Christine H. Wetzel/ViewJim Gollmer, the Las Vegas Bonsai Society vice president, cuts a branch during a demonstration, Feb. 13 at the Nevada Garden Club, 3333 W. Washington Blvd.
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Up close, they look like life-sized trees, with their large trunks and dense foliage. But take a step back, and suddenly they're a small-sized art form, right down to their aesthetically pleasing shapes.
It's the ancient art of bonsai, the dwarfing and carefully cultivated forms that began in China in about 1000 A.D. and was introduced to Japan through Zen Buddhism from 1185 to 1333, during what is known as the Kamakura period.
Bonsai is practiced by members of the Las Vegas Bonsai Society, which meets at 7 p.m. on the second Wednesday of each month at the Nevada Garden Club Center, 3333 W. Washington Ave.
The club organized in 1990, when several bonsai enthusiasts found they shared a mutual interest in the art. The first Las Vegas Bonsai Society show was held eight months later.
Meetings give enthusiasts a chance to exchange information and to learn from demonstrations of different aspects of growing and maintaining the trees. Last month, society President Mike Harris demonstrated wiring techniques and the refinement of a prostrata juniper tree that the society first worked on last fall.
Proper wiring of a tree's branches is one of the basic skills needed to create an aesthetically pleasing shape. The wire trains the tree to hold a specific shape. Thicker-gauge wire is used at the lower part of the tree, and thinner wire is used on the more delicate, higher branches.
Planning ahead is essential; improvising the shape as the tree grows doesn't work, Harris said.
One part of the planning is deciding which side of the tree should face the viewer.
"A landscape tree can be viewed from all sides," said Harris. "But all bonsai trees have a specific front."
Jim Gollmer, past president of the Bonsai Society and current vice president, is considered by Harris to be the group's top expert. Gollmer became interested 25 years ago in bonsai after paying a visit to the Japanese garden in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.
"I thought it was kind of a neat hobby," said Gollmer, "but I found out it wasn't an easy one. I bought some trees and killed them."
While some people start a tree from seeds, Gollmer doesn't recommend it.
"It takes too long," he said.
Instead, Gollmer buys a small tree from a nursery and begins the task of cutting it back and letting it sprout again. Some trees don't work well in creating bonsai. Gollmer says it's best to use trees with smaller foliage, such as an olive or a pine. Other trees used include azalea, camellia, bamboo, maples, larches and plum. The trees are placed outdoors in small pots, which helps keep them on a small scale.
As the tree begins growing out, it begins to take on its own shape.
"You look at the trunk to see how it's growing naturally," Gollmer said.
Then the tree can be molded into a nicely composed shape using the wire. There are two basic styles -- classic and informal.
In classic, the trunk of the tree is wider at the base and tapers off at the top, while the informal style is the opposite. It's also more difficult to master.
Within the basic styles are formal upright, informal upright, slanting style, cascade and semi-cascade. Each style requires extensive wiring to obtain the desired effect.
"I like to wire," said Gollmer. "It's soothing."
But it's also a skill that takes time to learn properly because of the need to wire certain branches together -- which ones can be tricky to figure out.
Gollmer learned the art of bonsai from a Japanese master in California.
"Here, it's considered more of a craft. In Japan, it's more of a high art," he said. "You're trying to make something look like something that's not growing in your backyard."
Maintaining the trees can be difficult, especially in Las Vegas, Gollmer said.
"This is probably the worst place to do this," Gollmer said. "There's heat, a lack of humidity, bad water, high winds. Even Phoenix is better than here, and you're always fighting lime scale."
One thing the trees really need -- sunshine -- is abundant in Southern Nevada, but too much of a good thing can harm the tree's all-important roots. When they get too much heat, they die. Water cools the roots, but over-watering isn't good, either.
"It's a balancing act," Gollmer said.
Keeping the soil moist is essential, as is proper drainage, bonsai experts agree. And this time of year, be on the lookout for sudden cold spells.
Properly cared for, bonsai trees can live hundreds of years.
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