Page 43 - BSAM 2015 Q1

BOOKS
Botany for Gardeners
Third Edition written and illustrated by Brian Capon
By Lew Buller, USA
Want to improve the quality of your bonsai? Then learn something about Botany. Brian Capon’s Botany for Gardeners is the single most useful non-bonsai book that a bonsai enthusiast like me ever read. Now in its 3rd edition, the book is available online.
The topics in Chapter II will grab you immediately. A quick run-down:
Root Systems
Root Growth
Root Hairs and Branches
(Do you know what a root hair is? How long it lives?)
Primary Growth in Stems
Development of a Woody Twig
Features of a Woody Twig
Leaves
(Is the foliage on a juniper a leaf? In its juvenile form? Or mature form?)
You probably know that plants take in oxygen through their leaves and give off carbon dioxide. Did you know that they take in oxygen through their roots and give off carbon dioxide? What bearing does this have on your soil and your water- ing schedule?
Plentiful color photos and black-and-white diagrams—sometimes two or three on a page—make clear many of the topics written about in this book. Dr. Capon discusses xylem and phloem and the plumbing system of plants. If you have done so or want to try air layering, this material will help you understand why it works.
Some of the information is eye-opening. For example, privet leaves and berries are poisonous. Not that I plan to eat any, but privet (Ligustrum japonicum) is one of my favorite bonsai. Likewise, with azaleas, often used in bonsai, the entire plant is poisonous.
He says “Five different hormones have been identified in plants....” They control the growth and development of plants. That number is pretty close
to the six major hormones in humans that also control growth
and development. Auxin, a plant hormone, is a workhorse,
affecting many aspects of plant growth. Auxin is responsible for the fact that if you pinch the tip of a plant, new branches will develop lower down. Auxin helps form roots when you air-layer.
In Chapter Eight “The Uptake and Use of Water, Minerals, and Light” Dr. Capon gets serious about the flow of water in a plant. He also discusses the macronutrients and micronu- trients needed by plants. “Each element plays specific bio- chemical roles.” Make sure your bonsai get all of these. You need to make your soils with different elements that need to be matched to the needs of the plants.
Botany for Gardeners does not have to be read all at one sitting. Nor does everything in the book have direct applicability to bonsai. Some parts I read just for fun, or to help my wife, who loves flowers.
January/February/March 2015 | BCI | 43
“The language is straightforward, the concepts well presented, and the information proffered in terms that will make sense to hands-on gardeners.” —Horticulture
Brian Capon 2013.
Botany for Gardeners, Third Edition
Timber Press, 268 pp.
ISBN: 978-1-60469-095-8. Soft cover. $19.95 USD/£14.99