Bonsai Talk

Join Ken, with "Sanderland Gardens" on an interview with Zoe. 

If you've always wanted to try bonsai but maybe felt it was for more experienced gardeners than this episode is for you. After listening to Ken's podcast, we hope you'll feel more confident about starting your own bonsai tree. 

https://youtu.be/bQCObBXCRW4https://yardstopgardencenter.com/

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome back to the Yard Stup Podcast. Thanks for tuning in. I'm Zoe and we are here with our special guest, Ken. Ken is a bonsai practitioner and owns his own bonsai nursery named Dandelion Gardens right here at Friday Park. So let's jump right into it. Alright, so Ken.

SPEAKER_00 0:18

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 0:19

One, we just had a year a couple weeks ago for our copy of the gardener, which was a major success.

SPEAKER_00 0:25

I had fun.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

Yes, everyone here had fun. You were a joy to have. So let's kind of talk about what we talked about there. What trees can be made into bonsai trees?

SPEAKER_00 0:37

Oh, okay, that's a very good question. Because most people think that only junipers can be a bonsai. And let's just start from the start. Bonsai means tree and pot. So that means whatever tree you can fit into whatever pot can be a bonsai. Bonsai is the art form. And then the tree is the actual subject that you're using to express uh how you feel with that tree in that art form.

SPEAKER_01 1:07

So you said basically that any tree could be transitioned into a bonsai tree, is that correct? Would you say that fruit trees could also as well?

SPEAKER_00 1:15

I was just about to tell you that I uh actually have a banana tree that I bonsai in a pot and it was only about maybe 18 inches.

unknown 1:25

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 1:26

Right. It didn't get a chance to fruit, but it will fruit. So we're still working on it.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

Nice. And how long have you had that?

SPEAKER_00 1:32

Oh god. 11 years?

SPEAKER_01 1:35

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

11, 12 years. It hasn't fruited yet. No. Because it's it's it was young from the beginning. Right. And then I reduced the size, so it slowed down its growth and development.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

And do you know how long you think it might take till it does fruit?

SPEAKER_00 1:54

Well, I don't I can't say specifically, but we're hoping within the next couple of years. Yeah, that's cool.

SPEAKER_01 2:01

Um how long have you been into bonsai?

SPEAKER_00 2:04

Oh my god, about 20 plus years. Wow. Yes. I I I was looking for something because of what I used to do, where I used to work, and a type of stress. So I was looking for a de stressor, and I didn't want to uh become an alcoholic or use other means to wind down.

SPEAKER_01 2:28

Right.

SPEAKER_00 2:28

So I I always like gardening. So I kind of fell into it and it just kind of it kind of overtakes you.

SPEAKER_01 2:38

Right. That's really cool. Um if someone has an interest in bonsai, how could they get started in it?

SPEAKER_00 2:46

Well, the first thing that I would do if you have an interest, is find out what tree do you like. Because that's it's easier to take care of something that you like or prefer opposed to just grabbing anything. So I would start with that, and then I would uh go on the internet and look for some styles that I think I would like, and maybe have two or three trees, and then after you decide at what point how far how serious you want to be, then I would uh look for maybe a mentor or a club or someone like me to work with you to develop that skill.

SPEAKER_01 3:26

Do you guys offer classes like that? Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 3:29

We have what's called an intro to bonsai, where you get a history, some background, uh, you have some education, and you walk into the class empty-handed and you leave with the tree. Now, the the whole purpose or the point, number one, to introduce you, and then the number two part is to give you something to take care of. Because I discovered the first skill you need is keeping the tree alive. Right. You have to learn out, you have to learn the horticulture of keeping it alive, and then once you develop that, then you can go across the spectrum and use whatever tree you like fruit tree, flowering tree, evergreen, olive, right, bogavillion, yeah, whatever.

SPEAKER_01 4:17

Oh yeah. Um, and speaking of keeping them alive, have you ever um killed one?

SPEAKER_00 4:24

Okay, that's something I don't like to talk about. And so I don't want to say I have killed one, but what I will say, I do have a cemetery behind my workshop.

unknown 4:38

Oh gosh.

SPEAKER_01 4:39

How long does it take for you to get a tree to look like the ones that you have? Like, for example, the ones that you brought today.

SPEAKER_00 4:44

Okay, this one is a European olive, this one is a bogavillion. Now, let's start with the olive. The olive tree, uh, that was actually gift to me, and it was just a chunk of wood, period. And it had very little growth on it. So that whole process to get it to look like that has been about four years. Now that's pretty good.

