The white pine below appeared at the 90th anniversary Kokufu exhibition held this past February in Tokyo’s Ueno Park. White pine White pine are commonly styled in the exposed root style. While some of these specimens are collected, many are developed as bonsai from seed. Good specimens have flaky bark and foliage arranged into relatively […]
Search Results for: pine
Kimura’s pines
Although Kimura is best known for juniper bonsai, his pine work is very good. The black pine below, for example, took the top prize at the 2015 Taikan-ten exhibit in Kyoto, Japan. Black pine The tree is imposing – large trunk, full canopy – and has clear movement to the right side with the apex and […]
Exposed root black pines at the Green Club
A number of the Japanese black pines I’ve grown from seed have been developed in the exposed root style. It’s a fun style to work with as roots offer possibilities that aren’t always available for specimens whose roots are firmly secured in the pot. My first exposure to the style was at the Green Club […]
Refining a black pine
This summer I recorded the process of refining a black pine for Bonsai: Journal of the American Bonsai Society. The resulting article appeared in Volume 50, Number 3. The work was a lot of fun. I took a few more photos than usual and wrote about decandling, cutback, needle pulling and wiring. Here’s a snapshot of […]
How to grow Japanese black pine from seed
Growing Japanese black pine from seed isn’t the easiest way to make a beautiful bonsai. It requires a variety of skills and it takes a long time. That said, the process of starting bonsai from scratch can be very rewarding – whether or not you end up with a masterpiece. The basics of growing pines from […]