, and exists to further
the study, practice,
promulgation, and fellowship
of bonsai.
Visit the Toronto Bonsai
Society's web site, at:
www.torontobonsai.org
Toronto Bonsai Society
c/o Kem Shaw
67 Empringham Cres.
Markham, ON.
L3R 3E9