How Did You Get Started I suppose like many people I had this fascination with the concept of a tree like we see outside being miniaturised and kept in a small container on a window sill. I tried a bonsai seed kit which failed miserably as nothing appeared above soil level. Next came a mail order “temple tree” which unfortunately did not survive for long. Then I just happened to be watching some obscure television programme and Peter Chan was featured creating an almost “instant” bonsai out of a garden plant. WOW……I had to have a go at that. Shortly after this Harry Tomlinson’s book was published and then I was well and truly hooked!
Who was your Teacher After reading Harry’s book I attended classes with him at his nursery which also helped to expand my already increasing collection. The Bonsai Book by Dan Barton also became my bible and I attended workshops with Dan both in Leeds and at his home. Once I decided that I wanted to start teaching bonsai too I did Dan’s equivalent bonsai degree course where I stayed with him for a week. This intense training programme was truly inspirational. In the late 1990’s I was introduced to Danny Use in Belgium and we became very good friends. Just talking with Danny, seeing his trees and his work was like a breath of fresh air. Based on the Japanese way of approaching bonsai Danny had trees and techniques I had never come across in books. It was like starting out all over again. I was fortunate to be a member of the Kawabe school based in Belgium at Danny’s nursery. With excellent translation and help from Hotsumi Terrakawa it was amazing to be able to learn first hand from a Japanese bonsai master who had studied extensively with Masahiko Kimura. The most satisfying thing was Kawabe confirmed that by this time I was already on the right track in how I approached and taught bonsai. What he did give me was a greater understanding and more in depth knowledge about what I was trying to achieve and how to get there.
Kawabe School in Belgium
Bonsai is like most things we do in life…..there is no substitute for experience! By the time I had established a really large bonsai nursery and was carrying out more classes than probably any other school in Europe it really was the best way to learn. I was working on so much material on a daily basis from small stick like starter twigs to serious specimen trees imported from Japan and everything in between. Basically I learned from my mentors, my students and my mistakes. At your own level and in your own environment you have to try and do the same to progress further in the hobby.
John and Danny Use
Your thoughts on Bonsai Its hard to believe that an encounter with a small tree can have such a dramatic effect on your life and how you live it. As more and more people appear to be regaining an interest in gardening and nature bonsai enables you to become much closer and more intimately involved. You have to harness nature, to work with her so that your tree will respond and grow/shape up just as you want it to. A satisfactory result can be so rewarding, just as a failure or lack of development can be so frustrating. You have to appreciate that however good your tree may be there is always another higher level it can go to. Perhaps what is harder to grasp is that once a tree reaches a certain level you have to change how you treat it to get it the next level. Carrying out the same treatment year after year will often just maintain the tree at its existing level. This is why so many people become frustrated when their bonsai looks pretty much the same after 10 years as it did when they first acquired it. In the past 20 years bonsai in Europe has advanced so quickly with the top trees reaching exceptional levels of refinement previously almost unseen outside of Japan. Danny Use and his Ginkgo exhibitions have to take much of the credit for this. He succeeded in bringing bonsai artists and collectors together from all over Europe. The competitive spirit that developed had everyone working on the best trees they could create to try and win an award. This desire to succeed and present a good tree filtered down from the artists and teachers to their students and their club members. The whole hobby benefitted. Compare the relatively small club exhibition you may visit today with the ones I visited in my early bonsai years. Trees aligned in a row directly on a bare trestle table have been replaced with trees on stands, coverings and backdrops, accent plants and hanging scrolls. Bonsai in Europe and the UK is extremely healthy with an abundance of societies, specialist nurseries, teachers and exhibitions. It is up to you to decide how far you and your trees want to go in this hobby and then to contact the people to take you there.
Do you have a favourite tree species or size tree I have been fortunate in my bonsai life to work on some amazing trees in all varieties and in all sizes. I have also witnessed the amazing transformations that are possible in turning a humble almost insignificant bush into a stunning specimen bonsai. Having conducted so many workshops and classes you never know what you are going to be faced with so I have had to learn to deal with just about everything. I think the outcome for me in all this is that I no longer have a favourite tree species or size. If I am working on a good tree or a piece of raw material with excellent potential then the sense of excitement and anticipation is the same whatever variety or size it happens to be.
