Aug 5, 2014 | General
After a short break I am pleased to say lime sulphur, now Jin Whitener is back in stock. This elusive product is getting harder to come by and the price has gone up a bit but it’s something we all need. Just in case you missed it I have an article on the subject of Preserving Deadwood
Of late we have been turning up all sorts of nice and unusual little bits and pieces from netsuke to suiseki and bronzes. Our latest arrival is a small number of Chinese traditional Shoushan carved stones. This amazing art form can trace its history back nearly 1500 years. Keep an eye on the web site as we have a LOT of new products coming as well as a huge number of trees and raw material.
G.
Jul 25, 2014 | General
Another daft ramble but do bear with me 😉
In 25 years of being involved in bonsai I do not remember a season with more P&D (pest & disease) problems. This seems very wide-spread in the U.K judging by the number of enquiries we have had of late. All things being equal this can really only be blamed on the weather but then I am a Brit’ and here the weather is to blame for most anything and everything.
The trouble with P&D today is that a simple Google search will, supposedly, give the answer to most anything. Judging by what we see from the correspondence we receive, most folk go right to the worst possible cause, often for the most insignificant of issues. As an example I lost my wife to cancer, the final stages started with a simple headache. Most times you get a headache it’s unlikely to be cancer. However where bonsai is concerned as soon as folk see a few yellow leaves they start calling around the undertakers. GPs (doctors) have advised strongly against self diagnosis via the internet. I am sure this is for the same reason, without a base level of knowledge it’s very easy to arrive at the wrong diagnosis.
Speaking personally I had no interest in plants before I arrived on the doorstep of bonsai. My background and experience was in motor vehicles and machinery. I started following the usual paths of books and bonsai clubs (no internet back then). After a few years I was so confused I wanted to give up. Much later I went to college and studied horticulture. We looked at everything from turf maintenance, soil science, bedding plant production and plant genetics to…… P&D. After that everything fell into place for me and I stopped having to try to second guess what was happening all the time. I certainly appears to me that most folk come to bonsai with a similar experience and so figuring out what’s happening when something goes wrong is tough.
Diagnosing a pest problem is fairly easy, if you have stuff crawling around on your trees it’s a simple job to find out what they are and most creepy crawlies are easily despatched. When you have a problem without legs it’s a little more difficult. The big problem with plants is that no matter what goes wrong the only thing they can do is go a funny colour, usually yellow, followed by brown or black. Yellowing foliage can be anything from a natural June or autumn drop to the effects of drying out, nutrient deficiencies, environmental issues or fungal problems. In fact ANYTHING that goes wrong with a plant will result in yellowing foliage. Part of the problem is that before a tree sheds its leaves it will withdraw nutrients from the leaf turning it yellow and so yellowing leaves is a perfectly normal situation for most plants and it’s also the primary indicator of developing problems. Sorting out what’s what is a skilled task indeed.
For the past 10 years or more I have had a nursery containing between 2>3000 trees. This is a massive burden and not half the fun it might appear to be. Taking care of that lot is a living and expensive nightmare. However it does give me a great insight into the intricacies of bonsai tree care and development as well as the problems we all face. Over the years it has become plain that plants are tough organisms that are massively adaptable. However in bonsai we do push our luck. When I was at college they told us one of the more difficult aspects of horticulture was growing plants in pots. In bonsai we take very old plants and try to grow them in very small pots. Then we expect to do that for decades. A recipe for disaster if ever there was one. For the newbie it’s a tortuous maze and the odds are stacked massively against any hope of success.
There are just too many factors in bonsai to be able to ever give a definitive answer to most care issues. Think about it, trees growing in nature in ideal conditions have unlimited scope to grow roots, gather moisture and harvest sunlight. We take all that away by reducing the root mass and soil volume and constantly pruning. With the best care in the world a tree growing in a pot is under constant stress, couple that to the fact we like to move our trees around and ship them from all parts of the world, growing them in alien environments. Then if we do suffer from a lack of horticultural skill and understanding along with a poor grasp of the application of bonsai technique the chances of our doing well is virtually zero. The only recourse is to be persistent, keep learning and expect some failures along the way.
