Projects consumed the morning on the 4th of July. Not feeling very festive for so many reasons that I will not discuss in my blog. On the docket this morning was a shohin Japanese Black Pine and a client Boxwood. After participating in an on-line training session about shohin black pines last night I was
Daytime temps here in Santa Clara are reaching upper 80s to mid 90s now. Work in the garden starts to slow down since most plants start shutting down in the 90s except for the tropical trees that begin to flourish as long as there is good humidity. Here in CA I have to create the
Purchased this cork oak from a nursery in southern California in 2009. It was in a standard nursery pot from a bonsai grower. When I got it home I was shocked to see that its roots were mostly 4 plus inches below the soil level with a stick in between with only a few small
Daimyo Oak 2018 The Daimyo Oak is the king of my collection. It has such a provenance. Seed carried from Japan by a club member and planted in 1960. Fifty-eight years ago this was an acorn. It was styled by that club member and then upon his passing, donated to the Bonsai Garden at Lake
Today I revisit my little tropical collection to plan for the summer design work. I will be doing a demo in July and need to get these trees planned for that period. Descriptions are on the tree photos. If you notice a white material on the leaves; that is from the high mineral content of
Right now I am handicapped with a hand injury and lingering issues from sickness. That give me time to catch up on some stories and ask others to move trees around so I can putter about for a while. This past weekend the local bonsai club asked if I would demo the creation of a Saikei;
Today I faced an olive with some hard love. It had to be done. Last year all of my olives were re-potted and as usual they sulk and loose material. They have grown well in the overly warm winter to put out extensive growth. That growth; however, was not even and I lost considerable internal
It is show time next weekend so there is a lot of final cleanup and show display stand testing. We preset all the trees with a stand so we know we have the correct ones for the display. Not too large, not too small, the correct color, correct tree placement. As usually I do not
This stump has been in training for over 10 years. The past 3 years has seen a massive change in how it is pruned and shaped. The carving was completed and now the branches are thriving. This will go to show in its new Gremel pot. As this tree develops it will take on more
I have a Sierra Juniper that has been in training since 2009 that will make its first show appearance. Is is perfect and national show worth; oh heck no, but it has been an effort of love and desire to see where the master who set the design fulfilled. This year, Master Mitsuya will come
