Shanti Bithi Bonsai Nursery




			Shanti Bithi Nursery has one of the most extensive collections of Bonsai trees available for sale on the East Coast. Many of our specimens are imported from Japan, China, Korea and Taiwan. Others have been created by our gifted Bonsai specialist, Saeko Oshiro. Saeko learned the art and techniques of Bonsai from her


			grandfather in Japan when she was a young girl. Saeko is also a talented garden designer. The photos on this page represent a small fraction of our available selection. We are sorry that we are unable to post jpegs of all our plants at this time.


	Spring Class Schedule Saturday, May 10 “Mame” (mini bonsai) 10 A.M. – 1 P.M. Create a miniature bonsai no more than 6 inches tall, suitable for indoors. Choose among Fukien tea, Bahama Berry, Bougainvillea, Eugenia, Grewia, or Serissa. You will also learn about “accent plants” for bonsai, and create one to go with your “mame.” $100 + tax All materials are included in the cost. Mother’s Day Special Offer: Bring your mom, grandma, daughter, son, or someone else for an additional $75 + tax. Saturday, May 17 Repotting workshop (outdoor varieties) 10 A.M. – 1 P.M. Learn from our expert! Bring your own trees (limit 3 per student) and learn to refine, restyle, wire, or repot during the prime season for bonsai maintenance. We will provide advice and hands-on assistance, plus soil and wire as needed. Purchase new pots at 20% off. This is a great way to ensure that your trees will be healthy and vibrant throughout the growing season! Outdoor varieties (hardy trees) only. (For tropicals and subtropicals, attend our June 28 class.) $100 + tax Saturday, May 31 Open House and Storewide Sale 9 A.M. – 5 P.M. French Bonsai Master Guy Maillot, renowned for his expertise with Japanese maples, will give a free demonstration using locally grown material. Simultaneously, take advantage of deep discounts at our ANNUAL STOREWIDE SALE on Bonsai, starter material, books, tools, pots, and other items. Saturday, June 7 Shohin Bonsai 10 A.M. – 1 P.M. Using small, well-shaped indoor varieties (Bougainvillea, Fukien Tea, small-leafed Jade, Podocarpus, or Dwarf Powder-puff), create a Bonsai between 8 and 12 inches tall, meant to grow sturdier, but not taller. All materials are included in the cost. $125 + tax Saturday, June 14 Saikei (miniature landscape) 10 A.M. – whenever A perfect birthday, Fathers Day, or graduation gift! Create a spectacular miniature natural landscape (“saikei”) in a long shallow pot, using rocks, tiny trees, sand, and moss. ‘Wow’ your friends with this eye-catching tabletop garden suitable for indoors. We supply all materials, including rocks, but if you have a favorite collected stone, please bring it along. Class starts at 10 AM, and ends when everyone is finished. All materials are included in the cost. $150 + tax Father’s Day Special Offer: Bring your dad, grand-dad, son, daughter, or someone else for an additional $100 + tax Saturday, June 28 Repotting Workshop (indoor varieties) 10 A.M. – 1 P.M. Another chance to learn from our in-house bonsai expert! Bring your own bonsai (limit 3 trees per person) to restyle, repot and/or re-wire, fine-tune, and shape with artistry. We provide advice, hands-on assistance, soil, and wire as needed. Purchase new pots at 20% off. This class is a great way to ensure the health and beauty of your trees for another year. Tropicals and subtropicals (indoor varieties) at this time of year, please! $100 + tax Attention all students: Please bring your own tools with you to class. If you do not have tools, we will supply loaners, but we strongly recommend that every Bonsai student have their own Bonsai shears and a few other important tools. Class participants can buy all tools at 20% discount before or during class. The cost of all materials other than tools is included in the cost of class, except for the Repotting Workshop (May 17), when students wishing to purchase new pots will receive a 20% discount.

	MASTER CLASS WITH WALTER PALL October 27, 2006 Near the end of October 2006, Bavarian Bonsai Master Walter Pall (www.walter-pall.de) spent two days at Shanti Bithi Nursery. On Friday, October 27th, 5 students, including Shanti Bithi’s own expert, Saeko Oshiro, took a day-long Master Class. Each student provided his or her own plant material, and benefited from the Master’s suggestions and assistance, regarding both their own trees and the trees the others brought in. Photos and descriptions of the day’s work and achievements are below.


	Walter Pall and the class study Berni's large pine.		This huge branch was considered unnecessary!

Berni wires the remaining branches. He will make the large stump at the left into an interesting jin at another time.

The Master appears to be happy with the result thus far.

Saeko with Walter Pall and his assistant for the weekend, Christine ? (standing).

Walter checks the trunk and branch structure of Saeko's Kingsville boxwood. When they removed the top layer of soil, they discovered that this starter plant has two separate trunks, joined by one slender root.

Saeko has opened up the canopy by pruning away a lot of branches and foliage.

No detail is too small to claim to attention of a bonsai Master!

Walter Pall studies the bushy juniper that Mike will work on.

Mike has already reduced the canopy considerably. He and Walter discuss the next steps.

New jin and shari are visible in their early stages, including a newly burned area. Mike wires the remaining foliage.

Finished for now. The wedge under the pot indicates the planting angle, for when an appropriate bonsai pot is chosen.

John brought in a tall juniper with interesting lines.

He already had ideas about how he wanted to style it. Walter Pall agreed with him.

John meticulously wires every branch.

Graceful lines are already evident.

Charlie pruned and wired his clump-style quince in short order.