So, having said all that here are a few pointers that have helped me over the years.
Right plant right place.
Keeping a tree in the wrong place is like trying to keep a fish out of water. Learn what the plant needs in terms of its natural habitat and native situation. The closer we can get to that ideal the better, the fact the tree is growing in a pot has no bearing on this.
Learn to read your trees.
I think anyone who knows me knows my opinion on forums, books and the like. Bonsai are grown and thrive outside. Get out there and learn to read your trees, they are the best indicator of what’s happening. Experience a plants environment, smell the air feel the soil touch the plant. Watch what happens when things change, look at the colour, observe the plants use of water. Never look at a plant from your point of view. Our plants are communicating everything we need to know but they don’t send emails.
Keep bonsai on the trees terms.
If we do not give a tree what it needs we will fail. We MUST keep a tree on its terms. We constantly struggle with beginners insisting on keeping hardy trees indoors and other similar issues. We HAVE to bend ourselves to what our plants need if we are to be successful.
Be VERY patient and take your time.
For the last 20 years I have seen trees pushed too hard. We are all guilty of it, pushing too hard in order to progress a tree and conform it to our will. This ends in failure every time. If we can learn to read our trees it becomes very obvious when it’s ready to take the next step. Producing bonsai from raw material can take 10+ years and maturing a bonsai to be worthy of the name will take a life time. Respect this fact and measure your expectancies accordingly.
Happy bonsai are healthy bonsai..
Good horticultural technique and husbandry is 98% of being successful with bonsai trees. Study horticulture and the understanding that brings will take all the guess-work out of your pass time. A happy bonsai is also free of P&D because it’s defence systems will be very strong. SURE problems do arise but keeping a happy bonsai will ensure the tree has the very best chance of remaining in good health. A happy bonsai is a healthy bonsai and a healthy bonsai makes for a happy owner and that makes the world a better place.
G.
Jul 3, 2014 | General
It’s been 25 years now since I started my journey into bonsai. It was a number of factors that conspired together in order to push me this way. I come from a long line of gardeners. My grand parents held a guest house in the 1950s and all their produce came from their own market garden. On the other side of the family my grandfather worked an allotment into his late eighties or early nineties. Some form of gardening was in my genes for sure. My earliest memories revolve around plants, greenhouses and dirt, which I always seem to be covered in.
As a kid I remember helping my dad fix his old Ford, great memories of a father and son. In 1976 he won a new car in a “spot the ball” competition and so all that stopped. I hated that new car with a vengeance, it kind of took my dad away. From that day on I do not remember such cool times with my dad. There are more important things in life than money and nice possessions. Not to say my dad wasn’t  a great dad because he was, he busted his hump every day to give his family the very best he could. But, as a kid all I wanted was my dad and me to do stuff together, I couldn’t care less about having a nice car a nice house or lots of cool stuff. However one thing I did bring out of those early days was a love of motors. Bikes in particular. I don’t remember my dad having bikes but apparently as a tender newborn I got a ride home from the hospital in the sidecar of his old Triumph. I’m told I never slept more soundly than when I was laying next to that thundering old engine.
As a younger man (16+) my life revolved around a succession of motorbikes and later large, big engined cars. I was always building something special and wheeling and dealing to pay for it all. My wife of the time loved every minute of it too and we traveled the country showing cars, buying stuff and having the time of our lives. However that came to a swift end in my late twenties. A new house bought a big mortgage and a year or three later our daughter was born, with only one meagre wage our life came to a screeching halt.
Our new house had a koi pond and having always been an enthusiastic fish keeper we kept it and added another interest to my life that I could ill afford. However you can’t be around koi ponds for long before you bump into bonsai and my wife suggested one or two bonsai would look good around the pond and bought me my first trees as you can see below. Sadly I lost Tina when our daughter was just 18 months old and so she never went on to see what she started. At the time bonsai was a cheap hobby (compared to motors) I could make do with in straightened circumstances. But, the combination of gardening genes, mechanical dexterity and a lack of funding proved to be a potent mix.
