NABF Newsletter #5

Feature #12

Collectable Indigenous Trees
of the Northwest

by Dan Robinson
Photos by Abdel, used by permission, Copyright.

Here I was roaming in the logged-off low foothills surrounding the Olympic Mountains in Washington state. Vine maples were what I sought, and they were everywhere. Very close to the Japonica maple in leaf design, the trees were multi-trunked and graceful in this area. As a landscape designer, I would use this tree in the larger form, eight to twelve feet tall. I was traveling along a game-trail where deer browsed, and suddenly every tree along the trail became profoundly stunted and twiggy. It was an amazing transformation. It appeared it was a rest and feed area for the deer.

It was 1958, I had not studied bonsai yet, but I knew that this was the kind of tree the Japanese put in those beautiful pots.

This first discovery set the tone for the rest of my adventures into the art of bonsai. Over the years my penchant for collecting has taken me all over the country, but the Northwest is my home and still my favorite place to look for stunted trees. The Northwest offers a wild coast, rugged mountains, a desert, and multitudes of microclimates. The variety of habitats yields a huge array of conifers suitable for bonsai as well as several seldom used broad leaf evergreen and deciduous trees. I hope the following descriptions gives you a better understanding of why I am so enthusiastic about our collectable indigenous Northwest trees.

PINUS: SEVEN SPECIES

PONDEROSA PINE

Ponderosa is by far the most widely used for bonsai. I have worked with this beauty for 45 years. I started with collected specimens from the east side of the Cascade Mountains, gradually expanding the search to every western state. It has the widest range of any pine in the United States. The Ponderosa has extraordinary rugose bark, durable dead wood, flexible branches, and it achieves profound age. The long needles require sharp pruners to reduce them to a proper length. Despite recent plagues of bark beetle, the Ponderosa pine remains my favorite.

LODGEPOLE PINE

Pinus contorta contorta is the premier bonsai subject of the two Lodgepole pines. It is the coastal form growing from California to Alaska, typified by short, strong, straight vibrant green needles. The bark on the old trees achieves a thickness sought after by the bonsai artist. It has flexible branches, but it is difficult to find transplantable specimens. They are inevitably growing in bog environments, and I have yet to find a fail-safe method to guarantee survival.

Pinus contorta latifolia is identical to the contorta except you will find it to be an inland dweller with scaly exfoliating bark.

LIMBER PINE AND WHITE BARK PINE

Pinus flexilis and Pinus albicaulis are five needle pines and could be America’s answer to the Japanese White Pine. Both have short blue-green needles and achieve an interesting grooved bark. I have worked with both and lost them after many years due to their apathy over living in the dank western Washington climate. Both the flexilis and the albicaulis need high-and-dry climes. They like the ever-present alpine dew, and they want it gone by 7am.

SUGAR PINE

Pinus lambertiana is commonly found in California, but will find its way into the southern Oregon Siskiyu Mountains. I have one specimen, an old one, exhibiting dead wood and short needles. It doesn’t seem to mind our wet winters and is showing some signs of vigor after seven years in a container. The bark is furrowed and I look forward to carving and wiring the branches.

HEMLOCK

Tsuga or hemlock is found in two forms. The Mountain Hemlock, Tsuga mertensiana is the most sought after as a collected tree because of the unusual form it achieves in its alpine habitat. You can find it towering as a timber tree, or prostrate from the weight of snow. The Mountain Hemlock grows from Alaska to the Sierras to Idaho’s Bitterroot Mountains. Short needles surround the twig, branches achieve graceful planes, the bark thickens into furrows and it adapts well to pot culture. This particular hemlock has an environmental limitation. It needs cool nights. It is rare, for instance, to find a live Mountain Hemlock in Portland, Oregon. Portland is close to productive nursery growing grounds, where conditions are nearly perfect, but Hemlocks are alpine trees and they don’t forget it. I have had feedback from friends and clients who have tried hemlocks on the East Coast, and without fail, they survive only a year or two and then die. In good conscience, I won’t ship a hemlock where it won’t thrive.

Western Hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) is very similar to its mountain brother, except that its needles don’t surround the twig. The needles provide a flat branch pattern, lending itself to bonsai design. It is rare to find a stunted one due to its lowland benevolent growing habitat. I have several hybrids of the two hemlocks. These trees were collected in Alaska where all habitats converge at sea level. A Western Hemlock in the National Collection in Washington, D.C. is doing well. The Western Hemlock is more like the Eastern Hemlock in that it tolerates warmer nocturnal temperatures.

WESTERN RED CEDAR

Red cedar (Thuja plicata) achieves huge dimensions, 25 feet in diameter and 250 feet tall. That’s where all that cedar siding, shakes, shingles and fencing come from. It also can be found in a stunted form. Bogs seem to be the only place to find the ancient dwarfed forms of cedar. The foliage is the same as the Eastern White Cedar but slightly larger and coarser. The wood is durable, very easy to carve, and weathers our penetrating damp climate. I have demonstrated on cedar at our local club, and Elandan Gardens has several in its collection. Since this tree is found in many arboretums around the country, it is possible that cedar would succeed in bonsai culture in many areas besides the Northwest.

ALASKA YELLOW CEDAR

This giant of the False Cypress family ranges through the alpine areas of the coastal and Cascade mountains from Oregon to Alaska. I have been aware of Yellow Cedar for many years but its scruffy growth habit, absence of a quality trunk line and coarse foliage just didn’t appeal to me. A trip to Ketchican, Alaska in 1994 produced an excellent specimen and the hunt was on. The Alaska Yellow Cedar has durable wood, and the coarse foliage eventually becomes fine and compact with persistent pruning. I now look for and find fine ancient specimens. You will find one of these ancients on display at Elandan Gardens.

