One of the last trees I worked on at Aichi-en last fall was a mid-sized white pine. My styling guidance was simple – I was told to make the tree look nicer. Beyond that, Mr. Tanaka told me not to cut too much. Cutting large branches can trigger vigorous growth and one of the primary […]
White Pine
Styling a Japanese white pine
The first tree I worked on at Aichi-en was somewhat unusual. The second tree I worked on made the first tree look easy. From a distance, the white pine looked unremarkable. Japanese five-needle pine – front The tree’s exposed roots were covered by foliage in the front, but easy to see from the back. Japanese […]
Million dollar bonsai
There was a lot of talk about a large white pine at the 11th Asia-Pacific Bonsai and Suiseki Convention & Exhibition (ASPAC 2011) offered for 100,000,000 yen. At today’s exchange rate, that’s close to 1.3 million dollars. Million dollar bonsai The tree was offered by S-CUBE, the bonsai organization headed by Seiji Morimae. The tree […]
When not to work on a white pine
I brought the white pine below to an Akio Kondo workshop this past August. The tree looked much like it does now but the old needles had yet to turn brown. New growth had appeared much like it had the year before, and I had prepared to spend an afternoon wiring the tree. Kondo took […]
Restoring a white pine
For the first time in a long time I did something special – I bought a new tree. I’ve had my eye on this white pine for maybe 8 years. I first saw after it had been purchased by a Bay Island Bonsai member. For a number of years the tree did well until its […]