Summer 2013 at Bonsai West

Well, it's 95 degrees outside this last day of May - so I'm officially declaring it the first day of summer.
What a crazy busy Spring its been! If you haven't been out to the nursery in a while we've been doing all sorts of projects inside the garden and outside in the parking lot area. Even if I say so myself, the nursery has never looked better.

We had a great Spring Open House and now we are able to catch up on our more mundane chores, like potting up enough bonsai for our Fall Open House (hahahaha)

I just got back from lecturing at Brussels Bonsai Nursery in Mississippi during their famous Memorial Day Rendezvous Weekend. What a great time. Brussel has been sponsoring this mini-convention since 1980 and I was one of six visiting artists and teachers. Have a look at the grove I made during the Friday evening demo - 25 trees, with Rodney Clemons and Ed Trout pitching in for the finishing touches!

Back here at home we have been pruning and fertilizing our trees in order to maximize their growth during this very short but intense New England growing season. Up here in the north country every farmer knows that the number of growing days is few but the days are long making this as good a place as anywhere for growing outdoor trees.

I break the New England growing season into 3 distinctive sections: May and June; July and August, and September and October. So by this reckoning we are halfway through the first growing season, so don't be stingy with food, your trees are hungry after the long winter.

By now we have repotted most of our cold-hardy trees and are switching our attention to all of our tropicals. We'll be repotting them through mid August. Bonsai is such a great hobby, one chore finishes and another begins. We're so busy all the time, there is never a lull or even a rest in what needs to be done.

Over the next few weeks, we have a huge amount of new material coming in, starting around the middle of the month. I'm very excited about the amount and variety:

• Trident maples (including root over rock and beautiful groves), Japanese maples including several specimen trees and beautiful koto-hime dwarfs.
• Ginkos
• Hornbeams
• Black Pines
• Shimpaku
• Camellia and Wisteria
• Dawn Redwoods
• Pyracantha
• Hinoki Cypress
• Chinese Elms

The best part of all of this is that the bulk are priced at under $100.

I hope you all come out soon, we'd love to show you around!

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Tips for the season:

• Weed all of your trees
• Fertilize often; at least twice per month with liquid food. When your trees are weeded, the food will reach the roots of the tree, not the weeds
• Check for insects, especially mites; use spray, or apply systemic insecticides
• Check for fungus, especially on juniper and elms
• Don't let your trees dry out -but don't overwater them either. Check them every day and water them when they need it.
• Become a watering expert, this is more important than a pruning expert
• All trees should be outside now. Be sure to put the pines and juniper and tropicals in the most amount of sun; maples and azaleas in filtered light. BUT protect freshly potted trees and indoor trees from too much sun too fast, avoid getting a sun burn on tender new growth
• Pinch back pine candles and lightly prune leaves on the tips of deciduous trees
• and last, not least: Come on out with your trees for our Get Wired Sundays

 

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Hope to see everyone soon And as always, call or send us an email if you have any questions.

We are all looking forward to seeing you soon -

Michael, Mike, Phil and Kelly