Kusamura Bonsai Club

Ruben Guzman on Liquidamber

	From Ruben Guzman's presentation at the February 2001 Meeting
	Ruben Guzman demonstrated his unique way of creating a group planting. (There seem to be as many ways as there are bonsai artists.) Ruben's trees were Liquidamber that he had grown from seed in two- and four-inch plastic pots. To get fatter trunks, seedlings can be grown in the ground for a year or two. A collection of Liquidamber trees in 4 inch pots -- the "before" picture. For a group planting, there should be variation in the heights and trunk diameters of the trees, and, to add interest, they should not be perfectly straight. Ruben said that liquidambers give somewhat the same effect as Japanese maples but are sturdier. The leaves are large, but reduce after several years of bonsai training. For his groups, Ruben prefers using shallow oval pots in blue, turquoise, or white--colors that go well with the colors of fall leaves. He prepared his pot with screen and lots of long wires attached to the bottom to be used later to stabilize the trees. For more interest, Ruben mounded up the soil in the pot with the apex about 1/3 of the way from one side. He prefers to plant all the trees in one group, rather than in the two groups that other bonsai artists sometimes use. Ruben Guzman (right) and Lonnie McCormick cutting rootballs down to size. He prepared fifteen trees by reducing their root balls, not bare-rooting them. This makes it easy to move them around until a pleasing composition is found, and helps to stabilize them in the pot. He planted the largest tree vertically on the apex of the mound. The other trees were placed leaning slightly away from it and with varying distances between them. It is important that they not be placed in straight lines. Ruben stressed the desirability of leaving negative (or empty) space in the front, but off to one side, in the composition. He deferred wiring the trees until they are established in their pot. Several rootballs cut down to size and roughly placed. Ruben adjusts the spacing of two trees before wiring them in place. After soil was added and worked in, the wires in the pot were used to stabilize the group. Next, the trees on either side of the main tree were trimmed (shortened), each one a little more than the last to create the smooth (as opposed to jagged) line that he prefers. The top of the group was suggestive of a scalene triangle. Tree tops trimmed to suggest a scalene triangle.   The finished project.   Ruben's soil is 60% organic (2 parts Firbark, 1 part Supersoil) and 40% inorganic (sand, etc.). He says that Liquidamber don't like hot afternoon sun   Kusamura thanks you, Ruben, for a very informative talk and demonstration.

Last Updated March 6, 2001.

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