Bonsai apprentice
Peter Tea is an American bonsai artist who recently became an apprentice at Aichi-en in Japan. Aichi-en, which is known for primarily for Black pine bonsai, is owned and operated by Mr. Junichiro Tanaka. One thing that makes Peter’s apprenticeship particularly interesting, is his on-going chronicle (blog) of his experience at Aichi-en. Peter is not the first to write about his apprenticeship (see Michael Hagedorn’s excellent book: Post-Dated – The Schooling of an Irreverent Bonsai Monk), but so far, what he is doing is the most thorough (as far as I can tell, anyway), with regular posts that are rich in content, including remarkable photos. This post shows a few of Peter’s photos. For more, all you have to do is click here.

What does Oyakata mean?
Peter calls Mr. Tanaka ‘Oyakata‘, but that’s another story.

Another pine that Peter worked on. This one is a Japanese white pine.

Peter offers a little tip on cleaning up White pine needles.

A once-rangy Shimpaku that Peter shaped up for auction.

Aichi-en from above.

Peter Tea.

Apologies are in order
Originally, I said the reprint of our Pine Book would be here in April. Then May. Then June. Now July. I won’t bore you with the details, except to say,  that the root of the problem was overly optimistic misjudgement on my part (some lost digital files didn’t help either). In any case, I owe all of you who pre-ordered and pre-paid  an apology. And a thank you for your patience and understanding.

A little gift to reward your patience
I know it’s not much, but given our new low prices, I think you’ll approve:
If you did pre-order and pre-pay for the second printing of our Pine book before May 1st, we would like to offer you a $5 discount on your next Stone Lantern order. All you have to do is write the following in the comments when you order: “I placed an order for your Pine Book before May 1st.” We will then deduct $5 when we process your order (you won’t see the deduction when you place the order).

BTW:  If you haven’t yet ordered our Pine Book, you can still pre-order it for a $5 discount. No promises about delivery date this time.

Illustrations from our Pine book.

One down, one to go. Decandling two Japanese black pines. Photo by Jonas Dupuich.

Akio Kondo discovers a problem and offers a solution
I lifted all the photos in this post from Bonsai Tonight. They present a small piece of a much larger post (actually two posts). I won’t attempt to flesh too out much (you can just go there and see the whole thing), except to say they are about solving a problem (lack of interior buds on black pines). Akio Kondo pointed out the problem to Jonas Dupuich and also offered a solution.

He’s a pro
Speaking of photos, I’m always impressed with the quality of Jonas Dupuich’s work. Not only are the photos technically very good, but the way he sets up the subject matter and uses it to illustrate what he’s doing is as good as I’ve seen (right up there with the Japanese articles in Bonsai Today and even better than some).

Uh oh. No buds inside.

A useful little tip. Approach where you are going to cut with your scissors closed. This helps prevent (see below)…

… this.

Visit Bonsai Tonight for the whole article.

Almost gone. Our classic Pine book is down to less than 40 copies. We originally printed 5,200, so it’s been a pretty good run.

One per person please
While it lasts (and it won’t be long) we request that you limit yourself to one per person (or one per company). Thanks.

No plans
At this point, we have no plans to reprint, though in a year or two, we could change our minds.

Another classic. While we are at it, here’s another worthy classic. We’re not about to run out yet, but it’s a great book and it’s on special at Stone Lantern now.

This stellar saikei by Johnny Uchida was sent to us by Noah (no last name). Johnny Uchida is the owner of Grove Way Nursery in Hayward, California (East Bay, SF Bay Area).

Noah’s comments
Here what Noah has to say about this planting: “This saikei was done by Johnny Uchida of Grove Way Bonsai as an example for beginning students who were learning to make their own saikeis and he gave me permission to share them. Mr. Uchida is also the sensei of Yamato Bonsai Kai in Northern California. The trees are cryptomeria and hinoki cypress and the composition is made with locally sourced rocks, gravel, moss, lichen and various accent plants.”

Missing Johnny Uchida
I visited Grove Way about twenty years ago. I was struck mostly by Johnny Uchida’s Japanese black pines. At the time, I think it was the best collection of black pine bonsai I had ever seen (it still stands as one of the best). Unfortunately, Johnny wasn’t home when I visited (his wife showed me around), so I didn’t have the pleasure of meeting him.

You can see the hidden 5th tree in this bird’s eye view. The three trees on the left are cryptomeria and the two on the right are hinoki cypress (Cham. obtusa). The variety of the hinoki in the front looks like Kosteri, but I can’t be sure.

Almost like magic. This wild and wonderful mugo pine showed up on facebook a few weeks ago. It was posted by Bonsai Creativo School and Academy.

Wild, wonderful and no so traditional
There are at least two things that come to mind when I look at this wild mugo pine. First, that it represents a break with traditional bonsai styles, particularly traditional Japanese bonsai. It just doesn’t look like what bonsai used to look like not too long ago.

The second thing about it is that it’s a mugo pine. It wasn’t too long ago that the only pines you’d see as bonsai were Japanese whites and blacks. Especially in Japan. Gradually, as bonsai spread to the west, other varieties started showing up. Now, mugos are becoming quite common, and for good reason; their needles are small, they are tough, and, over time they can show a lot of character (as you can readily see when you look at this magically unique and dynamic tree).

Pirates
At least one blog has been pirating our posts, lock stock and barrel; but without our links and without any attribution to bonsai bark, or Stone Lantern. If you are reading this on any website or blog that is not ours, and is not attributed to us, then it has been pirated. Please visit us at bonsaibark.com. Thank you.

Peaceful Lagoon, our third in a series of plantings from Toshio Kawamoto’s Saikei classic. The trees are five to twenty-year-old Japanese black pines. The pot (Tokoname) is similar to the ones in the previous two landscapes, though quite a bit larger.

