Another No Name Tree ...

[grouper52]

Apparently, in a delirius state as I slipped into pneumonia before being hospitalized for a bit short of a week, I posted some maudline thing about love of bonsai. Well ... we're "just friends" this point . . . .

But, among three new such "friends" is this gal (2 of the 3 have nastly thorns - which I think qualifies them as "gals.") Can we use that word anymore?

Stands about 3' tall, found unceremoniously thrown off to the side of one "guy's" (can we use that word anymore?) little stake in Manila's bonsai artist/collectors commune.

He told me the Tagalog name, which I forgot, shugged as if it was worthless when I asked how much it was - $20 (!!!) - and transfered it from its rusty container to its current pot filled with the preferred soil here, called "red river sand."

We brought it up to Baguio after only a wee bit of wiring with some of my wife's sisters bonsai wire that I gave her years ago - a precious commodity especially when mine is still in shipment, then put it and its peers out on a 5th floor lanai where we are staying while the house is being built, and this morning I was inspired to clean up and lime sulfur the deadwood.

Damned nice for a $20 tree ... made me glad I didn't die yet.

Enjoy.

 

[Cadillactaste]

Goodness you really did get hit bad and was down...hospital stay as well. Glad you seem to be on the down side of things. Getting better...well enough to wire up a piece of material...that one day...that chap might regret the sale. Very cool...and only $20! Surely with your vision...it will one day be grand. I can not wait to see how you influence their bonsai community with your techniques. Thanks for not dying on us...and sharing this piece of material...that willed you to live. ?

 

[grouper52]

Hi, Darlene. Thanks for your kind words. Yes, much better now. IV antibiotics and such, even in the third world, do their trick pretty well. Generally, I don't get sick like this, but age, underlying systemic illnesses, and the onslaught of several simultaneous but new-to-me bugs seems to have done the trick. I'm still with a lingering occasional dry cough, but the major symptoms are long gone.

The bonsai scene here is fascinating. The big shows are almost exclusively wealthy collectors who have the in-the-field-collectors and the best artists working for them. I've been able to meet a number of the latter, and they've got all this incredible raw material that just calls out to someone with my tastes. In many areas there are also all these road-side bonsai businesses, run out of people's front yards often. We stopped for the second time at one on the way to Baguio from Manila the other day: the young woman is the artist, her father is the businessman, but is also learning bonsai styling from her. Most of her trees are overly manicured, but she has the eye, and they are very nicely done: so when I saw a wild-looking specimen thrown into a pot way off to the side and asked about it, she said it was some rare thing with bark to die for, and was found only on some special island somewhere. Then she said her brother was a collector, and goes to that island and elsewhere to get material, and I told her I used to collect in the wilds of the US, and wondered if I could meet her brother and see what raw material he had - we arranged to do that next time we're heading back to Manila.

I gave a copy of my book about Dan to the best artist in the bonsai commune in Manila, and am likely to give one as well to this road-side-bonsai-business family way out in the nearest province. - such things mean a lot to them, build good will, and hopefully will give me access to some really great collecting like I used to do with Dan. I might try to do a book here as well some day about the great-but-unknown artists scattered all over these islands. To go out there and find a great tree, bring it back and turn it into something inspiring to me and others is the epitome of what this hobby has to offer, IMHO. My tools are in transit or storage somewhere, and I mostly rely on Ace Hardware here currently; Likewise with my photographic equipment - so I use my wife's cell . . . still, it is more than enough, despite the multiple and often very unexpected layers of difficulty simply being here, and trying to get settled in here. Without bonai, I'd probably be on a plane home by now . . . bonsai helps make this place feel like home, as if I have a place here. Strange.

 

[JudyB]

bonsai helps make this place feel like home, as if I have a place here. Strange.

Such is passion.
Glad to hear you are better!

 

[my nellie]

... ...Glad to hear you are better!

Me, too!!!
And I am also looking forward to read your reports of future collecting trips

 

[River's Edge]

. bonsai helps make this place feel like home, as if I have a place here. Strange.
Understood completely, We moved to be near our son years ago, when he passed away caring for his and my bonsai together helped this place continue to make sense. Glad you are feeling better and finding Bonsai challenges to keep your sense of purpose.

