Amphibians!

     Ecological scientists tell us that amphibians, such as frogs, toads and salamanders, are much like the proverbial canary in the coal mine: they give early warning. If there is an ecological problem, those creatures are affected  before almost any other animals. If they start disappearing, you know something is wrong in the local ecology. Conversely, a healthy population of amphibians in a given area means the local ecology is healthy, too.

So I am pleased to see the number of frogs, mainly tree frogs, that we have around Dandelion Acres (my wife's provisional name for our homestead). A few weeks ago I discovered that one had decided that the hollow handle of my plastic watering can would be a good hiding spot as he (she?) lay in wait for insects.

Its natural camouflage does blend in a little with the algae spots in my watering can.

Then the critter detected my presence.

Braced to skedaddle.

I encouraged it to find another ambush spot with a few taps on the side of the can, and it took off.

Then this afternoon I noticed another frog trying to blend in on the bark of a ponderosa pine in development.

Its color does blend in with the green of the needles a bit, but the brown of the bark is another matter.

We also see them hopping across the parking apron, evading our dogs and the neighbors' cats, and moving thru the grass. Earlier in the season they gave a nightly concert from our above-ground pool. (Which the local green herons seemed to regard as their own smorgasbord.)

Wherever they are, I always like to see that our ecological "coal mine" has healthy "canaries".

:-)  :-)  :-)

"Thanks! I wanted that!"

     One year when I was away at university, my father sent me a birthday check with a note instructing me to use the money for something I really wanted, but couldn't quite afford to buy. I don't remember now what I used the money for, but what my dad said in his note has stuck with me. Any more, ask me what I want for Christmas or a birthday and I'll apply Dad's criteria.

So when my wife and daughter asked me what I would like for my latest birthday, I stopped to consider: what was something I would like to have and would definitely use, but for which I hadn't yet felt free to spend the money? After a bit of thought two recently-published bonsai books came to mind: Principles of Bonsai Design, by David DeGroot, and The World of Ficus Bonsai, by Jerry Meislik.

David DeGroot's book, birthday gift from my daughter.

Jerry Meislik's book, birthday gift from my wife.

Each volume builds and expands on an earlier work by the same author: DeGroot's book on his Basic Bonsai Design, Meislik's on Ficus: The Exotic Bonsai. Each of the earlier books is well worth reading, and the new volumes are worthy successors to their respective predecessors.

Both authors are well qualified to write about their subjects. David Degroot is both a visual artist and a musician, with a clear grasp of the universal principles that apply to all art and a knack for explaining them. He served for a number of years as curator of the Pacific Rim Bonsai Collection, now the Pacific Bonsai Museum. Jerry Meislik is, in my judgment, more knowledgeable about keeping tropical bonsai in a temperate climate than any other practitioner on the continent. (I'm not exaggerating for effect when I say that.) A bonsai artist's credentials are his or her trees, and both David's and Jerry's bonsai credentials are impressive.

Both my gift books were late arriving, for one of the best possible reasons: demand for both books was high enough that both were temporarily sold out when my wife and daughter placed their orders! But they're here now, and I am already enjoying and learning from them. <big grin>  I'm looking forward to improvements in my trees, too, as a result of studying them.

Give me a year or so and I may publish a review of each book on this blog. But that's for later. Right now it's time for a shout-out -

"Thank you, my ladies!"

:-)  :-)  :-) 

Serendipity Below the Soil

     If you wonder "who is this posting on Steve Moore's bonsai blog", I don't blame you! It has been a while. Suffice it to say that for more than a year, we have been dealing not only with the multiple aspects of moving into a new home (most of which are now behind us), but also matters having to do with another house in which we once lived. But those are now also, and finally, behind us, and I can put more time into not just working on my trees, but writing about them every now and then as well!

One thing I was able to do this spring is repot this Austrian pine (Pinus nigra) which had survived in the same pot and soil for seven years. I acquired this tree in December of 2011, one of 14 young pine whips that I bought to develop for future use. (As described here.) In the spring of 2012 I moved it into a 1-gal Rootmaker®.

After 2012 repotting.

And there it remained, through various ups and downs, until this spring. I kept it watered and fertilized, along with everything else, but that was all. If this tree is typical of Pinus nigra, the species is pretty tough!

You see the slanted planting angle in the picture above. Over those seven years the slant became more and more pronounced as the top branches grew and some lower ones were lost, making the tree rather top-heavy. A year or so ago I concluded that the best design for the tree - once I got a chance to style it! - would be a semi- or full cascade. That would have required using the notch method (or "wedge cut"), with the trunk as thick as it had become. But nothing else, I thought, would fit how the tree had grown.

A month ago, with the buds just starting to elongate, I got a chance to repot it. Here is how it looked.

This Austrian pine before repotting; April 17, 2019.

Since I expected to eventually shape it into a cascade, I chose a new training pot that was deeper than it was wide. However, a surprise was waiting for me under the soil surface!

During the years between repottings, a recognizable nebari had developed less than half an inch down. I make it a point, almost without exception, to level the nebari of a bonsai-to-be as soon as I can. For one thing, it makes the tree look more stable. For another, it is for me a way of accepting what the tree has given me to work with.

Levelling the nebari sometimes make it more challenging to style the tree. But this time it showed me an unexpected design alternative, which I like much better! The tree will now make a nice upright bunjin (a.k.a. "literati"). Here is what I saw when I finished repotting.

The most likely front.

The plan now is this. The branches below the orange arrow will be removed a couple at a time, with the stubs of some turned into short jin. One small shoot (maroon arrow and below) I will develop to be an accent point. Existing trunk movement will be accentuated a bit with heavy wire.

The young shoot I plan to develop into a small point of visual interest.

At about the level of the blue arrow, I will do one of two things. Either I will bend the top of the tree back to the (viewer's) left, bringing the apex back over the base of the tree; or I will keep the movement toward the right but bend the top down at a 45°-60° angle, for a more dramatic effect. Right now I am inclined toward the first option. But it will be a couple of years before I have to decide, so stay tuned!

:-)  :-)  :-)