This Month's Meeting - Wednesday February 17, at 7:00 p.m., at the Pittsburgh Civic Garden Center 5 th and Shady Ave. PBS member and master potter Don Gould will hold a potter's workshop at this month's meeting. Ware your old clothes and learn the art of creating your own pots.
Other Events
March 9 - The Society sponsors free clinic type classes beginning March 9th through June 29th at the Swissvale Senior Citizens Center, Tuesday evenings from 7 to 9 p.m. These classes are arranged by Anna Clark and conducted by Keith Scott. There is no better way to learn the art of bonsai. The center is located on the ground floor of the Swissvale Library at the corner of Monongahela & McClure Ave. For additional information, call Evelyn Christie 412-244-9280. Everyone interested in learning is WELCOME
March 24th - Note this is the 4th WEDNESDAY! - Several members will present a program on collecting, covering desirable species, digging techniques, and proper after care. See note below concerning collecting trip!
April 21st - Spring Clinic
May 14th - Demonstration
May 15th - Workshop
1999 Dues
Membership dues for 1999 are being accepted. Members wishing to send their dies by mail should mail a check to Pittsburgh Bonsai Society, 1419 La Clair Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15218.
A Word from the President
First let me apologize for failing to submit to the newsletter for several months. I lost focus for a time and had some computer difficulties, but I'm back on track now. Judging from recent meeting attendance I'm not the only one. Where is everyone? Is there something we can do to get you to more meetings? If so, please call me. I know as well as any of you how difficult it is to keep up with all we have to do, but you really are missing out. Mark Wazenegger's program showing how to effectively photograph trees was very interesting and informative for the twenty or so members who were able to make it in January. The same is true for many of the programs we had in 1998. We are still working on the lineup of 1999. If you have any ideas for programs let us know. We are trying to use your input to guide the direction of the club, but can only do that it there is input. Do your best to attend meetings. Your efforts will be rewarded with knowledge and the fellowship of others who share your interest in the art of bonsai.
Collecting Trip Scheduled
On March 20th PBS will participate in a collecting trip with the Mountaineer Bonsai Society. We'll be looking primarily for Hawthorns on a farm in Clifton Mills, WV. Any one interested in participating should meet at the Garden Center on Saturday morning. We will be leaving at 8:00a.m. sharp. For those who might want to find their own way to the site, directions and a crude map will be provided in the March newsletter. Plan on arriving at the location at 11:00 a.m. If you have questions, call Fred Bruckman.
I chose willow as one of this month's trees because February 15 has come and gone and willow will be one of the first trees to show signs of spring, along with non-trees skunk cabbage and coltsfoot. As stated so many times, in Pittsburgh's temperature zone, the sun has risen in the sky since December 21 and thus by February 15 the days are longer and a signal goes to the roots from the dominant buds that the roots may start growing and sap may again start to rise. Maple syrup producers in the northern tier have for so many centuries used the date to start attaching spiles and buckets to collect the sap to make sugar. Usually the temperature goes below freezing at night and the sap stops running, allowing the people making the syrup a chance to get a little rest before sun-up when the sap starts to run again as the temperature goes above freezing.
By Washington's birthday, February 22, everything is ready and the sap season begins --- so does the bonsai. Notice that the weeping willows take on a strong, vivid yellow color. The buds swell, fat and promising. The weeping branches are swollen with water making the tree weep far more than it did in fall. Keep in mind that it is the water the willow contains that makes it weep. The stems and branches have a punkey almost balsa wood consistency with an open cellular structure that stores huge amounts of water, thus it weeps.
Just as a sidelight, the willow possesses a chemical in its cellular structure that causes the willow to root rapidly. Some years ago Dr. Kawase of Ohio State University isolated the rooting hormone, but as yet it has not been successfully marketed. Some bonsai growers water newly repotted bonsai with water into which willow twigs and branches have been placed. No one has proven it works or even helps but no one has proven it hurts either
Care sheet introduction:
The two plants chosen for this issue's scrutiny, willow and juneberry, were picked because of their appearance in late winter-early spring and also for their being so readily available. Also, both species grow wild in the northern tier making them potential plants for collecting.