 

[Vin]

He told me the Tagalog name, which I forgot, shugged as if it was worthless when I asked how much it was - $20 (!!!) - and transfered it from its rusty container to its current pot filled with the preferred soil here, called "red river sand."

This statement really has me thinking... Why are we so caught up in all the minutia of the components of bonsai instead of the art itself? Yes, we want to "do the right thing" and keep our trees alive and thriving but sometimes we go a little overboard. There is tons of information on this site about soil, fertilizer, watering, pH balance, chopping, tools, etc etc. But not many here have shared the artistic side of the process. Some have, and they were harshly criticized for it and no longer contribute. I don't know, maybe I'm part of the problem. It's time for me to start learning the Art. I don't want to be a horticultural misfit, I want my "stuff" in pots to look like a tree in a pot. Just my 2 cents for what it's worth. (glad you're feeling better)

By the way, "gals" and "guys" are out. It's "chicks" and "dudes" now days.

 

[Cadillactaste]

Wow Will...you can see how you published a book. Your depth in descriptipn pulls me to where you are practically...looks like that bonsai thing might ground you yet...making a place for you there. Glad to hear it...along as well of your recovery other than the cough. Prayers still follow you...that you find a day you pause...and be like...imagine that...I am my old self again.

Thanks for sharing...enjoyed your few pages in your book of life. ? I hope the book makes bound copies. I would love your words...of the differences yet parallel similarities.

 

[grouper52]

By the way, "gals" and "guys" are out. It's "chicks" and "dudes" now days.

LOL! Literally ...

I very much appreciate the rest of your post as well, (as I do everyone's responses here, especially the well-wishes for my recovery): The horticulture must serve the creative aspects of the art for me to engage in it - that makes for a perfect pairing. Otherwise, I'd just landscape and raise vegetables.

 

[grouper52]

Here's a look at the other attraction for this tree - not photographed well, but you can see the delicate tropical foliage (which, BTW, closes up each night!)
)

 

[JudyB]

Wonder if it is a Brazilian Rain tree, or cousin of... They close up at night, and the foliage is the same as well.

 

[LanceMac10]

Mimosa?

 

[JudyB]

Mimosa?

Do mimosa close their leaves at night? Mimosa bonsai would be so stunning in bloom.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

Calliandra selloi, or something in the genus? That one is native to S. America I believe though. "Mimosa" would be a common name for one in the genus here. Does it have seed pods like peas?

 

[LanceMac10]

100 % "Some mimosas raise their leaves in the day and lower them at night, and experiments done by Jacques d'Ortous de Mairan on mimosas in 1729 provided the first evidence of biological clocks."[4]

 

[grouper52]

There are certainly a lot of huge mimosas and mimosa-like trees here, and certainly the foliage looks like a much-miniaturized version of the mimosa, but I'll have to ask around more about the identity of this tree. Thanks, all, for your help and suggestions.

 

[queenofsheba52]

@grouper52 , I am a little late to the party but I'd like to send you some more 'get well and stay well' wishes. Your move to The Philippines sounds stressful now but perhaps once you get settled there will be more restful times ahead, time and energy for wiring, collecting, repotting and general enjoyment of life!

 

[JosephCooper]

The deadwood is beautiful, you don't see that on tropicals often

 

[grouper52]

@grouper52 , I am a little late to the party but I'd like to send you some more 'get well and stay well' wishes. Your move to The Philippines sounds stressful now but perhaps once you get settled there will be more restful times ahead, time and energy for wiring, collecting, repotting and general enjoyment of life!

Thank you for your kind words and best wishes - Things are very, very gradually getting better, but this is not a move I would ever recommend to someone. Even my wife, who's from here, but now a dual citizen after 25+ years in the US - has been shaken to to her core at times by this move. As she's taken to saying with every unexpected stress, obstacle and frustration, "Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore!" Indeed, we are NOT! But we're hanging on ... and no longer thinking of using the Ruby Slippers, at any rate ... Thanks again.

 

[grouper52]

The deadwood is beautiful, you don't see that on tropicals often

You'll see it on MY tropicals, gosh-darn-it!!! "A bonsai without deadwood is like a fish without a bicycle" ... or, something like that. As a student of Dan Robinson, the idea is simply inconcievable ....