After spending two days in the Tokyo area to see the Kokufu exhibit, I took a day trip to Shizuoka to visit Kazuo Onuma. Onuma is a grower who specializes in mini-sized bonsai. He’s been working with trees for twenty-five years and has been serious about it for the last fifteen. The effort has paid […]
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 wildflowers – nature’s accent plants
My recent visit to the Sierra Nevada coincided with wildflower season this year. It was a great reminder of how natural it is to pair trees with companion plants that grow nearby. Here are some of the flowers and succulents I found among the junipers. If you know their names, feel free to share them […]
A natural semi-cascade juniper
I had made several visits to the Sierra junipers around Carson Pass before I first saw the giant semi-cascade. It was pretty awesome. Natural semi-cascade style Sierra juniper Much of the deadwood on this tree is a bright white color that makes a nice contrast to the reddish live veins. A strip of bright white […]
Appreciating a massive, and ancient, Sierra juniper
One of my favorite Sierra junipers doesn’t fit neatly into any categories. It’s form is somewhere between informal upright and semi-cascade. The base of the trunk is massive, but the apical foliage extends from a slender, twisting branch. I can’t say I’ve figured the tree out, but I enjoy trying. Ancient Sierra juniper The tree […]
A very twisty Sierra juniper
I had a chance this week to visit some of my favorite Sierra junipers. The best known of these trees is pictured below. A very twisty Sierra juniper The tree is compact and twisty, revealing different characteristics when viewed from different angles. From the east, the trunk appears massive and relatively straight. A single, sinuous […]