JUNIPER

The juniper family is represented by two exciting species. Juniperus occidentalis or Western Juniper is found in central Oregon. I first collected this variety in 1961 near Bend, Oregon. Over the past 40 years

I have collected and developed several dozen junipers, each one offering swirling, ancient trunks. But for all the benefits, there were liabilities. Foliage adjustment to Western Washington’s moisture was poor and over a long period, most of the trees died. Eastern Oregon is high desert and the climate is very dry. I began juniper foliage replacement in the mid-sixties. By replacing the natural foliage with a moisture tolerant replacement such as Juniperus chinensis shimpaku, my experience improved remarkably. Juniperus occidentalis has red under-bark and very hard durable wood. A sub-species of the western juniper is the Sierra Juniper (Junipeus occidentalis australis).

Rocky Mountain Juniper, Juniperus scopularum, is my all time favorite. This juniper is found in the San Juan Islands of Washington State, but all of my specimens were extracted from Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota and Colorado. This juniper produces ancient, gnarly, stunted forms, with foliage ranging from blue to light green in color. Achieving profound age, the oldest specimen in Elandan Gardens is approaching 1500 years. Tolerant of our wet winters, the Rocky Mountain Juniper still suffers from twig blight, but responds favorably to fungicides.

LARCH
Two larch varieties are found in the eastern portion of the Northwest. Larix occidentalis and Larix lyalli are fairly common in the Bitterroot Mountains of Idaho. Early in my bonsai experience I worked with both, found some great ones, but foliar fungus killed them and cooled my ardor. With some experience with fungicides, these varieties can be successful in the west.

COAST REDWOOD
Sequoia sempervirens is a northwest tree if southwest Oregon counts. I have worked with this species for over 45 years. My grove of five trunks emanating from a burl that rooted is a remarkable representation of a natural grove of redwood trees. One hitch in this endorsement is that there are different foliar types on different trees. Some foliage is flat and is easy to manage, but some trees manifest a foliage which stands up, and appears to be like a needle juniper. These are much harder to manage. Buy or find a flat one, you will thank me.

DOUGLAS FIR

Douglas fir is a dimorphic species. The coastal form, Pseudotsuga menzieseii dominates the forests west of the Cascade Mountains. Huge, by any standard, the largest was 23 feet in diameter and 416 feet tall. Unfortunately this giant was reduced to lumber in the early part of the twentieth century. The interior form is known as the Big Cone Douglas fir, Pseudotsuga macrocarpa. I have two old Big Cone forms and they have developed into fine bonsai. The effort to develop shorter, more compact branches can be successful, however back-budding is unpredictable.

SPRUCE

The Spruce family is represented in the northwest with two strong species; the Sitka (Picea sitkensis) and the Englemann (Picea englemannii). Sitka spruce is a coastal form, running from California to Alaska. In the benevolent growing conditions of the coastal areas, it achieves gigantic proportions. One of the largest trees ever cut down was a Sitka spruce. Dwarf forms can be found where the elements are abusive. Coastal rocks have yielded my best specimens. Very sharp needles come with this variety, so it should be approached with care. One beauty, collected from the West Coast of Vancouver Island is doing fine in Cincinnati. Englemann spruce is found all over the inland mountains east of the Cascade summit. It has soft, short needles, flexible branches and handsome scaly bark, valuable ingredients in bonsai design.

The list of conifers appropriate for bonsai is impressive. I’ve mentioned eighteen of my favorite varieties. There are more, of course, that I haven’t experienced. You might try the true fir family, Incense cedar, Port Orford Cedar, Jeffrey pine, Pacific yew, Bishop and Knob Cone Pines. Actually I’ve come across all of these, but haven’t found any quality specimens. It’s my opinion that it’s more important to pursue quality over quantity.

The Northwest is really conifer country. The deciduous trees, though prevalent, present fewer bonsai choices. We’ve already approached the vine maple, and there is one other deciduous tree that deserves our attention. The Dry-slope Hackberry, Celtis reticulata, is an interesting tree, commonly found growing on the dry, scree slopes of the interior West. It has elm-like fuzzy leaves, with a distinctive winged bark. I have one specimen in my collection that awaits its training moment.

Only two broad-leaf evergreens have caught my interest. Mountain mahogany (Cercocarpus ledifolius) offers small narrow leaves, yellow blossoms and thick, rugose bark. The Indians traveled to the Medicine Bow Mountains and made their bows out of the Mountain Mahogany wood that grew there. It is a small, brushy tree and can be found in many areas of the interior West.

The last tree of this brief treatise is everyone’s favorite, the manzanita. The dwarf form of its California brother is called “Media”, Arctostaphylos media. The media is adorned with glossy, small dark leaves, pendulous pink bell-shaped flowers, followed by small round red, persistent berries. The trunk is coral-orange to terra cotta red, with exfoliating bark. This native has it all. I have written about it and worked with media since the 60’s, treasuring it’s native desire to be a bonsai. The gnarly trunk is usually singular and the branches are flexible enough for wiring. It is fairly easy to transplant, and demands excellent drainage. I have one large media with a three-inch caliper trunk supporting a 25-inch crown of foliage.

The remarkable abundance of suitable bonsai material which is found here in the Northwest is amazing. Equally remarkable is the variety of climate and topographical elements. These elements are the causative agents in the forming of naturally stunted trees. Finding and successfully transplanting these beauties is a challenge, but our temperate, moist climate gives us an edge.

Head west bonsai hunters! Come see us at Elandan Gardens.