GNOBS Newsletter, September 1993 Profiles:
Tom Phillips

Text: Lola Curtis
Photos: Lynne Gegenheimer

On a hot Sunday afternoon in June, Lynne & I took a road trip to the West Bank, or “best bank” as those who live there call it. Our destination – Tom Phillips’ home. Tom is one of those modest, self-effacing people who does beautiful, artistic bonsai. He had graciously agreed to be interviewed.

We were shown into a backyard with bonsai displayed individually on pedestals amongst wildly blooming Hydrangea along the back fence. A second grouping of bonsai were displayed to our left center. To our left, against the house, was a work area with a shaded work table a hot-house shed and a few benches of “potensai” (potential bonsai). There was a picnic table to the right for enjoying the whole scene from.

[Work area]

As tom walked us amongst his trees, I asked him which was his favorite and he proudly led us to a cork bark elm along the back fence. This one started as a potensai purchased from Brussell’s Nursery in 1986. It was just “a blob” at that time. As you can see from Photo A (supplied by Tom, who is also an excellent photographer) it isn’t a blob anymore!

He found the tree hardy, easy to work with and the trunk texture interesting. This tree hooked him, cork-bark elm remains his favorite species to work.

[Photo A]

Another favorite tree is his very first bonsai. Unlike many bonsaists, his first tree is still alive and thriving. It was a gift to him from his daughter, Rebecca. She knew he loved plants and gardening and picked up a juniper “bonsai” at a craft fair in 1985. It was typical of that artistic genre (see Photo B), just a trimmed shrub (probably in a plastic pot, I forgot to ask). No matter, it sparked his interest and later that year he came across IBC ’85 here in New Orleans. There he looked a trees and signed up for BCI and ABS magazines.

[Photo B]

He read and worked and learned on his own until he discovered GNOBS in 1986 (somehow he’d missed them at the convention) and joined. Tom feels GNOBS greatly accelerated his growth. He’d learned a lot by reading and doing but seeking other’s trees and how they worked was much better and lent confidence. The Masters Program was a real eye-opener. The three Masters that were especially helpful to him were Vaughn Banting and Chase Rosade because of their horticultural knowledge and excellent teaching skills and Warren Hill because of his strong artistic sense of style.

Tom’s trees show his skill and artistic growth and his first tree is no longer a trimmed shrub. It has literally grown with him, including several style and pot changes. Its current form is a nice semicascade, we even got him to hold still for a photo with it.

As mentioned earlier, the trees are displayed individually. This is ideal for enjoyment. Each tree can be contemplated on its own without the others intruding. Displaying the trees singly and spreading them out is made workable by a drip irrigation system. Black tubing runs up the back of each tree stand and the end is staked into the pot. When the Rainbird computer control says it’s time water begins dripping into each pot. The computer runs on household electricity but has a back-up battery in case of power failure.

Tom became interested in drip irrigation because he didn’t want to burden his wife or friends with watering duty and has been pleased with the overall results. The only slight problem is, each line drips at the same rate and there’s no way to modify it for a tree’s likes or dislikes. To get around that Tom adds a second line for water lovers and uses an extremely fast draining soil mix for those that like it dry.

[Central line for irrigation system]

After looking at his trees, we looked at his potensai. Several years ago he & I had gone on a club dig and I saw him digging and sweating hard (in January) to capture a leafless vine. It had a nice trunk, and we were 90% sure it wasn’t poison ivy, but didn’t know what it was. I asked about it, yes indeed it’s still alive, thriving and turned out to be an unruly wild-grape. It has to be pruned severely but he thinks it will still work out.

Another interesting potensai was his “toilet tree”. This bougainvillea was a rootless stump whacked off another tree during a workshop at IBC in Memphis. He wrapped its bare stump in newspaper then tucked it into his hotel room toilet (wonder what the maid thought when she came in to clean?) until he could bring it home. It rooted well and is growing nicely. I can’t wait to see how it turns out! With a man of Tom’s talent it’ll be real good, possibly great.

Lynne and I would like to thank Tom and his wife, Evelyn, for their hospitality. Rumor has it that their yard may be on our fall tour – if so, don’t miss it!

[Individual line to tree (note water drop in photo, Lynne's proud of that shot)]