Nov 25, 2020 | General
* The reports of my demise are greatly exaggerated.
I have now been involved in this bonsai lark longer that not. My dad was retired four years when he was my age. Here I am working harder than ever. Whilst I have been around bonsai for the larger portion of my life now I am socially challenged, lubberly, stolid and particularly uncomfortable around other folk. Being a clod-hopper from the wetlands of deepest Norfolk I missed the social graces class at school, too busy pulling beet in the fields don’t you know. As a result I have tended to keep myself to myself. I have few friends (those I have are GOOD friends) and I rarely leave home. Beyond writing this drivel I prefer not exposing myself in public. There are enough big headed personages out there today without me adding to the melee. Nobody needs that. As a result I feel I have had little influence over the progression of bonsai in the world beyond supplying a lot of kit to people (several £ millions to date) and I am absolutely fine with that.
Being the way I am seems to discombobulate a lot of folk. I do do strange things at times, we Norfolk folk are a rum bunch. Sadly due to stereotypes perpetuated by the media and some very funny comedians being “country” has become synonymous with being dumber than a bag of hammers. You’ll have to make up your own mind about that, however one thing I do know and have quoted here often courtesy of Edgar Allan Poe is…
“Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see.”
I have been around the bonsai community long enough now that I rigidly adhere to this axiom. Rumours abound, bad information based on hearsay and conjecture, malicious gossip, one-upmanship, I could go on……. However it was fascinating recently to hear from a customer that Kaizen Bonsai was shutting up shop. NEWS indeed, especially seeing as it didn’t come from me and I own the whole shebang, lock stock and the whole barrel of monkeys. So, where did this game of Chinese whispers start? What’s going on?
Earlier this year I did put out there that Kaizen Bonsai would be selling less plants and carrying less bonsai tree stock. So, thanks to the rumour mill I now need to clarify. I am reducing our stock of bonsai trees and yamadori. We were carrying up to 3000 trees and for a single old fat bloke that was just too much to look after seeing as we are close to fulfilling 10,000 orders a year now and there are only three of us working here. My holding of trees has gone from just under a million pounds to about a quarter million mostly good quality and exceptional bonsai and yamadori. If that appears to be shutting up shop it’s time to get those bumps felt.
On another subject I have heard from multiple sources that the soil products we use in bonsai will be in short supply after Brexit. That’s also a crock! Whilst it may not be as easy or cheap to buy products from mainland European suppliers post exit as it is today there is no reason why aggregate products will not continue to move. For the many products we buy from non EU countries absolutely NOTHING will change.
The whole Covid situation has hampered the movement of goods from all corners. The primary reason being the unprecedented demand took us all by surprise, goods sold out so fast that many existing stocks were exhausted. That meant the root producers could not manufacture goods fast enough and waiting lists grew.
Inbound transport has been severely hampered by excess demand and reduced staffing levels at shippers, cargo handlers, delivery hubs, freight forwarders and the vast army of people that work to get stuff out there into the world. Also international air freight capacity pretty much disappeared overnight and costs trebled in days.
As much as I might look like a dumb country redneck one thing I do know is the bonsai business. Nobody has more interest in keeping it shiny side up than I do. To that end Kaizen Bonsai are currently carrying thirty odd tons of soil products in stock with the same amount again held ready for call off at our suppliers and producers across this country and abroad. I have over two tons of wire, ten tons of ceramic pots, half a ton of plastics and over a ton of bonsai tools. We have seven tons of fertilisers, five tons of cardboard boxes, ten thousand empty bottles and cartons and a hundred grand in carving tools. As long as I draw a gasping breath the British bonsai community will not have to go without.
So, to propagate the mis-quoted words of Mark Twain –
* ‘The reports of my demise are greatly exaggerated.’
Get a grip folks, we are here to stay, please don’t believe the rumours!
Graham, Catherine, Richard and the Kaizen Bonsai team.
