Ume (aka Flowering apricot, aka Prunus mume). This fantastic tree resides at Bonsai Aichien in Japan.
Both the photos here were just posted on facebook by Juan Andrade who is an apprentice at Bonsai Aichien and a great source of excellent bonsai photos.
Bonsai Aichien Nursery. This photo could almost pass as black and white with the snow and the diminished light. It’s snowing here in Vermont too. More than 14 inches of fresh pow so far the last couple days. BTW: have you ever noticed all the power lines in photos from Japanese nurseries?
Beautiful scene of the snow covered Bonsai….when I see such a picture, two thoughts come to mind…..first, breathtaking, beautiful,….etc and secondly…how do they get away with this? I live in the area of the midwest that gets its fair share of very cold weather(berlow zero), snow, and plenty of ice. I fear leaving any of my non tropicals exposed to this kind of weather for feat of pot explosions….roots frozen and turned to mush by freeze/thaw….and the like. Firther I note that much of the product shown in this photo is sitting on raised benches and not on the ground…..what?????? Any thoughts? Thanks for a fine blog
Hi John,
Yeah. Food for thought.
I think there are a couple keys. I suspect it gets much colder where you are than in most of Japan including where this picture is from.
The right soil is key also. I’ve have some very hardy native bonsai on a porch (two are on a table) here in Northern Vermont where we regularly see temps of -20F or even lower. I shovel snow on them for a little extra protection, but that’s all. However, their soil is very porous so extra water drains rapidly. This eliminates exploding pots and crushed roots. Still, there are risks of some damage with such cold weather and freezing and thawing, so only very hardy trees that are not prized winter on the porch. Most of my trees are in a attached garage with winter temps from about 29 to 36F.