I had a great time at this year’s Bay Island Bonsai exhibit. It was fun to catch up with friends and visitors from Northern California, Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, Oregon, Minnesota, Connecticut and Rhode Island – and I’m likely missing a few places. The exhibit featured a good mix of varieties, but was particularly strong on conifers […]
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Prize-winning trees at Bay Island Bonsai’s 18th annual exhibit
This past weekend, Bay Island Bonsai held their 18th annual exhibit at the Lakeside Garden Center in Oakland, California. Following the club’s tradition, the membership recognized the top tree in each of several categories with Members Choice Awards. Here are photos of this year’s award-winning trees, starting with a large white pine shown at the […]
Different approaches to exposed root pine bonsai
After discussing exposed root pines for the last few posts, I thought I’d wrap up the series with a few photos showing some different approaches to the style. The tree below is 23 years old. About midway between the soil and the first branch, the trunk splits into several roots that have essentially fused together. This […]
Improving exposed root pine bonsai with a single bend
As a number of you noticed in the last post, using a straight cylinder for creating exposed root pine bonsai can lead to a fairly uninteresting trunk line. This can be fixed easily – here’s how. Below is a photo of a 12 year-old pine trained in the exposed root style. There is a nice […]
Developing a new leader on exposed root pines
A few years ago I started a batch of exposed root pines – black and red. I let them grow for several years without wiring and they now look like this. Black pine trained in the exposed root style You’ll notice the trunk is completely straight – the least appropriate form for exposed root bonsai […]