Bay Island Bonsai was fortunate this year to have Daisaku Nomoto around to help with its 13th annual exhibit. Daisaku Nomoto Nomoto, Boon’s senpai at Kihachi-en, wired trees, prepared moss top-dressings, and carried many trees before, during, and after the exhibit. Somewhere along the way, he took a liking to a Western juniper. So much […]
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Rocky Mountain Juniper bonsai
One of the trees displayed at Bay Island Bonsai’s 13th annual exhibit got a lot of funny looks. It’s a Rocky Mountain juniper, Juniperus scopulorum. Rocky Mountain Juniper It’s not exactly “show-ready” as we like to say – the tree is only a few years out of the ground and branch pads have yet to […]
Displaying a shimpaku juniper
Bay Island Bonsai held their 13th Annual Exhibit this past weekend at the Lakeside Garden Center in Oakland, CA. The exhibit featured a well developed shimpaku juniper. Shimpaku juniper Before reading any further, which way do you think the tree points – to the left or to the right? When setting up exhibits, we often start by […]
A really full black pine
The Japanese black pine below was one of the many great trees I saw in the workshop during my visit to Aichi-en last fall. I caught Peter Tea cleaning it up for the sales area at Gomangoku. You can see a before photo on Peter’s blog. What made the tree stand out to me? The fullness, the […]
Unconventional branches
Every once in a while I see interesting bonsai with extra-interesting features. One of the more common is the extra-long branch. A white pine that fits this description caught my attention at last year’s Taikan-ten. White pine – 2011 Taikan-ten The first branch shoots straight out and then rises up, providing the tree’s primary point […]