Saeko contributed an azalea from Shanti Bithi's collection for him to work on.

Walter Pall makes some suggestions.

And the job is done!

LECTURE/DEMO/CRITIQUE BY WALTER PALL
October 28, 2006

Despite torrential rains and gusty winds, an intrepid group of Bonsai enthusiasts turned up at Shanti Bithi Nursery for the opportunity to observe Bonsai Master Walter Pall at work as he transformed a challenging piece of garden-grown material from bush to Bonsai. Most brought in one of their own Bonsai trees and offered it for critique by the Master. Contrary to our expectations, we found that Walter Pall’s reputation for brutal assessments is entirely undeserved. While his assistant, Christine Hayward, continued the extensive wiring work, Walter Pall spoke kindly and informatively about each person’s tree, no matter how humble or unkempt. We all learned a lot, were completely entertained, and nobody left in tears!

Material for the styling demonstration is a garden-grown 'Kingsville' boxwood, about 50 years old, recently dug and with its entire root ball still intact.

Walter Pall explains that by removing young, small, and crossing roots you reveal the larger, older roots, immediately making the tree look older and stronger.

This tree has an interesting nebari and a powerful trunk that splits into two trunks very low on the tree. The inside branching pattern is tree-like.

As Walter Pall pruned away branches, he explained that the optical weight of the entire tree becomes smaller as you reduce the volume of foliage.

At the same time, the optical weight of the trunk becomes larger in proportion to the amount of foliage, making the tree appear more powerful.

Walter Pall asks the audience to consider the possibility of removing the secondary trunk, which he is holding, for a more dramatic styling.

The secondary trunk was voted off the tree! The result is a much more compact Bonsai.

Most of the pruning and wiring is finished. The canopy has been drastically thinned and opened up. Now sunlight can penetrate to the inner branches.

Almost finished. The branches have been wired, right down to the tiniest ones. The canopy is airy and open, and the overall impression is of a huge, old tree growing in an open field. The root area is packed with potting soil to encourage new root growth. The root ball has been left intact to minimize further stress to the tree. In spring, two thirds of the root ball will be removed, and the tree will go into its first Bonsai pot.

Christine Hayward, a gifted artist, assisted Walter Pall throughout the demonstration, and presented us with a pen and ink sketch of the "finished" tree before she left.

TREE CRITIQUE BY WALTER PALL

Audience members' trees are lined up on the table awaiting their turn under the Master's eye.

Walter Pall makes suggestions for improving a mimosa that has become too leggy.

A “Sumo” style hornbeam gets a twirl on the Master’s turntable.

An unusual variety of pine has received a substantial branch thinning, and one small branch has been wired upward to create a new apex.



	A bushy ‘Shimpaku’ juniper begins its transformation into the austere and elegant literati style.

	Bonsai classes with Mike Pollock Mike Pollock, our first presenter, is a passionate Bonsai hobbyist and a member of the local Yama Ki Bonsai Society. Mike planned to demonstrate "refining" techniques on a tree that had already been styled as a Bonsai.


	For his demonstration Mike chose a tree in the Informal Upright style, from Shanti Bithi's large collection of 'Shimpaku' junipers. Refining includes cleaning the bark with a wire brush, removing branches that are unnecessary for the tree's design, thinning the foliage, and extensive wiring.		After Mike has brushed the bark, it looks red instead of brown, and the direction of growth is visible at close range. Tiny insects that may have been living under the loose bark have been evicted. Mike's plan included cutting off the tree's lowest branch, which is now lying on the table.

Then Mike's plans changed. Saeko Oshiro, Shanti Bithi's in-house Bonsai expert, suggested that the long curving line of the trunk made this tree a good candidate for the bunjin or Literati style. Saeko asked Mike to take on this challenge. The transformation would require a lot more work (and time) than Mike had counted on.

Kevin Goveia, another local Bonsai enthusiast, as well as a skilled potter and artist, had been scheduled to make a presentation on the subject of choosing the right pot for a tree, after Mike finished his refining demonstration. But once Saeko requested an extreme makeover, Kevin became Mike's extra eyes, hands, and brain.

Mike continued to cut off the lower branches using a concave cutter, while Kevin sketched how this tree might look in the bunjin style. Mike used an X-acto knife to refine the cuts, and pliers to peel back the bark, creating jin (dead branches) and shari (areas where the bark is peeled away), giving the tree the appearance of age and hard experiences.

Kevin shows the audience the general shape of the future Literati Bonsai on paper. Much more foliage still has to be removed.

Now only the foliage at the top remains, while all the lower branches are lying on the table.

Kevin wraps a branch with wet raffia. The wrapping protects the branch from breaking when it is bent. For the bunjin or Literati style, at least one upper branch should grow downward at an acute angle. On this tree, downward growth is going to be a test of the artists' skill.

Mike wires the wrapped area, while Kevin plans his next move.

Both artists study the tree to decide the best angle for the trunk. They have placed a wedge under one corner of the pot to simulate how they might place the tree into the new pot (in foreground), chosen by Kevin.

Two large upper branches are pulled downward with guy wires.

After taking the tree out of its original pot, Kevin removes old soil from the roots before pruning them. The new pot, with wires in place and gravel in the bottom, is visible at lower right. Junipers can be successfully repotted at almost any time of the year.

Mike gives the newly-potted tree a very thorough watering.

The new bunjin. A wooden peg is stuck into the soil to mark the front -- the viewing direction that shows the tree at its best. Most Bonsai trees have a front, but great trees, Mike pointed out, look good from many directions.