I had the fortune to attend the 2013 Pacific Orchid Exposition at Fort Mason, San Francisco, last month. Wow, what an explosion of bright colors and exotic shapes! This year’s theme was East Meets West – a theme picked up by many of the booths and exhibits. As I don’t know much about orchids, I’ll […]
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.
GSBF Mammoth Fundraiser 2013
This past weekend marked the GSBF Bonsai Garden Lake Merritt’s Mammoth Fundraiser – the annual auction and sale event that brings so many of Northern California’s bonsai enthusiasts to Oakland each February. This year’s auction comprised nearly 100 lots including some impressive trees from a private collection. Tools, pots, stones and bonsai took their turns […]
Shopping for bonsai
I’ve enjoyed bonsai auctions for a long time. You never know what material will show up or how much it will go for. They are a great way to gauge the market for given trees within a given audience and can be a great source for new material. Auction trees! Bay Island Bonsai holds an […]
Shree Bonsai
If you find yourself in Andra Pradesh, I’d strongly recommend a visit to Shree Bonsai in Hyderabad. Ficus Shree Bonsai India, it turns out, has quite a bonsai community. Thanks to the efforts of Shailesh Kapadia, I was put in touch with Lalitha Shree and Madhusudan Reddy of Shree Bonsai (on Facebook) on very short […]
Bonsai from Takasago-an
When I visited Takasago-an in 2011, many of Daizo Iwasaki’s best trees were on display elsewhere. That did not, however, mean there was a lack of amazing bonsai to see. Gauging by numbers of each variety in the garden, Iwasaki was most fond of white pines. But with so many trees around, even less prevalent […]