Shimpaku juniper from a Peter Tea post, titled Shimpaku, The Unexpected Surprise. My apologies to Peter for cropping the bottom of the pot to get rid of a distracting white band that appears in the the original (it’s below so you can decide for yourself if my pickiness has gotten out of control).
Just back from a total non-working vacation/ retreat. I usually work some during so called vacations, but this time I went whole hog and almost completely avoided work. I mention this as an excuse for resurrecting this old Bark post from 2013.
If you’re not familiar with Peter Tea and his bonsai blog, please allow me to introduce him (once again). Peter’s work with bonsai is inspiring, and his writing about his experience as an bonsai apprentice is generous, funny, insightful and just plain fun to read.
Continued below…
25% off Roshi Bonsai Tools
Plus an extra 10% off any order 100.00 or more
and FREE Shipping on U.S. orders 50.00 or more
Just in case you don’t believe me, here’s a little teaser from Peter’s latest story about the tree pictured here: “It was just another work day at Mr. Moriyama’s garden in early December… With us was Mr. Tohru Suzuki and his apprentice Mr. Takuya Suzuki of Daiju-en…. After we finished our work that morning, I wondered around the garden admiring many of the trees. Mr. Tohru Suzuki was looking around as well. I stopped to look at a large bushy Shimpaku that’s I’ve cleaned in the past a few times and Mr. Tohru Suzuki walks up to me and point at the tree. “You wire, okay?” he says to my surprise. I didn’t get my hopes up too quickly because I thought he was joking around with me since he’s done that many times in the past. I quickly said, “no problem, easy work!” Mr. Tohru Suzuki looks at me and laughs and said, “for Kokufu?.”I said, “yes, no problem,” playing along and laughing myself. He smiles and walks away looking at the other trees and my mind went to other things.”
I’ll leave rest to you, except to say that Kokufu is Japan’s most prestigious bonsai show and there are at least two very good reasons for you to check out Peter’s post: first it’s a great story that’s very well told, and second, Peter provides a way beyond the-call-of-duty, thorough (to say the least) step-by-step series of photos (70 in all!!!) and text on the tree’s development.
Here’s the tree and the whole pot.
One of the seventy photos that Peter provides on the development of this one tree. Have you ever seen seventy photos on the development of one tree?
Visit Stone Lantern for a great selection and more specials
Be sure not to miss our New Clearance & Super Specials Section