Back to News | Fuchsia MENU IN ENGLISH | INNEHÅLLSMENY PÅ SVENSKA | Home | Fuchsia Pics | Pics My Garden | Fuchsia Links | Fuchsia Cultivation | Heat Fuchsias | Perennial Fuchsias | Fuchsia Species | Fuchsia Tips | Fuchsia Propagation | Winter Care | Fuchsia Q & A | Fuchsia Disorders | The Swedish Fuchsia Society | Fuchsia Addresses | USDA Zones in Europe & USA | WWW Fuchsia Snips | Fuchsia Books | Fuchsia Guest Book | Fuchsia FAQ | Fuchsiana | Garden Links | Celsius & Farenheit
FUCHSIA BONSAI
Iris Cohen's definition of a BONSAI
Jan 9
Fuchsia Bonsai 'Forget-me- not' (Post Card) (11 K)Fuchsia Bonsai 'Miss California'
- 20 years old... (17
K)Fuchsia Bonsai 'Miss California' (25 K)Fuchsia Bonsai 'Papoose' (17 K)Fuchsia Bonsai 'Tennessee Waltz'
(16 K)Bonsai
of 'Countess of Aberdeen' (34
K) Date: Tue, 27 May 1997 , I received this mail from Lorna:
From: Lorna Herchenson <LHerchenson@bc.sympatico.ca>
To: kenneth.nilsson@mbox3.swipnet.se
Subject: fuchsia bonsais above
Dear Kenneth:
I visited with David Choo today and got the names of the fuchsia bonsai
for you. The first unknown one on your list in Papoose and the second one in Tennessee
Waltz. He was very pleased to see his name on the internet and your
Web Site. Hopefully her will get some more pictures for you. I'll be in
touch soon.
Lorna.
On April 27 1997 I received a snail mail from Lorna Herchenson, Vancouver Canada.
Dear Kenneth:
I have enclosed a number of pictures for you. I would like them all back
except the post card. These are all pictures that David Choo has taken. He is a
professional photographer (and won awards for his photography) and also
our Bonsai instructor. He does
not grow any other bonsai but fuchsias. He
also has an artistic eye which you can see from the photos. Generally speaking,
we have a hard time getting bonsai people to understand that fuchsias can
be very brittle and wiring can ruin a plant if you are not careful. David
says you are welcome to use any of the pictures as you see fit. His Miss
California was on the cover of the AFS Bulletin along with an article on
bonsai. Miss California was at least 20 years old when he worked on it
and won numerous trophies (1 a year) at our Annual Show and Competition
and then it just up and died. What is even more interesting to me was that
it belonged to my husbands aunt who was about to throw it out and David
was so excited when he got it.
I am also enclosing a picture of"Dorothy Cunningham". She was
one our original members and passed away in 1995. She was a good friend
and I do miss her. It was registered in 1994 by our Club.
I will be attending the Fuchsia Convention in September at North Worchestershire
in England in September. One of the growers in Washington State in the
USA is thinking of going and then taking a side trip to Sweden where his
mother was born. His name is Ove Pearson and he owns Pearson's Nursery
in Kent, Washington which is just south of Seattle. He is the one who introduced
the Lorna Herchenson fuchsia.
If you need any more pictures of bonsai or any more information you can
write directly to David Choo. Unfortunately, he is not on the Internet
yet. He is also interested in Orchids and has been having some success
at growing from seed.
I'll be in touch again.
(Jan 9 1998)
Of course, if you ask 10 bonsai growers for a definition of bonsai,
you will get 12 definitions, but this is mine. A bonsai is a tree that
is trained to represent in miniature a tree in nature. Imagine that you
have a canvas about 60 cm. high and you paint a picture of a tree. It can
be an imaginary tree from Fairyland or a representation of a real tree,
but it has to give you the feeling of a live tree. The trunk, branches,
leaves, and flowers or fruit must all be in proportion. When you look at
this painting you feel that you are 15 cm. high and you can walk right
into the picture and stand under the tree. That is what a good bonsai does
with a living tree.
I haven't seen many fuchsias lately since they don't do well around here
except in a conservatory. But I would say that a typical fuchsia is a woody
vine, usually grown in a hanging pot, say 30 cm. wide. The plant is perhaps
40 cm. wide, with leaves 5 cm. long and 5 or 6 cm. flowers.
When you train a bonsai, you can get the leaves to reduce in size, but
not the flowers (or fruit). If you wanted to have a bonsai apple tree,
you would start with a crabapple. Most bonsai growers prefer to start with
a species or cultivar that has smaller than average leaves, and the flowers
have to be in proportion. If you were going to create a fuchsia bonsai,
you would start with one of the miniature species or hybrids, like 'Lottie
Hobbie' or 'Isis.' You would let it grow big at first to get a nice fat
trunk, and then prune it to get the branches and twigs in a graceful design.
It is not customary to grow a bonsai in a hanging pot (although I have
seen them in flat-backed pots on the wall), so If you wanted a hanging
design you would grow it as what we call a cascade, in a tall, narrow pot.
You could also train it as a standard, with a weeping top.
I hope this gives you a better idea.
IrisCohen
<IrisCohen@aol.com>
Back to News | Fuchsia MENU IN ENGLISH | INNEHÅLLSMENY PÅ SVENSKA | Home | Fuchsia Pics | Pics My Garden | Fuchsia Links | Fuchsia Cultivation | Heat Fuchsias | Perennial Fuchsias | Fuchsia Species | Fuchsia Tips | Fuchsia Propagation | Winter Care | Fuchsia Q & A | Fuchsia Disorders | The Swedish Fuchsia Society | Fuchsia Addresses | USDA Zones in Europe & USA | WWW Fuchsia Snips | Fuchsia Books | Fuchsia Guest Book | Fuchsia FAQ | Fuchsiana | Garden Links | Celsius & Farenheit