SPEAKER_01 5:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:12

And that the key is watering, fertilizing, and sunlight because you want to get that growth process underway. So that's about four years. This one, in actuality, this one was pretty much set, however, it hasn't been wired at the time. So if it would have been the normal way of growing it and not starting from a cutting, it would have taken about another four or five years to get it like this. So if you start from, depending on the tree, the species of the tree, you start with the seedling and grow and develop that. You want to cut and style, you cut for taper and let it grow. Because in bonsai, you have different stages. You want a nibari, which is the widespread, where the roots meet the soil. So you want that nice and wide, and then you want it to go into a nice taper. So that develops over time, and if you want to put the clock on it, like you asked, to get a certain shape started, it could take four to five years.

SPEAKER_01 6:28

Right. It takes a lot of patience, I see. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 6:31

That's how you end up with so many different trees. Right. Because the first tree, you're waiting for it to grow and develop. So as you're waiting, each one of these is another tree. So that's one, and then you go on around the circle until you're back to one.

SPEAKER_01 6:48

I could see how it could be something that people are really interested in.

SPEAKER_00 6:52

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 6:53

I haven't personally gotten into it myself, but I know a lot of people, especially employees here, they love bonsai's. I know that you mentioned watering and fertilizing, and I'm sure maybe you can correct me if I'm wrong, that it would probably depend on the the tree that it is, but how often would you water and fertilize?

SPEAKER_00 7:08

That's a very good question as well. Every backyard, I like to call it a microclimate. Now we already know Florida's hot and humid, but where I particularly live, my house is surrounded by live oaks. So around the outside of the perimeter of the property, it's shady. But right in the middle, oh my God, dead straight sun. So I have some trees around the outside, the perimeter that prefer what's called dapple sun under understory. So they're there. And then I have the ones, the sun worshippers, the uh the jades, the junipers, those, they're right there in the direct sun. So because of that, in my yard, it in the summertime, July and August, three times, maybe four times a day, and it's an automatic sprinkler. And that fourth time, it happens around eight, nine o'clock at night to prepare them for in the morning.

SPEAKER_01 8:15

Yes. Okay. Um, I remember you mentioned this in our coffee with the gardener class. You had one of your trees um highlighted at Epcot, right?

SPEAKER_00 8:26

Guess what?

SPEAKER_01 8:27

What?

SPEAKER_00 8:28

Two trees.

SPEAKER_01 8:29

Two of them. Two. Wow, okay. Um, how did that come about?

SPEAKER_00 8:34

Okay, I'm part of uh Central Florida Bonsai Club, and what they have uh established an arrangement with Disney with the Epcot. That is so good. They have a committee, and you we have the opportunity to submit whatever we think is showworthy or interesting. And so we uh submit our trees with pictures only. They don't know who the tree belongs to. Right. All the information is kept secret, and uh the committee, they go, they look, they kick out, vote off the island, however you want to put it. And if they select your tree, then they find out who's the owner of what tree and they email you or call you and let you know your tree was selected and where to be in the park. And it can be there from three months to a hundred plus days.

SPEAKER_01 9:27

Wow, and you guys were selected twice. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 9:31

Right. Now, some some of my colleagues, they've been there years in a row. Wow. So I can only hope to be that fortunate. Yeah. Because people from around the world see your work.

SPEAKER_01 9:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:46

That's so true. Um that's really cool. I was gonna ask another question about that. About the Epcot thing. What was I gonna ask?

SPEAKER_00 9:58

Well, you asked.

SPEAKER_01 9:59

I lost my mind. It was about Epcot. I wanted to ask a question that wasn't on the thing, but I don't remember now.

SPEAKER_00 10:03

Okay, it'll come to you.

SPEAKER_01 10:04

Well, maybe we could even add in their picture of the Epcot thing on the screen.

SPEAKER_00 10:11

Okay, which one? For both? One and two?

SPEAKER_01 10:13

Eve, yeah, that'd be cool. Okay, because you could screen it on there that you was on there.

SPEAKER_00 10:18

You want the tree by itself or you want me leaning by the tree?

SPEAKER_01 10:22

Yeah, that would be cool.

SPEAKER_00 10:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 10:24

Okay. Um, the last question that I have here. All right. So we understand that there is a couple of different ways that you could say bonsai. What is the proper way to say it?

SPEAKER_00 10:36

Bonsai.

SPEAKER_01 10:37

Bonsai.

SPEAKER_00 10:38

Bonsai.

SPEAKER_01 10:39

Okay. That's so interesting because I've only heard it as bonsai.

SPEAKER_00 10:44

Here's the thing: people that know, they just go with it.

SPEAKER_01 10:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:49

But people that know and think you should know, they will correct you.

SPEAKER_01 10:54

Right. Yes. Why are bonsai trees so expensive?

