The Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest sits at 10,000′ elevation in California’s White Mountain range, just east of the Sierra Nevada and Owens Valley. The main draws are the ancient specimens that are over 3000 – and sometimes 4000 – years old. The trees aren’t huge like their neighbors to the west, the Giant Sequoia, but […]
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.
Natural deadwood
I happened across some beautiful deadwood on a recent hike. Although carving deadwood features in bonsai is a popular pursuit, it can’t compete with the work produced by time and the elements. Convoluted twists on a dead trunk Dead branch Sculptural deadwood I’ll say more about the location – likely obvious to many of you […]
Where lava rock comes from
On a recent vacation, I had the opportunity to visit a mine that produces scoria. Scoria is the proper name for lava rock. The locals, however, refer to it as “cinder” – an older name for the substrate. Unsurprisingly, the mine itself is a big hole in the ground. Scoria mine The scoria is scooped […]
New bonsai display at the Portland Japanese Garden
On a recent trip to Portland I made it a point to visit the Portland Japanese Garden to see the new Cultural Village that opened in April. In addition to featuring stylish buildings by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, the expansion includes the Ellie M. Hill Bonsai Terrace – a space devoted to showcasing beautiful trees. Rocky Mountain […]
Satsuki bonsai at Kobayashi Sangyou
Last week’s tour of satsuki bonsai in development at Kanuma’s Kobayashi Sangyou nursery didn’t hint at the general quality of trees there or at the scope of the operation. Most of the six or so greenhouses at the nursery were filled with well developed trees. The smaller, younger, trees were impressive in quality and in […]