The pots holding the bonsai at Shinji Suzuki’s garden were often as interesting as the trees. We learned the story of a few of these containers – others we appreciated on our own. One glazed pot looked like it had been around awhile. There were chips, cracks, mineral deposits and other signs of wear. There […]
Shinji-Suzuki
Highlights from Shinji Suzuki’s garden
It’s inspiring to walk through a beautiful bonsai garden. Japanese maple A visit to Shinji Suzuki’s garden is a visit to a lot of really, really, good trees. Looking up at a Chinese quince The garden is arranged in a series of greenhouses with courtyards between them. In winter, nearly all bonsai are brought indoors […]
A beautiful garden in winter
Just one day after landing in Tokyo a few weeks ago, five of us caught a train to Obuse, Nagano prefecture, home of my favorite bonsai garden. Garden courtyard The garden is beautiful in winter. Snow came late this year, but enough fell before our visit that the grounds were blanketed in white when we arrived. […]
Living the bonsai life
I’m very excited to share photos from a recent trip to Japan. Here’s a taste. Large bonsai at Shinji Suzuki’s garden Before getting to that, however, I wanted to note, for those who haven’t heard, that I’m now doing bonsai full-time. I expect this year to be filled with a variety of fun bonsai activities […]
Maintaining a beautiful bonsai garden
Shinji Suzuki couldn’t possible maintain so many beautiful bonsai without help from several skilled apprentices. Gardens like this require a lot of effort. Suzuki’s garden Today Matt, Yusuke, and Tyler work at the Obuse garden, watering, wiring, and tirelessly carrying trees in and out of the workshop. Yusuke watering Fortunately not all of the trees […]