ByCraig T. Kojima, Star-Bulletin
Mike Uyeno shows a 50- to 60-year-old pinewood tree
that was found growing in Kahuku. The "natural" bonsai
is a result of poor growth conditions.
DOWN-SIZING isn't necessarily a bad thing. Take a tree, for example. Christmas berry, when it grows to 10 feet on your hillside, is a weed. But in a pot, kept to about 2 feet tall, it can be a prize winner. Growing Small
A down-sized tree is a bonsai, literally "a tree in a pot" in Japanese. A popular hobby in Hawaii, cultivating bonsai plants has recently become trendy with a younger group.
"We've been working toward this for a long time," said Mike Uyeno, a founding member of the Hawaii Bonsai Association. "I started in my 30s, when growing bonsai was one of those things you did after you retired. But I figured that if you wait until then, and it can take 25 years for the tree to develop, you might not be around to enjoy it."
The idea of maturing along with your trees will be promoted tomorrow at Foster Garden's spring plant sale. At 10 a.m., Uyeno and Norman Okimoto conduct a workshop on the selection and care of bonsai.
It isn't just a matter of growing shrimpy trees. If you pot them in small containers, they will either stay small or die because of the constricted root system. Bonsai is a matter of shape. The four basics are upright, horizontal, diagonal and cascade, describing the general growth pattern of the tree. There are 25 actual styles. Not much of this comes naturally. It takes an eye, and then you need wire.
"When you buy nursery stock, the first thing to look for is a good root spread and a taper to the trunk from bottom to top," Uyeno said. "We don't care about the branches because we can change their shape by wiring them. The young tree tells us how it wants to be shaped. You have to work along with your plant."
Uyeno's wife Elaine has written one of the most instructive small books on the subject, "Bonsai in Hawaii." It was published in 1990, and is hard to find now, but she promises an updated version soon.
ByCraig T. Kojima, Star-Bulletin
Norman Okimoto, Mike Uyeno and Elaine Okimoto,
left to right, are surrounded by bonsai in the Uyenos' yard.
While most of us try to look younger than our years, the opposite is true of good bonsai. "The actual age is not the principal concern," Elaine Uyeno said, explaining the aim is to have a tree look older than it is. There are several ways to achieve this.One of the most common ways is to remove portions of the bark. "It makes the tree look as if it's struggling against the wind," Okimoto said, adding that this is not a technique for beginners. As with a full-sized tree, the removal of too much bark can kill it. A tree trunk, regardless of its size, has a very thin layer of cells -- the cambium -- beneath the bark, which is necessary for the tree's survival.
This is why girdling a mature tree -- having the bark cut in a complete circle around a tree -- will kill it. When only portions of the bark are removed, the area from which the bark has been peeled bleaches to a soft white. This technique is called "shari" in Japanese, and the resulting bleached area is called "jin." An equally important concept of bonsai is "uro," meaning "to carve out."
"Papa Kaneshiro once told me, 'When you train a tree, it must be so that the birds can fly through,' " Mike Uyeno said. "He meant that there must be open areas in the foliage; that it shouldn't be a thick mass."
The late Haruo "Papa" Kaneshiro is still the leading name among local bonsai growers, and his pronouncements remain gospel nationwide. The bonsai collection at the National Arboretum in Washington, D.C., bears his name, a tribute to a man who changed the cultivation of bonsai from an esoteric practice of Japan's elite families to hobby enjoyed by thousands of Americans today.
House plants, Mike said, can sometimes be made into bonsai. "We can bring a 5-foot tree down to 2 feet. A friend has a 7-foot banyan in a pot on her lanai, and it was getting out of hand, so she gave it to us. I cut the top off, down to 18 inches, and new shoots came out. It looks fine."
He explained that as the tree is dwarfed by the constricted root system, the foliage becomes smaller, but the size of the flowers and the fruit will not change. He pointed out a miniature lemon tree, no more than 2 feet tall, with a regulation-sized lemon hanging from it. Uyeno also has several bougainvillea plants in full bloom.
"Bougainvillea, juniper, banyan -- woody plants all bonsai well," he said. "It's pulpy ones like plumeria and poinsettia that can't be kept small."
Bonsai will grow in containers not much bigger than a thimble, but the outside number is 48 inches. Anything bigger than that is simply another house plant.
Mike Uyeno and Okimoto will answer bonsai questions at tomorrow's plant sale, and will also encourage those who are interested in the hobby to mark the Labor Day weekend in September to attend the annual Bonsai Show at Windward Mall. Registration will be taken at that time for bonsai classes at Linekona School. Remember, you're never too young for bonsai.
Plant Sale
Where: Foster Botanical Garden, 50 N. Vineyard Boulevard
Gardening Calendar
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