I’ve been looking at a Rocky Mountain juniper in my garden for the last three years. The trunk is fairly straight, but there is interesting deadwood on one side. Rocky Mountain juniper – side A Side B Although it was a while before I knew what I wanted to do with the tree, I’d set […]
Styling
Styling bonsai gives trees their charm. Read the posts below to learn about the artistic decisions we make when working on bonsai.
What next? Refining a Korean hornbeam
Below is a photo of my Korean hornbeam after removing the leaves. Korean hornbeam Although I’ve shown the tree a number of times and it’s been in training for more than 10 years, I’d like to continue to make improvements. Before getting started, I’d love to hear what improvements you would suggest. Feel free to […]
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 […]
The study of bonsai design
This month’s Bay Island Bonsai meeting focused on bonsai design. Members brought trees for critique and designed trees on paper. Both exercises focus on the criteria we use to design attractive bonsai and help to refine the stylistic sensibilities that inform the decisions we make when we work on our trees. The critique also provided […]
Finding meaningful forms
I remember one of the first times I flipped through Kindai Bonsai, the Japanese bonsai magazine. Not being able to read a word of Japanese, I studied the photos. What struck me was how similar the black pines looked. I’d grown up with an appreciation of pines and could see that they were different, but […]