SPEAKER_00 10:58

Well, very good question. The main reason is the time and care that it takes to grow, develop, and style. Because it's a living thing, it's living art. So there's changes that happen with the living art. Some of the changes aren't good changes, like a book of villain. A book of villa, it's it's living and dying at the same time. It's a soft wood. It needs to be watered, but at the same time, the water is deteriorating the root structure of the tree itself. So a book of villa is one of those things is vanishing art. It's wabi-sabi. It's beautiful, perfect, and disintegrating or dying at the same time. Now, with other trees, it's the time, the effort, the skill that it takes to have it look a certain way. Now, trees like a juniper or or or tried and maple trees like that that can really live almost as long as you take care of them, that's what even make them more expensive because now they're old.

SPEAKER_01 12:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:10

It's a saying, it's just like owning an expensive watch. You don't really own it, you're the caregiver of it. So my trees, I've already spoken to my grandsons about my trees because I try to take care of them as best I can. Yeah. And so they will outlive me. That's incredible. And so you're paying for not just a tangible item, but you're paying for the time that it took to get to that point.

SPEAKER_01 12:39

That's incredible. That makes a lot of sense. I mean, I'm sure it's like babysitting kids all day. But in tree form.

SPEAKER_00 12:46

That's true. That is so true.

SPEAKER_01 12:49

Yeah. Do you want to tell us a little bit about all the classes that you offer, just in case anyone here is listening and maybe wants to sign up?

SPEAKER_00 12:56

Well, we already mentioned the intro of the bonsai. With the intro to bonsai, you have whatever tree we are working on, and you leave with that tree. Now the next question is okay, do I want another tree number one? And what do I do with this tree number two? So, do you want another tree because you're waiting on this first tree to do something? Like we talked about. So that's when we can either have another intro to Bonsai class with a different species, or you can come back and we'll go with next steps. Next steps is for individuals who have trees and they're in their skill set they might have plateaued. What do I do now? How do I do it? So we sit down, I have a workshop, I try to keep it small, three to four people, you get to bring two trees, and we sit down just like we're doing, and we have a consultation about your tree. After we had a consultation, either we can work on this tree together, or you can make notes, do whatever you need to do, take your tree with you, and you work on it until the next time. And if we work on a tree together, each time we take a step forward, we want the tree to move forward to the next phase. So we may be working on certain branches. I talked about wiring, by the way. That's another class. Okay. Wiring is what we use to set a style or set a form in the direction of the tree. So we'll set the primary branches and wait for the interior branches, the secondary branches to grow from that point. So that's called next steps. And then in the next steps, sometimes we have people that consider themselves intermediate. If you're an intermediate person, so you'll probably only bring one tree. The reason being because your tree, not that it needs more work, but it's more intense. Because now we're removing wiring, we may be rewiring the secondary branches, and we're looking for the third. We're making sure we have the front, the back, the sides, everything. We may do a repot. Who knows?

SPEAKER_01 15:18

Right.

SPEAKER_00 15:18

It all depends on what stage your tree is in.

SPEAKER_01 15:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 15:23

As well as we have private classes or a private class one-on-one.

SPEAKER_01 15:28

That's what I was gonna ask if you did one-on-one.

SPEAKER_00 15:29

Yes, well, you can come to me or I can come to you.

SPEAKER_01 15:32

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 15:32

We also have tree sitting service where we have a lot of snowbirds. Yeah. So your tree gets expert care.

SPEAKER_01 15:40

I saw that in the class you guys mentioned that. I was like, that's pretty cool. I mean, you guys babysit trees.

SPEAKER_00 15:45

Yes, usually your trees look better when you pick them up than they did when you dropped them off.

SPEAKER_01 15:51

Right.

SPEAKER_00 15:51

That's a good thing to have, right? Yeah. You don't have to worry about your trees when you're on vacation. That's cool. And oh, and I mentioned wiring. Wiring is so important because you have wire in the tree and you have guide wires. So the thing is, like this tree, this tree is wired and shaped to stay like that. Right. And so at a certain period, the branches are set. Then you can remove the wires. And guide wires, I have another example. The guide wires actually lead the branches to a certain point. And then after they're set, then you can remove them.

SPEAKER_01 16:29

Okay. Right. So we there's a lot that goes into that. Wow, okay. Very cool. All right. Well, that's it for now, guys. Thanks for tuning in. We hope that you had a good conversation. For more information on today's topic, you can follow Mr. Ken on Instagram and Facebook at Sanderland Gardens. If you liked our podcast and want to hear more, we post new episodes every Tuesday. You can find us on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. Also, make sure to follow up with our Instagram and Facebook to stay up to date with our events and weekly posts. And don't forget to like and subscribe. Thank you for tuning in.

SPEAKER_00 17:04

Thank you. Thank you.