I had a lot of fun setting up Bay Island Bonsai’s exhibit this year. Having recently returned from Japan, I found myself looking at trees in a very different light than I had before the visit. I now get much more enjoyment from flowering and fruiting trees, and I’m even more fascinated by the idea of […]
BIB
Daisaku Nomoto Bonsai Award
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 […]
Kondo critique at Bay Island Bonsai
This month’s Bay Island Bonsai meeting was devoted to a bonsai critique by Akio Kondo. Kondo discussed the good and bad points of each tree, making suggestions for improvement and answering questions along the way. Occasionally – to our general encouragement – he pulled out scissors and made a few cuts. Here are some of […]
Witnessed in a recent workshop – grafting follow-up and junipers
You can’t have too many branches on ume – or at least I can’t. Getting ume to ramify has proved difficult for me. I made several grafts this year and fortunately most of them took. See “Ume – cutback and grafting” for details about the grafting process. My job now is to help the scions […]
Evaluating bonsai at Bay Island Bonsai meeting
Learning to evaluate bonsai is a big part of the Bay Island Bonsai experience. If one doesn’t understand a tree’s good and bad points, it’s hard to improve the tree, and it’s hard to know how much to pay for it. We’ve been using a simple form designed by Boon for over 10 years. The […]