The last tree to start growing in my garden each spring is also the largest. It’s a cork oak I acquired from Kenji Miyata. Cork oak I try to cut back and wire my oaks in fall or winter, but I often put this off for the big oak as it typically doesn’t start growing […]
Search Results for: juniper
Kokufu 101: shohin
Today I’d like to share a single tip for styling shohin bonsai – focus on branch density. As you look at photos of shohin displayed at this year’s Kokufu exhibit, you’ll notice that all of the trees are full. There’s a good reason for this. Because the trees are displayed in groups, it makes sense […]
Kokufu 101: conifers
You can often tell the species of a tree by its shape. The tree below could be one of three different species – needle juniper, cryptomeria, or hinoki cypress. Looking closer at the foliage,we can see this is a hinoki, a species that’s commonly styled as formal upright bonsai with highly refined branch pads. Formal […]
Highlights from the Omiya Bonsai Museum’s garden
The Omiya Bonsai Museum’s garden area features a rotating selection of 40-50 trees from the museum’s collection. Many of these trees originally belonged to the Takagi Bonsai Museum. Over time, the collection has grown to become one of the more impressive bonsai gardens in Japan. The museum garden The garden is best appreciated from the […]
A visit to Kimura’s bonsai garden
I’m glad I made it to Masahiko Kimura’s garden this year. I had an hour before the sun went down which was just enough time to visit some of my favorite trees and take a few photos. Posing with a Japanese black pine Looking closely at the trees in Kimura’s garden reveals the characteristics we […]