The reports of my demise are greatly exaggerated.
The actual quote from Mark Twain in response to a newspaper article….
* “I can understand perfectly how the report of my illness got about, I have even heard on good authority that I was dead. James Ross Clemens, a cousin of mine, was seriously ill two or three weeks ago in London, but is well now. The report of my illness grew out of his illness. The report of my death was an exaggeration.”
Nov 23, 2020 | General
It’s getting busy around here. We have new stock arriving every week, at this time of year it’s mostly what we call ‘dry goods’ like pots, tools etc’. Whilst it’s not as exciting as getting a lorry load of beautiful trees it all still has to be dealt with. Last week I spent over 60 hours sitting in front of my Mac listing bonsai pots…. joy. By way of a little relief I was popping outside from time to time and practicing my bonsai wiring skills.
I buy a lot of untrained material. It represents good value and people like it. However sometimes I cock it up and buy something that, whilst I might think is beautiful, fails to find a new home even at half price. In that case I have no option but to whip it into shape. It’s a tough job but someone has to do it. Strangely every time I do this I start getting offers of a sale. However I usually end up keeping the tree because I like what I do, some times.
I bought this very unusual sabina juniper a couple of years ago. It had been kept under automatic watering and thanks to that and too much fertiliser the foliage had become long and floppy. I figured such an amazing tree would sell quickly and so did nothing with it. I was wrong and it’s still here. The foliage is beginning to get back to normal but still needs a couple of years.
In the summer my good friend Albie wanted some work to do so I set him up cleaning the trees extensive shari and deadwood. After a couple of days he began to uncover the trees very beautiful appearance and at that point I knew it meant I would be practicing my wiring skills down the road.
So here it is, a rule breaking juniper. It’s first work so cut us some slack and no it’s not for sale anymore.
G.
Practicing My Bonsai Wiring Skills. Summer 2019. Sabina Juniper yamadori.
Beautiful details hidden under a veneer of decay.
Practicing My Bonsai Wiring Skills. Winter 2020
Practicing My Bonsai Wiring Skills. Winter 2020. Yamadori ignoring the rules of bonsai.
Nov 6, 2020 | General
Another busy week here at KB. This week has been a bit of a merry-go-round rather than a rollercoaster which, after the year we have had has been nice. Not too much stress and lots of sunshine all week. That allowed me a few pleasant hours in the greenhouse doing a bit of bonsai. In this case the The Triffid’s Return-Garden Juniper Bonsai Tree.
It’s a sad fact that I have sold all the best trees I ever owned, except of course for the ones I killed in the exuberance of youth, yes I was actually young once. I have a bit of a rule around here that I do not buy back trees we have sold. I have a character flaw that makes it impossible for me to do the same thing twice.
However there are exceptions to every rule. Two or three years ago a long time friend and client of ours hit upon some seriously hard times and so I jumped in to do what I could and that involved relieving him of some bonsai trees I had formerly owned. One of those was a garden juniper I had collected way back in 2002.
A Ripping Yarn
By and large most people have stopped using garden juniper varieties for bonsai. After the conifer and rockery craze of the 1970’s and 80s these things were everywhere and when I started bonsai any other form of juniper cost a fortune. I busied myself knocking on doors and over time procured a huge number of different varieties.
Garden junipers fell out of favour when better varieties came along. The main problem, apart from their rampant growth, was the fact most prostrate and dwarf garden varieties lacked the ability to hold up their own foliage. This required endless wiring in order to turn the foliage skyward and the branches simply never stayed put.
Not easily beaten I did come up with a solution. The extremely vigorous nature of these varieties meant it’s possible to get back budding way back down into the thick branch structure. Once that appears it’s just a matter of cutting out the floppy stuff and controlling the new inner growth to prevent it becoming overly long. This way the foliage was held on stout branches that easily held themselves up. With enough sun, little water and even less fertiliser a very nice and presentable bonsai tree can be created. I know a lot of folk will ask why not graft a better form but where’s the challenge in that. I love the fact that different tree varieties display so much different variety. DIFFERENT IS OK!
