Earlier this month I had the opportunity to visit the Clark Bonsai Collection at the Shinzen Friendship Garden in Fresno’s Woodward Park. The Clark Collection is one of three GSBF-sponsored bonsai gardens in California. It opened in 2015 and features 140 bonsai, a rotating selection of which is on display at any given time. The […]
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Highlights from the 41st BABA Exhibition
On January 14-15, 2023, the Bay Area Bonsai Associates held their 41st bonsai exhibition at the Lake Merritt Garden Center in Oakland, California. Here are some of the highlights, starting with the Best Conifer award winner from the Pacific Bonsai Expo. Grafted shimpaku Another tree you might recognize from the Expo is a large Coast […]
Field-grown black pine progression – part 2
In last week’s post we left off in 2017 – about 10-15 years into the development of a black pine that was field-grown at Lone Pine Gardens in Sebastopol, California. Here’s the tree two years later. March, 2019 Because the tree hadn’t been wired in several years, the large gap between the lower and upper […]
Field-grown black pine progression – part 1
I’ve been waiting a long time to share the progress on one of my black pines, and now is a great time for it! Let’s start with the back story. In 1993 – by coincidence it’s the year I started growing bonsai – Kathy Shaner started a batch of black pines from seed that ended […]
Scoring broadleaf evergreen bonsai at the Expo
Let’s look at two of the more impressive broadleaf evergreens in the Expo, a ficus and a cork oak. Chinese Banyan Tiger Bark Ficus by Jeff SternImage courtesy Julian Tsai Cork Oak by Michael RobertsImage courtesy Vince Smith Both trees scored well in the judging – here are the details: Tiger bark ficus: overall rank: […]