If you do not have any money or, if you do not have access to what you need in order to fulfil your dreams, there is only one way to proceed, make what you need from what you have got. A friend I had at the time put it quite eloquently “use what you have to get what you want”. This was before the advent of the internet and so I only had crap books of the time to work from. I have never been a quitter and if I can’t get what I want I AM prepared to die trying. I have literally ended up in hospital on more than one occasion following this modus operandi. I produced some pretty awful work back then and killed more than a few trees along the way but that’s the price of an education. Always remember…..
Lessons cost money. Good lessons cost lots.
I have absolutely no comprehension of why, with the resources available today, we do not see more talented bonsai artists or creators. I can only guess that……
A. Most people do not go outside enough.
Day to-day I deal with people who are SURPRISED that bonsai need to be watered. They don’t even know which end goes in the soil.
B. Folk are conditioned to believe in ‘celebrity’ and expect to have a ‘gift’ for something in order to be good at it. Doing great is something only ‘special’ people enjoy.
BOLLOCKS! The harder you work the more gifted you become. Failure is an integral part of success.
So, 25 years later here I am with 3000 bonsai and three people working for me all hours God sends. I have worked all those years 7 days a week honing my skills to the best of my ability and putting together a half decent bunch of stuff. My daughter turned 21 this year and the last time I had a holiday she wasn’t even thought of. My family has made a LOT of sacrifices in order to get to where we are now but, thanks to you all I can now give a little back to them. Sarah drives here dream car from the fifties and Catherine gets to live in a house she loves. We still don’t do holidays but I do at least get an occasional weekend to myself now, when I can play with my motors. Life has gone full circle.
Having been immersed in bonsai to the exclusion of ALL else for so long is not unlike living with a black bin bag over your head. Sometimes it’s hard to see clearly. I was recently walking around the nursery and wondering why there is never enough space. We even have trees sitting in our drive way. Then, suddenly it happened, just like the clouds parted and the sun shone through, what addicts call a moment of clarity. I realised I have too many trees. Duhh! I know we are now a commercial concern and so we do need a lot of trees to sell but “I” have too many trees.
I quickly went and got the pad upon which I determine the course of my life along with its calculator. I walked around and made a list of all the trees I have in the nursery that have never been offered for sale. All those special bits I have been lucky enough to gather and hang on to. Plants I know are very special, unique or have extraordinary character along with all those that have special meaning to me. Half an hour later I had a list of 50 trees. I had been pretty ruthless to come to that number too. The real number may be closer to 75!
So, I’m a hoarder!
One thing I do have though is enough experience to understand that even with another life time and some staff I can’t produce and maintain that many top quality bonsai trees. Once I put my calculator over the list it became plain that without selling all of them I could pay off our mortgage, at what I paid for them! Following a little self intervention I have made a promise to everyone around here that we have to begin moving some of my own stuff. SO if you have deep pockets and not a little skill under your belt keep an eye on our New Products page. There are some VERY nice plants coming, some world-class bonsai and raw material and much of it will be at prices close to what I paid. Stay tuned…..
G.
We are back mucking about with 1950’s cars again :-))))))
I want a dogs life! Aint got a thing and couldn’t give a s**t.
My first “trees”
Jun 17, 2014 | General
Our new video “Is That Even Possible – Bonsai by Graham Potter” is now available to watch here and on our bonsai video’s page.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilJa2FxOsqQ
Jun 9, 2014 | General
It’s been 4 months since we released a new bonsai video. I take no responsibility, your orders have kept us so busy there has hardly been a spare moment. However I am pleased to say we have two new programmes in the can. If the phone stops ringing I should have these up in the next two or three (actually 4-6 more like) weeks.
One is the second part of the air layering movie I did three years ago and the second is probably the most ugly privet I have ever owned. I love ugly stuff for some reason…….
Here’s a teaser.
Stay tuned.
G.
May 30, 2014 | General
This week we have taken delivery of nearly 300 trees. Most were fairly run of the mill but we thought you would like a sneak peek at some of our new yamadori. This will all be listed on the web site in due course but if there is something here you like just email me for further details.
For all the pedants out there that have been giving us s**t about collecting trees, all of our yamadori is collected with the full written (and paid for) permission of both land owners and local authorities. You can trust KB not to sell you stolen stuff 🙂
Enjoy the pictures……
G.