Having more or less finished that process on this tree it looked pretty impressive when I sold it. A few years later, when it returned my hard work was largely gone. The owner had been a little too kind to the tree and it reverted to it’s shabby natural state. It’s taken 2 full growing seasons but now I am getting back to where I was.
The Triffid’s Return to Bonsai. Two seasons of careful management and it’s doing good.
This week I decided it was time to give the tree a scrub and polish. Some of the deadwood had gone soft and that required a little power tool work, a wash and scrub with a stiff brush before a pleasant hour with the Lime Sulphur brush. All this revealed quite a lot of new shari too which was nice.
After that I cut out a lot of old floppy foliage and redundant branch structure before the tedious but necessary wiring. Fortunately most of the foliage is on thick branches now so this new shape should remain going forward.
Returning to one of my old trees was initially a chore but having refined the shape and with the new shari the task was ultimately a rewarding one. With these old trees I like to keep the spirit of the original as much as possible whilst refining and improving the original concept.
Back in the day I got this tree from a garden clearance in exchange for a bottle of plonk. I’m kind of pleased it came back to me…….for now.
G.
The Triffid’s Return-Garden Juniper Bonsai Tree
The Triffid’s Return-Garden Juniper Bonsai Tree. 2020 and looking good….finally.
Oct 28, 2020 | General
By far the greatest reward for all the effort we put into our bonsai trees must be seeing their progression, it’s like watching your kids grow up. At least that’s the case when it all goes according to plan. Today’s work was this scots pine bonsai development progression.
You last saw this scots at the beginning of the year…
Abuse! Abuse!
For the last few years I have been pre-occupied with having to work some really ugly runts. Part of a successful business strategy today is adding value. Anyone can buy a product and sell it for a little mark up. However there is no real future in that for the small man, it’s just not possible to compete. We small folk have to concentrate our efforts on doing what the big boys can’t. That includes developing unique and special things and one off items…. like bonsai trees. This could, in modern parlance be called an ‘artisan’ bonsai tree.
Over the years I have put the cost of a small country estate into bonsai trees. Some of those sell right off, some I keep but the largest proportion of all need work. Sadly I don’t get the time I once did to do such work, I became a victim of our own success. I just have to grab the moments I can.
Seeing trees develop around here is not easy, as soon as they look good folk tend to take them away. Got no bites on this slightly weird scots pine so todays work involved it’s second wiring and set up ready for next summers growth. Considering the change from just January this year it’s been very rewarding.
The heavy foliage mass from the first wiring fuelled insane summer growth and branch thickening. This helped to fix all the heavier branches in place. All the first wire was removed piecemeal over the summer. Now we have to begin setting up the secondary branching before turning attention to building ramification.
The second wiring in the scots pine bonsai development is typically about improving branch lines and breaking up large foliage masses into smaller elements. There is a way to go before we start on refinement work and candle pinching etc’ but each step requires a lighter and lighter touch.
G.
Scots Pine yamadori January 2020.
January 2020 after first styling work.
October 2020. Foliage thinned out and fully wired ready for styling
October 2020. Much less wire and improved branch lines. Add next summers foliage and this will be looking good.
Oct 20, 2020 | General
This is the story of a Kevin Willson bonsai collaboration stretching back nearly fifteen years, bear with me….
We all want to live in a perfect world. Trouble is we all have a different opinion of how that world should appear and therein lies the entire history of human conflict. Lock two blokes in a room and sooner or later there WILL be a punch up. Our modern world has become, possibly, more divided than at any time in our brief history and it’s a deeply unpleasant place to be for those of us who remember what we would call better times.
