JOHN HANBY NOTES from Brenda Parker

[MelaQuin]

JOHN HANBY NOTES by BRENDA PARKER
reprinted with Brenda Parker's kind permission from the Illawarra Bonsai Club November 2009 Newsletter
At the weekend we had an excellent opportunity to see John Hanby from England, who is a noted bonsai artist together with being a nurseryman. He was here only for the weekend after being the guest demonstrator at the convention in New Zealand and was on his way back home when we were lucky enough to engage him here for that time sponsored by Australian National Bonsai.

On Saturday we had workshops with him working on our trees and on the Sunday he was restyling some old bonsais and giving great critiques on the trees that belonged to members of National. He was very informative, amiable and forth giving with his information and it was so unfortunate that the attendance was very low despite his notoriety.

It is not very often that we get the calibre of such notable bonsai artists to our shores and it seems such a shame that people fail to make the effort to come to these events that take lots of time and organization for them to come to fruition. As one member said to me, that for many of us it is impossible to travel overseas to see these artists and when we get the opportunity given to us here we don’t take it. I would have to say that everyone missed out
on a very special weekend.
There were quite a few interesting things that I noted that John spoke of that would be of interest to you and I have jotted them down in bullet points to make them easier to remember and understand.
- You find more tuition within a club than is found in books so that you can get to another level with your trees.
- Making mistakes is a good way to learn.
- Bonsai is a partnership between you and the tree. A special bonding and you have to learn to grow together. Don’t be in a hurry.
- It takes time and patience to tighten the foliage and patience to attain good foliage.
- PASSION: Dedicate time and money only to the level that you wish to aspire to with your trees.
- OBJECTIVES: Work out to what level you wish to reach your goals.
- METHOD: Mentor – find a person that you respect and learn from them. Share the knowledge.
- CLUB: Join a club to be with other people who share the same passion.
- EXPERIMENT: Try something new and if it works share it with your fellow enthusiasts.
- HEALTH: The health of your tree should be absolutely paramount. Never, ever work on a sick tree. Let is recover and grow. Feed your trees fortnightly with liquid feed.
- WATCH AND WAIT: It is important not to be in a hurry and let your tree evolve and grow healthily.
- ASSESS RESULTS: Look at your mentor’s trees. Their knowledge is only as good as their own trees.
- MOVE FORWARD: Always look forward and bring your trees forward by letting them grow and evolve the way they know best. Photograph them often to see the changes and improvements.
- Never touch the bark of an old and gnarled tree when repotting e.g. black pine – always respect the age of the old tree. (John has the utmost respect for old trees which I thought was an admirable quality.)
- Work only on very healthy and well fed trees.
- ‘Listen’ to your trees.
- Do not pinch back new growth on junipers – tip prune the centre tip only with scissors and then wire the small side shoots.
- When starting on a tree always remove the obvious bad points first.
- Remove all vertical and underneath growth on branches and wire all side branches.
- Always keep the branches pruned on the top of large growing trees but let the bottom branches grow to thicken.
- Establish the moss in pots weeks or even months before a show.
- Grow soes (accent plants) to let them fully establish before showing.
- When displaying trees never put them straight on a table without a stand or mat under them.
WARNING: Bonsai can damage your wealth!!!!

John was very knowledgeable and passionate about his trees and we thought that he was such a ‘gentle man’ and it showed in his workshops and demonstrations. I hope that the next time you get an opportunity to see someone, like John, from overseas that you will take that time out to learn and experience more about this fascinating art form from them. Every time you go to these events if you can take away just one or two new ideas or techniques
you will be all the richer for it.
For further information go to his website http://www.johnhanby.co.uk and see his amazing nursery, coffee houses and gift shops on his property. Make sure that you look at his soes (Kusamono) that he loves and he does them himself – they are amazing.