Paradise Found

A Japanese white pine after it was wired by John Milton. The before photo is below. The title Paradise Found is a reference to John Milton’s famous poem Paradise Lost (famous at least on college campuses, if nowhere else). Now we have another John Milton who writes that he’s “currently following (his) dreams and studying as an apprentice at Aichi-en in Nagoya, Japan under Junichiro Tanaka-San” (in addition to the John Milton Paradise connection, the Aichi-en apprenticeship connects nicely with our last post as do the Japanese white pine before and after photos). What I really wanted to show you … Continue reading Paradise Found

Grafting Bonsai – You Might Want to Wait Until the Fall

A few stills captured from Capital Bonsai’s video on grafting that features Ryan Neil owner of Mirai American Bonsai and major player in this fall’s Artisans Cup bonsai exhibition in Portland, Oregon. I’m out of town visiting friends for the weekend, so to spare me putting together a new post, we’ll jump into our time machine this morning. All the way back to November, 2012. We could just forgo a post today and no one would complain, but I wanted to remind you that our Stone Lantern FREE bonsai wire offering ends tonight at 11:59pm EDT (Just write FREE in … Continue reading Grafting Bonsai – You Might Want to Wait Until the Fall

Spring Versus Fall: A Grafting Lesson

A few stills captured from Capital Bonsai’s video on grafting that features Ryan Neil. Capital Bonsai (the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum‘s excellent blog) is at it again. This time it’s an outstanding video on grafting featuring Ryan Neil of International Bonsai Mirai. Fall versus spring grafting. Here’s what Ryan has to say about fall versus spring grafting (loosely paraphrased): Grafting in the fall is more successful than in the spring if you can provide winter protection from freezing. If you graft in spring you have to protect from sun and wind. In the fall you have to protect from … Continue reading Spring Versus Fall: A Grafting Lesson