Personally, I doubt things were better in the past but they were certainly simpler for many folk. The coming of the internet, not a bad thing in itself, has caused a great deal of this unpleasantness. It’s not that there is anything wrong with computers being linked up but there is not much good in the human heart. In the past we all had to concern ourselves with staying alive, putting food on the table, keeping a roof over our heads and hopefully trying to avoid the icy cold grasp of disease. But, in today’s prosperous society it seems all we have time for is arguing and fighting.
When I started bonsai all I wanted was some cute little trees. Once I got inside the bonsai community I found a lot of strange things going on. There were a lot of good folk going about the task quietly but I also came across a lot of competitive folk. I saw a lot of ugly politics and a lot of harm being created between different groups, factions and individuals. I won’t go into detail but the things I have witnessed over the years are to quote a very overused word these days ‘shocking’.
Bonsai has the power to change our lives. It can permeate down into our very souls and the discipline of the work we have to do and the patience we need to exercise can make us a better individual. However much like money, guns, alcohol, knives and any number of other things bonsai is neutral and it can be a positive or negative influence upon us. I know it sounds strange but I have seen people turned into ugly, competitive green eyed monsters by bonsai and the harm they do is irreparable to some gentler folk and usually themselves too.
Anti-mimesis is a philosophical position who’s most notable proponent is Oscar Wilde, who opined in his 1889 essay The Decay of Lying that, “Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life“. Wilde holds that anti-mimesis “results not merely from Life’s imitative instinct, but from the fact that the self-conscious aim of Life is to find expression, and that Art offers it certain beautiful forms through which it may realise that energy”.
At a stretch, the presentation of our lives on social media might be called art. Our daily lives neatly packaged into attractive photos and sound bites carefully manicured to make us look good and interesting. This content is what we might call a stylised or ideal representation of our largely hum-drum lives, an artistic version of the actuality. The trouble is those of us who are a bit ‘simple’ in the head buy into this harmless re-engineering of the facts and quickly feel a little dissatisfied with our own lot in life.
I was a bit like that, sick of my day to day job and yearning for a better life. Someone stupidly said ‘If you can dream it you can have it”. What a crock, I often dream I can fly but last time I launched myself from a great height all I did was knock myself out cold and snapped both arms in half. I’m an old fart now and one thing I have learned is that opportunity presents itself wearing overalls. Dreaming gets you nowhere but combine a good idea with hard work and you have a winning combination.
I have been blathering on about this for years now and, much to my surprise, some folk have actually benefited. It’s very humbling when one of these folk call me up or write to say thank you. Who knew! It’s nice to pass on a little encouragement, I would never have stepped out into what I do today had it not been for the encouragement of others. In particular, my late wife Tina and my sorely missed best mate Blacky to name just two. People working together can be a powerful thing.
I never really intended to turn my bonsai hobby into a business. It’s my character to do everything to extremes, that’s how I ended up with broken arms. I think I might have an addictive personality. I once heard a little ditty that said “Bonsai trees are like potato crisps, you can’t just have one”. I can remove the ‘Bonsai trees’ bit and put in just about anything. I was raised as a bit of a collector starting off with Brook Bond tea cards. Since then I have obsessed over everything from knives to American cars, fossils, motorcycles, houses, cacti, military medals, stamps, koi carp, hand grenades, vinyl albums to antique farm tools and Roman brooches. My dad always told me you get out what you put in and I believe him so put everything into everything I do, whether that’s drinking beer or cutting my lawn. Once I decide to do something it’s getting done come hell or high water.
Trouble is these days I have become a victim of my own success. I have put everything into bonsai for over thirty years now. At the beginning, all I wanted was a collection of good ‘Bonsai’. Later on I figured out bonsai was not really a ‘thing’ more of a process. To date, I feel I have never really owned a bonsai tree or come close to mastering the process. Pretty much everyone these days knows that Kaizen represents the idea of continual gradual improvement but it’s a hard row to hoe and can be very dissatisfying, always reaching for better. But, as a strategy for business it’s worked out pretty good.
