Look familiar? The photo is from the editorial page, Bonsai Today issue 56. The snow is courtesy of Mother Nature.
When the whole world (well, almost) turned white
Someone told me that 49 of the 50 US states had snow this winter. In northern Vermont, we don’t think much of it. But we don’t leave our bonsai out in the snow like in this photo. At least not in the dead of winter when it’s way too cold for that. The photo above is from Japan. In much of Japan you can leave your hardy trees out most, or all, of the winter, provided they are protected from harsh winds.
On the road again
You might have notice that the number of posts has diminished a little the last few days. I’m traveling right now, so finding the time and space to post is a bit tricky. We’ll be back up to full speed next week. Meanwhile, enjoy the snow while it lasts.
So are US winters colder than those in Japan or is it just a different way that both countries handle wintering of bonsai?
Like the US, Japan spans a good distance north to south so you get a pretty large range of winter temps in both places. However much of the US is more extreme than Japan as inland temps tend to be quite a bit colder than temps near large bodies of water, and almost everywhere in Japan is within striking distance of water. Also, I believe we have significantly more people in very cold northern areas than does Japan. For example, Tokyo is about the same climate as Wash DC (both are places where winter hardy trees can be out most of the time if well protected), and the US has very large population centers that are north and northwest of Wash DC and therefore much colder, while much of Japan’s population is roughly even with Tokyo or south of Tokyo.
In short, it’s your local climate that counts.