Last month the Japanese Bonsai Association hosted the 100th national exhibit, the Kokufu, at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum in Ueno Park, Tokyo. The event was busier than it has been in recent years, and a larger percentage of the visitors were foreign. As for the bonsai, there was a good number of special trees […]
Excursions
Excursion posts feature visits to bonsai gardens in the U.S. and in Japan, visits to the Kyoto's Most Renown Gardens, and trips into the mountains to see junipers and pines in their natural setting.
Kouka-en in the snow
For much of the northern hemisphere, seeing snow-covered bonsai in winter is nothing out of the ordinary. For Keiichi Fujikawa, proprietor of the Fujikawa Kouka-en bonsai garden in Osaka, the sight is far from normal. Snow-covered bonsai at Kouka-en Shimpaku juniper When our small tour arrived at Fujikawa’s garden, I asked how many times it […]
A visit to Walter Pall’s garden
One of this year’s highlights was getting to spend time with Walter Pall in his garden. After joining his master class for a few days in Zorneding, Germany, I headed to Walter’s garden to record him talking about his trees. The result was a series of nine videos in which Walter shares stories of how […]
2026 Shohin School registration open
A couple of years ago, Andrew Robson and I hosted a Winter Shohin School in Milwaukie, Oregon featuring headliner Daisaku Nomoto from Japan. The event is coming to Northern California next month! The 2026 Winter Shohin School will be held at Lincoln Park’s Harrison Recreation Center in Alameda, California, on January 31st and February 1st. […]
A visit to the Bonsai Zentrum Heidelberg
The Bonsai Zentrum Heidelberg is a large bonsai nursery and event center owned and operated by Edis Ziegler. A previous incarnation of the business had closed in 2006 prompting Edis to acquire the property, renovate, and reopen it in 2008. Since then, the operation has grown into a premier destination for bonsai, containers, suiseki, and […]