Over the years I have sold all the best trees I have owned, it goes with the territory. Most of the stuff I have now that I might call my own is not the best, but my collection means a lot to me and I could not possibly care less what anyone else thinks. Sadly due to the pressure of business I get less time to work on bonsai trees now than at any time in the past but thank goodness I know a few good folk.
After my first eight years of growing bonsai trees I had a good grip of the horticulture but the rest eluded me. However, as the old saying goes “When the pupil is ready, the teacher will appear”. In spring 1999 I walked into the garden of Kevin Willson and my life changed forever. Now I know Kevin is a rum cove but over the years I have come to admire and respect the man beneath the brusque exterior. Nobody was happier than me when he returned from Spain and set up shop in our part of the world. As Kevin is a regular visitor here I have had the privilege to get to know him a bit better and am every bit as inspired to press on as I was that first day.
It was more than a decade ago that Mr W left our rainy clime and set up in sunny Spain. I felt sad but had work to do so moved on. However, before he left I took the opportunity to visit his Essex base one last time and ultimately left with this amazing scots pine. What an amazing deal he did me too, on the drive home I felt like the luckiest bloke alive, what a score. Now that tree has been sitting in the same spot in my garden for about thirteen years. One August aided by my good friend Bob we bare rooted the tree. After that, it went off like a little firework. Once a year I have hard pruned the foliage and every three years it gets a re-pot because it lifts itself out of its pot by an inch or two. But apart from that, I have done nothing.
About a million years ago I bought this scots pine home with no idea just how long this saga was going to last.
I like to do styling of scots pines after the end of September here in Blighty. The thickening of branches will have finished and the trees are settling in for the winter. That means wire can stay on for the longest time possible thus aiding the branch set. For the last couple of years my super compact pine with it’s thick, self-supporting ramification and dense foliage has chased me through my dreams. I know this is an important tree but I simply do not get the time to do the work required. I have considered selling it. I have considered flying in another artist. I even made a part work plan to finish it over a few seasons.
A decade on and my scots pine has become a shade tree for hot days.
Finally this year, buoyed up by the encouragement of those around me who’s opinion I value and respect I made the discussion to give the tree to my long time mentor. I reluctantly loaded my charge into the van with a bunch of other lesser stuff. Kevin was not expecting the tree, i just dropped it on him but being a consummate professional he accepted the commission with grace. As I left for the day I was VERY uneasy, I felt like a kid going to Uni’ and spending my first night out in the big bad world all alone.
I gave Kevin carte blanche simply because…
A. I trusted his appreciation of just how important this pine was to me. I knew full well he would pull off too many needles but it’s got the internal energy of a hand grenade so no real worries there.
B. I also took comfort in the fact that he knew I would show it to the world and not a one of us want’s to look like a numpty in that respect.
I didn’t expect to see the tree for a few months and was a little concerned when I got a call a couple of weeks later. Stuart and I went, with not a little trepidation on my part, to pick it up a few days ago. I made nervous jokes about just how much of my carefully cultivated foliage would be piled up in the corner but the fact that after all those years my pine might look good was exciting. I had not felt that nervous since the first time I took a girl to a posh restaurant.
Upon arrival I was pleased to know Kevin had been stressing over this as much as I had. You always get the impression that a professional does what they do with ease but I know that’s just not true. Creating a bonsai tree from raw material is a series of important decisions, each one based on the last one, start off wrong and it’ll all go wonky. Work between professionals is never easy, like a chef cooking for a chef or being a barbers barber.
I don’t have words to describe what this picture means to me.
In the end I made the right call. I did ask Kevin to leave me with the deadwood work to do, i’ll get this done over the coming months. For now I am thrilled with my new tree after all these years. There is a little pang of sadness I didn’t do it myself and the subsequent loss of street cred’, but to be honest it’s MUCH better being a collaboration between mutually deferential artists. As I get older I realise life is not about what you own but the connections we make. If we can make those connections using our beloved bonsai trees, they, we and the world around us will be the better for it. I’m so glad I left my ego at the door.
