California Juniper (Juniperus californica) at the Cup. It belongs to Seiji Shiba. Estimated age: 1000-1600 years old, trained for 15 years. All the photos in this post are by Hoe Chuah.
I just rediscovered* an exceptional bonsai blog. It’s titled Bonsai Penjing & More and it belongs to Hoe Chuah. Most of the best bonsai blogs have good photos, but blogs like Bonsai Penjing & More that combine quality photos with thoughtful, well written comments are lot less common.
The following by Hoe Chuah is from yesterday’s Bark comments. The tree he references is just below.
“I like Michael Pollack’s hinoki cypress at the Artisans Cup very much. I put this tree as one of my favorites from the show in my new blog, Bonsai Penjing & More.
After seeing so many big collected conifers with carved shari and jins, this display stood out. It evokes a feeling of an expansive American prairie; a skinny lone tree, a large empty space, a journal and a compass, they accentuate an American pioneering spirit. Ron Lang’s wide lip pot also compliment the tree very well.”
Hoe Chuah’s comments are continued below the photo…
Michael Pollock's Hinoki from yesterday's post, but this time it's at the Cup. This photo, like the others shown here, was taken by Hoe Chuah.
Hoe Chuah continued:
“In music, Aaron Copland created the American sound in his compositions such as Rodeo, Appalachian Spring etc. The sound is unmistakably American to listeners. To me those big collected conifers, though very impressive and awe inspiring, are still bound very much by Japanese aesthetics except they are American native trees.”
Dan Robinson had two exceptional Mountain hemlocks at the Artisans Cup. We featured the other one a few posts ago.
Doug Paul's Doug fir. We've shown this one already, but a different photo.
Jim Gremel's sweet Shimpaku. Another one we've already shown, but again a different photo.
This small but powerful Shohin Japanese white pine belongs to Dr Melvin Goldstein.
Part of Melvin Goldstein's Shohin display. There was a separate stand with another tree on the left that got left out of the photo.
All the photos in this post belong to Hoe Chuah (Bonsai Penjing & More).
* We borrowed some Pacific Bonsai Museum photos from Mr Chuah last year.
I am glad someone singled out one of my favorites — Michael Pollack’s Hinoki. There were so many beautiful trees at the show, but this composition was the one that stopped me in my tracks and elicited a strong emotional response. The feeling of solitude it invoked in me was echoed in the companion quotation by Hesse. Quite simply an elegant display.