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  Summer Tropical Bonsai Festival with Erik Wigert     

July 24th & 25th

Come join us for an exciting weekend!

We are happy to have this opportunity to host Florida bonsai artist Erik Wigert.
In the 1st US National Bonsai Exhibition in Rochester in 2008, his tree won the award for Best Tropical Bonsai in America.
His nursery in Fort Meyers, Florida, has become a destination point for tropical Bonsai lovers from around the world.
(visit his website)

Erik is passionate about bonsai, and an excellent and committed teacher.
He will be offering 3 tropical Bonsai classes, as well as a free demonstration. He has developed an outstanding teaching program and is a leading educator in the Art of Bonsai.
He will be teaching three workshops at Bonsai West. At this time, though, both Saturday classes have filled; we still have a couple of seats open in the Sunday class (see below) - and of course there's the

FREE LECTURE/DEMO WITH ERIK WIGERT:

Sunday July 25, 2-4 pm

THE ART OF TROPICAL BONSAI

Free and open to all!
Come enjoy this exciting demonstration.
Erik will walk us through the steps needed in creating beautiful bonsai while transforming one of the specimen trees from the Bonsai West Collection.

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Sunday July 25
Tropical Bonsai Workshop with Erik Wigert (see Classes page to register)
10-1
$40 plus optional material

Bring your own tropical/indoor bonsai for this workshop (or pick out a new tree from our huge selection of tropical bonsai, all discounted 20% for this class).

In this class students learn the basics of Tropical Bonsai design including pruning, wiring and bonsai care.

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  2ND US NATIONAL BONSAI EXHIBITION     

I just returned from the 2nd U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition held in Rochester N.Y. and all I can say is WOW!!!! . . . anything else I write is going to sound clichéed.

I've been deeply involved in American Bonsai for over 28 years, and have watched exhibition trees in America evolve from little spindly twigs to some of the most awe-inspiring masterpiece, museum-quality trees: like the 250+ specimens on exhibit last weekend in N.Y.

Bill Valavanis really outdid himself in organizing this event, as did all the artists involved in displaying their fine works.

Suthin Sulkovisit won Best of Show with his outstanding Five Needle Pine, (he will be teaching a master class at Bonsai West this September!)
His winning tree would be a contender even in one of the famous Japanese exhibitions.

I was extremely proud to be part of this event, with two trees accepted into the exhibition: a Prostrata Juniper, about 70 years old, and a beautiful Silverberry (approximate age: 60 years).

For years I have given Bonsai tours here in the garden of the Nursery, and have talked about the old original Japanese artists (mostly from California), who were also the first teachers to popularize Bonsai in this country. John Naka may be the most famous among them. Through him, a new generation of artists and educators sprung up.
North American artists such as Chase Rosade, Nick Lenz, Mary Miller, Jack Billet, David Easterbrook, Guy Guidry, and so many more are now household names in the bonsai community.
However, what this event demonstrated to me above anything, is that Bonsai as an art form, both as practised and as appreciated, has grown hugely since my own humble beginnings in 1982.
I realize that I am part of a large and vibrant community of practicing artists. And it's exhilerating.

For me, Rochester was incredibly inspirational.
Bill Valavanis had promised a presentation of the finest American Bonsai, representing the most accomplished level of bonsai in the United States. The exhibition did that and more and the result was exhilarating.

The first thing I did when I returned to Bonsai West was to dream about preparing several trees for the 2012 show. That's just 2 years from now, I better get to work right away!

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   YOUR BONSAI IN JULY             

This has been a beautiful growing season so far and with the extended, warmer-than-usual spring that we've had, our trees are growing very fast!

But this also means that the trees are drinking more water more than ever!
Everyone should be on the alert not to let their trees dry out.
We're checking our trees every day, and watering whenever necessary. We even have a wheelbarrow filled with water to dunk our root-bound trees for several minutes to get water deep into the roots.
But as always, (there's always a second 'but'), be sure not to overwater either (see the notes on cold-hardy trees further down in this article).

I love this time of year!

Finally all our tropicals are vigorously growing and we are pruning them back hard - even defoliating many of them.
The advantage to heavy leaf pruning with tropicals at the beginning of summer is that they are growing so fast that they back bud almost immediately.
The leaves come in smaller and more compact and replace the older, often blemished leaves that increased in size because of being indoors all winter.
Remember: leaves increase in size when they are not getting enough light - so with the intense summer sun trees create tiny leaves perfect for bonsai.

At Bonsai West, our chores consist mainly of repotting, pruning, and weeding time.
You should be fertilizing regularly now - we rotate between slow-release organics such as Green Dragon and other high nitrogen foods like Bougain or Miracle Gro.

We also spend a lot of time weeding this time of year.
Even though I like the look of some of the ground cover that has found its way into our bonsai pots, remember that a clean pot will allow better watering and better all around care.

Now is the perfect time to repot all tropicals, especially Brazilian Rain Trees and Black Olives.

Yet while tropicals are exploding with new growth, many of our cold hardy trees will begin to shut down for a while toward the end of this month.
I like to think of this as a mini-dormant period for trees like Larch, Maple, Hornbeam and Pine.

It's important to move maples out of the direct sun, and to be careful not to overwater trees that seem to be drinking slowly.
I check my trees everyday for water however I only water when needed.
And do skip over trees that are not drinking as much!

If you find that a couple of trees in your collection are not looking so great, may be a little weak or sick, it is very important to move them to another spot, a sick bay if you will, so you can monitor them separately.

Bonsai tips and chores for July:

• Pines need to be in full sun and candles need to be pinched keep a little on the dry side
• Old flower buds on azaleas should be removed including the little stem
• Bud pinch all junipers
• Repot and prune tropicals
• Move maples into semi shade
• Fertilize everything well
• Remove old wire before its too late and it starts to cut into the bark
• Now is the time to separate healthy and weak trees - healthy trees are drinking daily, weaker trees drink less often
• Shimpaku Juniper tips need to be pruned back, also downward weak growth should be removed
• Elm trees should be pruned back hard

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  .... and Looking Ahead:      

Our annual Fall Open House stretches over 2 weekends this year, from September 18th through September 26th.

Though it's probably too early for any of you to think about Fall, we'll just tell you that we've invited two very special guests: Suthin Sukosolvisit for September 18th, and Rodney Clemons for the weekend of September 25th.

Suthin is one of the greatest bonsai artists working today, and many of you will have heard of him or met him. (Did you know that he worked at Bonsai West when he first moved to the United States?)
He is teaching an all-day masterclass/seminar on Shohin Shimpaku.

Rodney is a gifted teacher and artist, and his classes and demos are among the most enjoyable you will have ever attended.

Please check back for more information, as September draws closer!

 

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NOW AND THEN:

We have been looking back at some of our old photographs of the specimen collection and are all amazed how quickly some of the trees are changing.

The pictures below are of one of my favorite Hatanaka Black Pines and a 5-Needle Pine, and how they have changed over the past 2 years.

To see more transformations/changes, click here.
In the next few weeks I will post several more pictures for you to study - it's nice to see progress!