Day #1 as a bonsai tree. Worth the wait!
Kevin Willson is available to complete your commissions too. My recommendation is you do not present him with junk and leave your ego at home, let the man be an artist*. Kevin can be contacted through his web site kevinwillsonbonsai.com
Business permitting I’ll be working the deadwood of my pine in the coming months, watch this space…..
Graham.
*Don’t bitch about the price either!
Oct 5, 2020 | General
New products now in stock. With so many products on our books it’s difficult to find new things that are not just variations on a theme. Inevitable some always are because everyone has their own way they like to work. Just recently I was looking through our first 2004 paper catalogue. Our range was tiny compared to today but the standard of bonsai was every bit as good. I am unconvinced that so much choice in life is good for us but i’m a Norfolk clod-hopper, what do I know.
After many years of searching for a suitably high quality material we are very pleased to introduce a new addition to our Green Dream range.
Green Dream Bonsai Biochar – Graded Horticultural Charcoal
BONSAI BIOCHAR. Graded Straight Horticultural Charcoal (2-8mm)
Use Bonsai Biochar to improve your growing media. Horticultural charcoal has many benefits for plants of all types. Improves moisture retention whilst allowing good drainage. Also retains significant nutrient from fertilisers and promotes beneficial fungal and microbial activity which improves growth, health and pest resistance. Light weight, frost proof and will not decay or break down.
Produced from 100% FSC standard, managed British hardwood coppice and arboricultural arisings to UK-BBF, EU and IBC Quality mandates in modern retort low emission kilns. 100% sustainable British carbon capture product locks carbon into soil for hundreds of years.
Most biochars contain a huge amount of finnes or dust. For bonsai this is not desirable as it will wash into the bottom of the pot where it will seriously impede drainage. Green Dream Bonsai Biochar is graded 2-8mm and contains very little dust. Obviously because of the nature of the product dust is produced in handling and shipping but in comparison with most products available our horticultural charcoal has very little fine material, generally less than 1% by volume and can be used straight from the bag. Add to your favourite bonsai soil mix at 1-10% by volume.
New products now in stock this month include Zeolite by popular demand. We have sourced a fantastic grade of Zeolite Medium Grain Horticultural Media for bonsai use. Zeolite for horticultural use is largely unknown in the UK but is widely used under various brand names across Europe and beyond. There are significant issues around Japanese akadama these days and it’s safe to say that Zeolite is going to be the product that will replace the ubiquitous red clay. Zeolite is harder and will not break down, it’s less acidic, holds more water and has significantly higher cation exchange capacity meaning more nutrients to your bonsai and better growth. Zeolite also contains many significant minerals that are important to plant growth and health.
Our Zeolite is a 3-7mm graded product that does not require sieving and can be used straight from the bag. Use up to 30% by volume in your own bonsai soil mix.
Zeolite Medium Grain Horticultural Media.
We now have available two new grades of our popular Lapillo. Fine Grade Volcanic Lava and Lapillo Medium Grade Volcanic Lava.
Fine grade lapillo (puzzolane) 3-5mm.
Medium grade lapillo (puzzolane) 5-10mm.
Often also known as puzzolane this porous volcanic lava has become a staple of many popular bonsai growing formulae over recent years. We now have 3-5mm and 5-10mm grades available from stock.
Finally new products now in stock include Pumice Fine Grain Horticultural Media. Pumice is becoming extremely popular for bonsai cultivation as folk finally figure out just how brilliant it is. Use this fine grade 2-4mm pumice in smaller bonsai pots or where your tree demands a high moisture content in summer.
Pumice (bims) Fine Grain Horticultural Media 2-4mm
If there is a new product YOU would like to see added to our range just drop us a line.
G.
