I’m fond of referring to selected trees as “project” trees when the journey to become a bonsai is a long one. The black pine below has something resembling a bunjin feel – a euphemism, in this case, for a tree with no branches along the lower part of the trunk. I removed the top half of […]
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From landscape tree to bonsai – part 3
Last year I started working on a Japanese black pine that was developed as a landscape tree (here’s Part 1 and Part 2 of the story). This year’s work was less exciting than last year’s, but it made me much happier. Why? Because I’m now committed to a design direction (i.e. I cut off most […]
Preparing a black pine for exhibit
Not long before last month’s Bay Island Bonsai exhibit, Boon mentioned that there was room for more trees if I was interested. I looked around my backyard for candidates and found that one of my black pines had filled in nicely after the previous year’s decandling. I brought it to workshop to see if it […]
Air layering shishigashira at BIB meeting
The topic for this month’s Bay Island Bonsai meeting was air layering. It’s a fast way to create new bonsai – much faster than starting trees from seed or cutting. It’s also a great way to correct defective roots as layering typically produces a good radial root base. Boon described for us two approaches to […]
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 […]