It’s that time of year where I head out to fun bonsai events around the country and take a short break from writing posts. If you get the chance, I highly recommend visiting the following upcoming events: Redwood Empire Bonsai Society’s 2018 Annual Show in Santa Rosa, California, August 25-26 U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition in […]
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.
Sierra junipers in the snow
I’ve always wondered what Sierra junipers look like in winter. We often hear about how alpine trees are “buried in snow” through the winter months, but I hadn’t seen this first hand. After many visits to see these giant, natural bonsai over the years, I recently had the opportunity to see them after an early […]
Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest
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 […]
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 […]