An invitation
The purpose of this section is to show how to create a saikei that depicts a peaceful lagoon just off the ocean. The photo taken together with the drawings (below), create the impression that the author is inviting you to duplicate his work.

Attention to detail
If you look at all the elements: the rocks, the trees, the moss, the gravel (water) and the white sand (foam), you can see that their placement and their relative sizes (scale) creates a near perfect effect. Everything makes sense (except maybe the size of the pine needles, and somehow that’s easy to overlook).

A transporting effect
A good saikei almost convinces you that it’s a large landscape in nature. It’s easy to imagine that you are standing on a large rock on the bank of the lagoon, and that the small gap in the back opens to the ocean. The wind, which blows off the ocean bends all the small trees toward the lagoon. You can almost feel it in your hair and taste the salt air.

Front schemata. The pot is 37? x 20? (94cm x 51cm) unglazed oval by Tokoname. There are 10 Japanese black pines that range from 5  to 8 inches (13cm to 20cm) tall. There are nine river rocks (numbered above and below) that range considerably in size. The soil is regular bonsai soil (he doesn’t say which regular bonsai soil, but the Japanese almost always use akadama or an akadama mix for conifers). The other materials are river sand and white sand.

Pirates
At least one blog has been pirating our posts, lock stock and barrel; but without our links and without any attribution to bonsai bark, or Stone Lantern. If you are reading this on any website or blog that is not ours, and is not attributed to us, then it has been pirated. Please visit us at bonsaibark.com. Thank you.

Bird’s eye view. In this view it’s easy to get the big picture; that’s the edge of the ocean in the back, just a hint of something vast. The lagoon is almost centered on the front of the pot, but that’s not a problem, as its banks are uneven and the land mass on the right is very strong and dynamic, which prevents the whole planting from becoming too peaceful (ie static).

I’m still waiting…
… for someone out there to attempt one of these plantings (or something influenced by them) and send us a photo. G’wan. It’s fun!

From left to right: unidentified grass, Japanese black pine (Pinus thunbergii), flowering ‘Nippon Bells’ (Shortia uniflora) companion plant, suiseki (viewing stone), another unidentified companion, and a very stately Needle juniper (Juniperus ridgida). By Masao Komatsu.

Group displays
Each group display in this post is by a single artist. Each display shows mastery in two art forms: bonsai and bonsai display. The photos come from an article by Saburo Kato in Bonsai Today issue 43.

The forest on a slab is a spruce (probably Ezo). That’s a pine on the construction on the right. This display is by ‘The Magician’ Masahiko Kimura.

Hornbeam (Carpinus laxiflora) forest on a slab and a Shimpaku juniper on the rock. This image captures only half of a display by Grand Master Saburo Kato.

Time to repot. Morten Albek intentionally broke the pot to show this Cork bark Japanese black pine’s dense root mass. From Morten’s book, Shohin Bonsai (Stone Lantern Publishing).

Why transplant in the fall?
If you transplant in the fall your trees can take full advantage of the next growing season. If you transplant in the spring (that’s when most people do it), by the time the tree recovers, you’ve lost part of the growing season.

Why not transplant in the fall?
If you have an early winter and your bonsai haven’t fully recovered from transplanting, then you risk serious damage (or worse). If you rootprune heavily, the risk goes up. If you want to play it safe, fall transplant only those trees that need light to moderate root pruning.

Doing some light rootpruning. From Robert Callaham’s Satsuki Azaleas, for Bonsai and Azalea Enthusiasts (Stone Lantern Publishing).

When?
Fall transplanting season is coming up. When depends mostly upon where you live. There are other considerations too, like the type of tree, the health of the tree, your experience and confidence, how much you need to prune off the roots and more.

A rule of thumb
Six weeks before you might expect an early hard frost, is a pretty good rule of thumb for fall transplanting. However, you can’t be too literal about this. Prolonged late hot spells need to be considered (here in northern Vermont, where summers are more often than not quite mild, this usually is not a problem) as does how much you need to rootprune and the type of tree.

If the soil is old and compacted you need to remove it all (there are exceptions, but this usually applies). A hard steam of water and roots tools are the best way to get it all off. Because the roots are so compacted, you’ll need to do some serious rootpruning. Unless you are an old pro, you might be better off saving this for spring transplanting. From Bonsai Today issue 17 (out of print).

The type of tree matters
Deciduous trees need special consideration as you don’t want to rootprune when they have a full canopy of leaves. Conifers, especially junipers, and broad leaf evergreens are usually safest for fall transplanting, though there are variables here too. If you need more information, try to talk to someone knowledgeable who lives in your area.

Don’t forget aftercare
After transplanting, your margin of error goes down, especially with watering. Stay posted for something on aftercare.

Our Green Workshops are designed to help relative beginners with basic bonsai principles and practices. On last one was on watering.

Look familiar?
My apologies if things seems a little redundant around here; this is the third time we’ve shown this Shohin Japanese black pine. Fortunately, it’s a decent little tree and worthy of one more look.

The mystery has been solved
The reason you’re seeing it now is that it hasn’t been attributed yet. That’s because we didn’t know whose tree it was. Now we do. Here’s the proof:

Hi Wayne,

It was brought to my attention that my Shohin Japanese Black Pine had been posted here for a contest. To answer your questions:
1. the name of the artist: Since it was a imported from Japan, the original artist is unknown. It is owned now by me, Karen Proctor.
2. the species and sub-species (if applicable) of the tree: Japanese Black Pine
3. the height of the tree, including the pot: 9? tall including the pot, 7? tall from soil line.
4. where the tree can be found on the web: http://www.americanshohin.org/gallery
I would also appreciate the approximate age of the tree, if you know it. This I do not know.

Sincerely,
Karen