Some 20-30 years ago, Kyushu bonsai hobbyist Mr. Honda began buying pine trees from Nomoto Chinshoen, a Miyazaki bonsai nursery. As the trees had little in the way of branching, Honda planned on developing the branches on his own. He’s done quite a job. Black pine bonsai Japanese black pine The trees aren’t particularly old […]
Black Pine
A visit to Miyakonojou
In the small town of Miyakonojou in southern Kyushu lives one Mr. Fukunaga, a bonsai hobbyist. He’s been growing bonsai for several decades – mostly black pine, white pine, and Japanese maples with some other varieties here and there. Conifers filled his front yard. Mr Fukunaga’s garden Twin trunk white pine Some of the trees […]
20 year-old black pines – before and after
Having just appeared in BIB’s 15th annual exhibit, the small black pine below was due for a tune up. Daisaku Nomoto made a surprising number of cuts and then reset the remaining branches. When he was finished, I repotted the tree into a more suitable container for the growing season. Shohin black pine After cutback […]
Preparing a small pine for exhibit
Two years ago, I showed a young black pine at Bay Island Bonsai’s 13th annual exhibit. Shohin black pine – January 2012 The tree has continued to develop, so I thought I’d show it again at BIB’s 15th annual exhibit. Here’s what the tree looked like last week. January 2014 I brought the tree to […]
Making a big cut
While maintenance work like minor cutback or wiring can make a tree shine, it’s the larger cuts that really speed along development. Of course, we don’t always enter workshops expecting to make these big cuts. Such was the case for a tree that showed up to last weekend’s Bay Island Bonsai workshop. After selecting a […]