The Spirituality of Bonsai: A Journal of Finding Peace in an Age of Tyranny By Gerald (Jerry) Carpenter Intro It is cool but bright in the rising sun as I step purposely out on my patio bonsai garden. I have a chair strategically placed looking directly at a tree positioned carefully on two dark milk
Had to share this special little beauty. This pearl berry was purchased from Sandy V before her passing. It has been developed as a shohin. It is a very small compact trunk. Next year this will be transferred to a larger pot to expand the trunk but this year it is doing well and starting
I have official begun working on my tropical trees in the collection. Several will be re-potted this weekend. All of these trees have been allowed their Spring blowout and now it is time to shape and refine.
Last year I posted an article on boxwood care and ramification. It is time to revisit that tree and see how it developed. The tree has grown steadily and untouched since last summer. This was to allow for branch thickening and new buds to be created on the interior of the tree. That results is
Summer has come in with a roar and it is only May 25. Temperatures are reaching 100 degrees in my garden. Out come the tropical and sub-tropical trees. Today I visit several old friends and some of my favorite trees in the collection. Olives have brought me joy for over 15 years of collection work.
We are still in the shelter-in-place orders for a bit longer in California. This season, more time has been given to my collection than in previous years; the trees are wanting me to return to office work so I stop putzing with them on a daily basis. This time gave me the opportunity to see
It has been a very odd time in our lives. 2020 started out with a roar and has gotten more and more complex. Some bloggers talk about doing bonsai in this COVID-19 shelter-in-place time has been beneficial to their collections, they have had more time to work on their trees. For those in the business
These are odd times we living now. In California we are all under a shelter-in-place order with the spread of COVID-19 spreading around. One bright side of this crisis for bonsai folks is the change to stay home and play with trees more than normal. We and they are a captive audience. The weather here
January has been a ticking clock of work that must be done this month. Today, I finally took on the last major re-potting of the month. Everything else can wait til February and warming temperatures. This month, I had to complete the California Juniper. The California Juniper is an old legacy tree that has been
Well, I have been remiss in posting. Most of my tree work has been done at the Bonsai Garden at Lake Merritt since December but now it is time to address some of my trees. Pines need to get re-potted and some of my trees are showing early budding which will push their window of
