Some trees point left, others point right. White pine that points to the left(This and subsequent photos are from the 2020 Kokufu exhibition) Korean hornbeam that slants to the right There are a number of ways to indicate direction or flow in bonsai. In the above examples, the line of the trunk (from the base […]
Display
Bonsai is meant to be displayed. The Display posts cover how to present bonsai at exhibits, the Accents with which bonsai are displayed, and the criteria we use when selecting Bonsai Pots.
The bonsai pottery of Nao Tokutake
One of the highlights of attending the U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition, held every other year in Rochester, New York, is meeting and catching up with people from across the bonsai community. As luck would have it, Andrew Robson introduced me to Portland ceramicist Nao Tokutake at this year’s event. Nao toured the exhibition with Andrew […]
Selecting stands for a medium display
Before heading east to the U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition, I put together a display for a Yaupon holly. I didn’t have a good second tree for the display so I borrowed a small shimpaku from Eric Schrader. Eric and I then tried dozens of combinations of stands and accents to see which we liked best. […]
Pot selection exercise – Japanese maple
I always look forward to repotting trees that haven’t been repotted in a while. It’s a great opportunity to make improvements to the surface roots and I can change the look of the tree by selecting a new container. Although the focus of this post will be on container selection, here are some details about […]
Kinsai satsuki azalea
‘Kinsai’ is a popular satsuki azalea cultivar. The flowers are red and the petals are narrow. Mostly. There are a few different variations of kinsai (pink flowers, wide petals, etc.), and there can be considerable variation among the flowers on a single tree. You can see this on the specimen below that has started to […]