A Walk on the Wild Side

A wonderfully convoluted Sabina juniper after a little taming by Gabriel Romero Aguadé. If you look at the before photo below, you can see that Gabriel did quite a bit to tame what started out as tree with a world of potential but also with a crazily unruly crown and a  trunk with poor taper. It’s not too hard to see how the crown was brought under control (some very detailed labor and some time for new growth to fill in). But the taper is a bit more mystifying; not much has changed, but somehow it looks much better. BTW, … Continue reading A Walk on the Wild Side

Pushing the Limits

This wild and gnarly yamadori (collected bonsai) exhibits some classical flaws. Two of the most obvious are the long straight taperless section of mid-trunk and the cluttered roots around the base. However, that’s the way this tree grew and those flaws tell part of the story of its struggles to survive and thrive in an inhospitable environment. Without them, the story might not be so interesting. Classical vs Eccentric There have always been classical bonsai (ones that conform to accepted norms of an earlier time) and there have always been more eccentric bonsai that push classical forms and norms into … Continue reading Pushing the Limits

In Praise of the American Larch #2: Good Taper Isn’t that Easy to Come By

You can find this in-training collected Larch in Bonsai from the Wild by Larch Master Nick Lenz (Stone Lantern Publishing). Good tapers on larches are hard to come by. This exceptionally strong taper is the result of what Nick calls a ‘swamp layer.’ For details see the chapter on larches in Bonsai from the Wild (THE book on collecting). Planting two trunks together that diverge as they ascend is a good way to create the appearance of taper. This image is from an article by Nick Lenz entitled Larch with Taper, that appears in The Bonsai Journal. Check out our … Continue reading In Praise of the American Larch #2: Good Taper Isn’t that Easy to Come By

In Praise of the American Larch: aka the Tamarack

Nick Lenz calls this rugged heavily scarred old larch a ‘super hack back job’ (performed with a chainsaw). It’s noteworthy for its excellent taper and nebari (among other things), things that doesn’t come naturally with most larches. I guess you could say that the Halloween carving is also noteworthy. The photo is from Nick’s book, Bonsai from the Wild (Stone Lantern Publishing). Round these parts it’s a Tamarack Here in Vermont we are right on the southern edge of the Larix laricina’s range. Most bonsai enthusiasts (and many others) refer to it as the American larch, but around here almost … Continue reading In Praise of the American Larch: aka the Tamarack