Andy Smith Visits ACBS

Andy Smith discusses collected ponerosa pines.

One of the remarkable qualities about bonsai is its adaptability.  Although the art of bonsai originated in Asia, it can be adapted for native tree species from anywhere in the world. Among the tree species native to North America, probably the most well-known, internationally, for making outstanding bonsai is the ponderosa pine.

Andy Smith of Deadwood South Dakota recently presented a workshop with collected ponderosa pines for the Akron Canton Bonsai Society.  During the day-long event, Andy offered a slide presentation that showed the incredible character of the species.  The remarkable turns and undulations of these mountain trees tell stories of their struggles to survive in the tough rocky environment at high elevations in South Dakota.

He also talked about methods he has developed over the years to coax the trees from their growing places with minimal damage to the root systems. This often involves a crow bar and wedges, as well as a shovel, but he has learned to greatly increase his survival rate.


The trees offered to ACBS members were collected in areas where forestry management aims to thin the numbers of trees. He secures a permit to collect from the U.S. Forestry Service.

Andy demonstrated how to plant the collected specimens into training pots.  He explained that in most cases the trees are growing in small cracks in the rocks, and they are living in what little soil there is. Such growing conditions create a very dense root ball.  He used a chop stick he created spaces between the packed roots in order to allow watering to be more uniform. For the transplant into training pots, he recommended a fairly gritty soil mix.  He also believes that waiting out the coming summer season before attempting any styling on the trees would give the best chance for survival.  Being patient will allow the tree to recover and get healthy over the course of this season. Then in subsequent years, begin working on any pruning, wiring and other styling considerations. 


Many of the collected trees were estimated to be 40 to 60 years old.  The incredibly textured bark, as well as the deadwood and movement seen in some of the trunks of the trees was testimony to both the age and the conditions under which the trees were growing. The combination of these qualities, along the flexibility of the branches should, in time, make them excellent bonsai.

As few ACBS members in the have experience working with ponderosa pines, it might be helpful to also study information from clubs in western states.  A good summary of care and development of ponderosa pine for bonsai has been posted by the Phoenix Bonsai Club, which has a number of members who work with poderosas, at this link.   

Over the next several seasons, members are encouraged to bring their trees to club meetings, so that we can learn from each other and see how they are being styled and how develop. 

Much thanks to Andy for making the trek to Ohio, and also to our own Gib and Mat who planned and organized the event.

Larch Forest Project-- Demo & Workshop

Ken and ACBS president Mat with the completed forest on a slab.

What a terrific April meeting.

I have to say, Ken pulled off a hat trick with this combined demo and workshop.  As he discussed some of the basics of creating a forest planting, Ken built this wonderful grove on a fiberglass slab.   In the photos at the right, you can see the larch seedlings spread out on the table as he selects the trees by size, thickness and number of side branches during the assembly. Ken explained why he chooses to prune the larches back at one point over another along the trunk for the forest, and how to clip the tap root so that the seedling would fit into the group.  He also discussed placeing the trees in such a way that the planting appeared natural and not contrived.

Having placed and worked all of the trees into the soil, he pointed out how he would next come back and prune the height of each tree so that the largest, and more dominant trees formed the apex of the entire composition.  At the same time, the smaller trees to the back and side contributed a sense of depth, and a feeling of the forest spread out across the horizon.  There was also a sense of perspective with the smaller trees now beginning to appear further away.

One of the of the notable points of Ken's forest was in his soil mix.  In addition to the mixture of grit (haydite and builder's sand) and organic material, Ken adds sphagnum moss right into the soil mix.  While some books recommend such techniques as using a mix clay and sphagnum to make a rim for a slab planting, putting the sphagnum right into the soil binds the mix, and seems to work well for holding the group in place. 

In the workshop, members put together their own forest groups, although on a smaller scale, using the bundles of nine larches as well as larger seedlings.

Below are several photos of our newly created groves.  (More pictures posted shortly) It will be fun to follow all of these forests over the next several years to see how they flush-out and develop--and also see them in their fall colors. In the coming years, we will add these to our Virtual Fall Show--you can see photos of trees from past autumns posted on ACBS's gallery spot at http://picasaweb.google.com/akroncantonbonsai

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Larches Are Ready for Your Forest Planting

Well, the Larches are here and they are healthy and perfect for a grove or forest planting.  Much thanks to ACBS member Ken Huth of Ken's World of Bonsai for getting them for us.

I stopped by Ken's place Sunday afternoon, and Ken and Gib already had the work done ahead of schedule. So thanks also to Gib for pitching in to help Ken bundle them up to they are ready to go for the April meeting. Since the work was already done, it was time for some fun in the form of clipping and cutting--it's never dull at Ken's.

While I was there, several members  of the  Columbus Club  were visiting, clipping, planting and working on projects of their own.  

Ken (far right) works on this 50 + larches went into this forest planting

With the help of all of his guests, Ken put together this large 50+ tree forest planting out of some of larches from the same batch as those we will be using for our club project. The larches you see in the planting have to be pruned back considerably. It took two guys and a wheel barrel to move the finished project to its spot in the sun.  Very cool.  And it should look amazing in the fall.