Last weekend the Yamato Bonsai Kai held their 48th annual exhibition in Union City, California.
For those unfamiliar with the club, Yamato Bonsai Kai is a “sensei club” – a club with a designated teacher. Since 1976, Yoneo “Johnny” Uchida, proprietor of Grove Way Bonsai Nursery, has been the club sensei.
Johnny displayed some of his favorite trees at the exhibit this year, including a Western juniper designed by Shinji Suzuki and a California juniper designed by Masahiko Kimura.
Western juniper
California juniper
Two other trees from Johnny’s collection included a root over rock trident maple and a cork-bark pine.
Trident maple
Cork-bark pine
It was nice to see the season reflected in the exhibit as some trees were just starting to show fall color while others were at their peak.
Raft-style Japanese maple
Cork-bark elm
Japanese maple
Tokonoma display with Prostrata juniper
Thanks to Johnny Uchida and the Yamato Bonsai Kai for putting on another beautiful show!
Space Available for November Bonsai Development Intensive
A slot has opened up for this fall’s Development Intensive to be held on November 1-3. See details and reserve a spot on the Intensive page.
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Paolo Macchi says
Hi, beutifu trees, setting and pictures. It will be nice to ad some info like trees height.
Thank you.
Jonas Dupuich says
Thanks Paolo – I’ll have to bring a tape measure to the exhibit next time!
Guy says
Hi, Jonas, long time follower, great info. and easy for anyone to understand, thank you ! my question is how is the proper way to root prune a bonsai on a slab rock, I have two larches on a rock slab for about 25 years, very healthy, but never been done. await your response. thank you
Jonas Dupuich says
Great question guy. If the trees are healthy, you may not need to root prune at this point. When it becomes difficult to keep the trees healthy, they can be removed from the rock and worked on like any other tree and reattached to the slab. This can be tricky when the rock surface is irregular (like lava rocks) but isn’t as bad when the rock surface is relatively smooth.
Brian Conway says
Thanks for visiting our show. We really appreciate the review, as well as the exposure.
The ‘cross promotion’ is very much a benefit to our club!
Jonas Dupuich says
Thanks Brian – I had a great time!