[IBC] How Not To Train a Bonsai
 

Well, I am going to Schenectady after all. The Mohawk-Hudson Bonsai Society
invited neighboring clubs to visit, & exhibit a few trees during their visit.
So I will go for a few hours Sunday afternoon.
Being encouraged by a lady from California, I trimmed the ends on my
crabapple, 'Indian Summer.' I am really enjoying this tree. It hasn't bloomed yet, but
it has wonderful red new leaves. I think the pinching & defoliation I have
been doing has reduced the leaves a bit.
I really lucked out with this one. I bought it from Bonsai West around 1999.
It wasn't shaping up too well. About a year later in August, I didn't water it
in time & found it badly shriveled, so I hastily stuck it in the ground to
recover. When I dug it up a year & a half later, the trunk had greatly improved,
but I had to start the branches over again. It didn't want to bud back lower
on the trunk, so last year I did a thread graft, which took like iron in only
one season. Compared to pictures I have seen of young crabapples, ramification
is coming along quite well.
The upper part of the trunk is gnarly, curvy, & nicely tapered. More luck.
For the first few years, every winter & every time I wired it, or did something
with it, the leader died or broke off. So I had to train the next branch up as
the leader, about five times. It had the same result as the books tell you if
you do it on purpose, LOL.
The figurine I picked for this tree yesterday is an old-fashioned
African-American lady named Lottie (according to her label). She is at a family reunion
(part of a series), sitting barefoot on a tree-stump, eating fried chicken & a
hamburger. The scene keeps drifting me back to Marc Connolly's "Green
Pastures." I apologize for the stereotype.
If I ever get my act together, I will post a picture.
Iris

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