What mistakes have you made It is inevitable that this hobby will bring with it failure as well as success……if they tell you the truth everyone will have lost at least one tree. The fact that we are dealing with a living entity does mean that there will always be an element that is outside your control. In my earlier years I did make mistakes and lost some good trees. It still pains me because if I had those trees now with the knowledge and experience I have since gained most of them would be alive today. Sometimes it was doing too much to a tree in one go and then not allowing it enough time to recover before I was working on the tree again. A problem for us all in the west and in modern society is simply impatience. I lost some juniper grafts on large material by trying to progress too quickly. I like to think I have learned from my mistakes and this has had an impact on how I teach bonsai and how we work on my students trees. If I can stop my students making the same mistakes I did and keep their trees alive then my failures have not been totally in vain.
Have you experienced bonsai abroad I was fortunate to be able to help my friend Danny Use with the Ginkgo exhibitions in Belgium which gave me a great insight into organising a bonsai exhibition on an international scale. I was also lucky enough to win awards with my trees at two of the Gingko bonsai events. I have demonstrated in Belgium too but my greatest honour was to be the sole demonstrator in New Zealand’s first national bonsai convention in 2009. At the same time I was also invited to carry out workshops and a demonstration in Sydney Australia. I had an amazing and successful time at both events and could never give enough thanks to all the people involved for their kindness and for making me feel so welcome.
Can you recommend one or two bonsai books This is a dangerous question to be asking someone who has just had a book published on bonsai! Just before we entered the first lockdown a publishing company contacted me and asked if I would be interested in writing a book on bonsai. The timing was perfect and I accepted the challenge. I am really pleased with the result and feel the publishers have done me proud. I have also had some really nice and positive feedback from enthusiasts who have read the book. It is called “The practical art of bonsai” and is published by the Crowood Publishing Company. I gather it is available just about everywhere online. (Well you did ask the question!) I suspect “The Bonsai Book” by Dan Barton and “The complete book of bonsai” by Harry Tomlinson are out of print now but if ever you come across a copy of either buy it…….you won’t be disappointed.
John promoting his new book at Doncaster
What is your best achievement When I first entered this hobby I never really set out to achieve anything other than the pleasure I got from looking after my trees. When I look back at what I have managed to achieve I do find it hard to believe and hope this will be an inspiration to anyone starting this hobby today. I started with nothing. I had interest, enthusiasm, and a few garden centre plants I played around with. I finished up with one of the largest bonsai nurseries in the country and a bonsai school that after 30 years continues to go from strength to strength. I orchestrated the Newstead Bonsai Extravaganza every 2 years and brought over a Bonsai master from Japan. To do this I had the most amazing team of dedicated bonsai helpers you could ever wish for and unbelievably, the uncompromising support of the entire bonsai community not just in England but from Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. For this I will be eternally grateful. I wanted to put something back into the hobby that had given me so much so I served on the committees of both FOBBS, where I was secretary, and also the BTA. Demonstrations and awards for my trees followed both at home and abroad. I have a bonsai DVD and now a book. I appeared on television in gardening angels with Mark Curry. If you have just acquired your first tree, believe me, you have no idea what you are letting yourself in for!!!……..just look what happened to me!! I would like to think that my best achievement is hoping that I continue to help other people improve and develop their trees to get the same uplifting of spirit and immense satisfaction that this hobby is capable of delivering.
Pictures of the Newstead Bonsai Extravaganza
Do you have any future ambitions As you can see from the above I seem to have achieved everything I never set out to achieve!! I have been so lucky to have accomplished any bonsai dreams I may have had. Having driven myself so hard for so many years I seem to have lost the desire to exhibit my trees. In fact I am just in the process of selling most of the trees in my private collection. It will be nice for someone else to get pleasure from my trees and at least I have some of their stories in my book and my memory. I have still never been to Japan so maybe this could be one for the bucket list. If I can continue to inspire my students and their trees to greater things then I think my future ambitions will be adequately satisfied.
John at a workshop
Do you have any other interests or hobbies Judging by the stick I get on social media and in the classroom it seems well documented that most people know my other love is Chelsea football club. I have supported them since I was 10 years old and try to get to see them whenever I can. I absolutely love horses and learned to ride a few years ago. I have not been riding since before Covid. The problem is that this hobby is so dangerous and if I got badly injured it could ruin everything for myself and my business. John Hanby www.johnhanbybonsai.co.uk