A few more photos from the awe-inspiring collection at Daiju En. Japanese black pine This large black pine has some of the best bark one could hope for on a pine. Pines typically develop rough bark or bark that break into plates. The latter is more valuable because it is considered attractive and is typically […]
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.
Ooishi’s deciduous work
Ooishi’s deciduous work is remarkable – and not just because his trees look good. In most cases he created his collection from scratch, by air-layering, grafting and careful wiring and cutback over the years. Although I don’t know the ages of the trees below, Ooishi suggested that trees like this can be developed from cuttings […]
More from Shinpukuji
Here are some more photographs from the bonsai museum adjacent to the Shinpukuji temple. See original post here. Shimpaku Kuro-matsu – Japanese black pine Momiji – Japanese maple Goyo-matsu – Japanese white pine Karin – Chinese quince Tosho – needle juniper Kaede – trident maple Goyo-matsu – Japanese white pine
Ebihara Technique
It’s summer and everything’s growing gangbusters so I thought I’d mix things up a bit and write a few more posts about my trip to Japan this past February. These photos were taken in Ebihara’s garden and provide clues to how he achieved such great results in so little time. I’ll leave the details to […]
Visitation rights
I recently had the opportunity to visit a few of the pines I started 15 years ago that are no longer in my collection. I was happy to see that they are doing very well. It’s exciting to give a tree its start and then see how others develop and refine it. The result is […]




