Page 74 - BSAM 2018 Q2

Inset; A small pine on the edge of the Grand Canyon, Arizona, U.S.A.
Bottom; Trees on overhang at the Rimrocks, Billings, Montana U.S.A.
create likenesses of local styles with readily available eastern larch, jack pine, junipers, or deciduous species. However, to fulfill our passion during winter months, when those are buried under the snow, we must work indoors with tropical species such as ficus. And this is most productive when having a vision of them growing in nature, seeing not only their shape, but their surroundings.
For instance, I was often confused by the design of otherwise beautiful bonsai that I had seen grown in England. They did not meet the guideline often thrust upon us that the first branch should be one third the way up the tree. After touring the British Isles, then seeing displays at the Chelsea show, it hit me; many massive trees in rural England have a comparatively short bare trunk line, then great height of dense foliage, just like their miniature counter- parts. Similarly, many small multi-trunk plantings
resembled the tree bluffs on rocky outcroppings that we had seen in pastures there. Now I understood.
It is equally informative to witness a growth of species that are normally shrub-like in their native environ- ments. While the goal is not to replicate their normal growth habit, an understanding of it certainly helps to guide their pruning and care. Witnessing their environ- ment, including weather, soil, and placement in relation to other flora serves as a much better teacher than reading a few paragraphs in a book, and also seems to provide a longer remembrance of things in my limited memory banks. So I am constantly on the lookout for outstanding trees, and for species of interest. Botanical and Japanese or Chinese Gardens are often terrific sources for the latter, with specimens usually being labelled in case we don’t immediately recognize them.
In addition, I have many times been amazed and distracted by trees of character immediately beside
I never felt a connection, a sense of understanding, to many styles of trees, until we travelled through Europe, and later the Caribbean, and gazed at ancient olive trees, at Umbrella pines, at massive ficus stands, and walked through rain forests
in Australia.
72 | BCI | April/May/June 2018