Many myths and folklore have grown up around the willow, beginning as far back as Greek mythologh's, Niobestory, and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon to Japanese folk tales of the weeping willow's inherent sadness and its connection to the "Willow World" of the Japanese pleasure sections of old Edo, now Tokyo.
The juneberry, with its names: service berry, sarvis, is most unique in that it, not the dogwood, is the first blossoming tree in spring. Often times people for some reason think the dogwood with its connection with Biblical lore is the first flowering tree, usually allied with Easter and Passover. When looking out across bare, deciduous forests, a flash of delicate white breaks up the drab woods. It is the juneberry. Its flowers don't last but a few days and for this reason the Japanese include it as a sakura or cherry but it isn't. Its brief blossoms fall like late winter snow but by June dark plum red fruit have formed.
| Species: | Common name: | Juneberry |
| Botanical name: | Amalanchier | |
| Japanese name: | Shide-zakura | |
| Varieties: | Asiatic, Laevis, Alaghenensis, Serviceberry, Sarvisberry | |
| Yoshimura reference: | #265 |
Advantages: The juneberry grows wild but rarely in concentrations. While it produces ample seed only occasionally does it germinate. Numerous hybrids have been developed and are listed in better catalogs. It flowers profusely on last year's growth and possesses a smooth flowing compound curvaceous habit and rarely grows above 20'. It tends to be multiple trunked but can be trained as a single. Its leaves turn a rusty yellow in autumn but by then birds have eaten the soft plum like fruit. The juneberry reacts well to pruning and wiring and possesses a shallow root system.
Disadvantages: If collecting juneberry you'll have to hike some distance to find any quantity of plants.
Bonsai Potential: Not a classic "pine" style bonsai, it is better suited to tall, thin, delicate plantings.
Growing location: Under taller trees; a lower story planting filtered sun.
Watering: In a bonsai container, juneberry soil must be kept damp, being a tree that grows well in woodland settings with ample leaf mulch around the buttress. If necessary keep the juneberry on the ground and let the roots grow through the drainage holes. Then, cut back the errant roots in late winter.
Propagation: Seed, cutting, layering, dividing.
Fertilizing: In containers, feed once or twice a month 15-15-15 e.g., May to October.
Over-wintering: Mulching helps the juneberry greatly. Keep it out of winter sun and wind. Further protection is not needed except from rabbits and deer.
Styling: Informal upright, clump, perhaps a grove.
| Species: | Common name: | Willow |
| Botanical name: | Salix | |
| Japanese name: | Shidare - Yanagi | |
| Varieties: | Japanese, Niobe, Wisconsin, Artic, Black, Golden, Clatsop | |
| Yoshimura reference: | #264 |
Advantages: Ease of procurement; easily propagated; fast growing; delightful, even delicate form; good bare; shallow rooted; striking buttress; easily trained; good for larger bonsai; loves water.
Disadvantages: Every bug, fungus, cat, windstorm likes to have a shot at a willow; doesn't take well to pruning when in soft, highly active growth; doesn't react well to wiring; quite brittle but hand shaping young branches helps as does the weight and string method.
Bonsai Potential: Not often seen but a first rate plant to work with.
Growing location: In the ground, it does well in full sun but since it required so much water, it should be put in filtered light as a bonsai. Putting the bonsai in a water tray on hot days helps.
Watering: Deep through watering every day or put the pot in a saucer and keep it full. A mature willow, researchers have noted, can transpire up to 1200 gallons of water a day!
Propagation: Cuttings. Branches with an angular habit with all secondary twigs cut off will root in damp sand or even in water in about three weeks if cut and stuck in April. Cuttings up to two or three inches in diameter can be rooted.
Fertilizing: High nitrogen in spring, balanced in summer, early fall.
Over-wintering: As a bonsai keep the willow from rabbits and deer and do not allow it to become overloaded by snow or ice. The branches are brittle so don't remove ice and snow: just hope for the best.
Styling: The weeping willows are best kept as weepers; they have a drama unlike any other bonsai.