Johnny Uchida’s Superb Saikei

This stellar saikei by Johnny Uchida was sent to us by Noah (no last name). Johnny Uchida is the owner of Grove Way Nursery in Hayward, California (East Bay, SF Bay Area). Noah’s comments Here what Noah has to say about this planting: “This saikei was done by Johnny Uchida of Grove Way Bonsai as an example for beginning students who were learning to make their own saikeis and he gave me permission to share them. Mr. Uchida is also the sensei of Yamato Bonsai Kai in Northern California. The trees are cryptomeria and hinoki cypress and the composition is … Continue reading Johnny Uchida’s Superb Saikei

Eccentric Bonsai: A Very Wild Mugo Pine

Almost like magic. This wild and wonderful mugo pine showed up on facebook a few weeks ago. It was posted by Bonsai Creativo School and Academy. Wild, wonderful and no so traditional There are at least two things that come to mind when I look at this wild mugo pine. First, that it represents a break with traditional bonsai styles, particularly traditional Japanese bonsai. It just doesn’t look like what bonsai used to look like not too long ago. The second thing about it is that it’s a mugo pine. It wasn’t too long ago that the only pines you’d … Continue reading Eccentric Bonsai: A Very Wild Mugo Pine

A Lost Treasure #4: Peaceful Lagoon

Peaceful Lagoon, our third in a series of plantings from Toshio Kawamoto’s Saikei classic. The trees are five to twenty-year-old Japanese black pines. The pot (Tokoname) is similar to the ones in the previous two landscapes, though quite a bit larger. An invitation The purpose of this section is to show how to create a saikei that depicts a peaceful lagoon just off the ocean. The photo taken together with the drawings (below), create the impression that the author is inviting you to duplicate his work. Attention to detail If you look at all the elements: the rocks, the trees, … Continue reading A Lost Treasure #4: Peaceful Lagoon

Master’s Gallery #2: Group Displays

From left to right: unidentified grass, Japanese black pine (Pinus thunbergii), flowering ‘Nippon Bells’ (Shortia uniflora) companion plant, suiseki (viewing stone), another unidentified companion, and a very stately Needle juniper (Juniperus ridgida). By Masao Komatsu. Group displays Each group display in this post is by a single artist. Each display shows mastery in two art forms: bonsai and bonsai display. The photos come from an article by Saburo Kato in Bonsai Today issue 43.

Green Workshop: Fall Transplanting Pros & Cons

Time to repot. Morten Albek intentionally broke the pot to show this Cork bark Japanese black pine’s dense root mass. From Morten’s book, Shohin Bonsai (Stone Lantern Publishing). Why transplant in the fall? If you transplant in the fall your trees can take full advantage of the next growing season. If you transplant in the spring (that’s when most people do it), by the time the tree recovers, you’ve lost part of the growing season. Why not transplant in the fall? If you have an early winter and your bonsai haven’t fully recovered from transplanting, then you risk serious damage … Continue reading Green Workshop: Fall Transplanting Pros & Cons

Triple Take

Look familiar? My apologies if things seems a little redundant around here; this is the third time we’ve shown this Shohin Japanese black pine. Fortunately, it’s a decent little tree and worthy of one more look. The mystery has been solved The reason you’re seeing it now is that it hasn’t been attributed yet. That’s because we didn’t know whose tree it was. Now we do. Here’s the proof:

Contest #5: We’ve got a Winner (Sort of)

Still a mystery I lifted this shohin black pine is from the American Shohin-Bonsai Association gallery. I couldn’t find who the artist is anywhere (and their contact link isn’t working), so I figured if I used it for our contest, someone would let me know. No such luck, so it’s still a mystery to me. No longer Mr. Second Place! However. two people did answer some of the of questions correctly (at least I think they were correct; the site doesn’t say anything, so I’m guessing). Of the two Vinicius Costa (formerly known as ‘Mr. Second Place’) was first, so … Continue reading Contest #5: We’ve got a Winner (Sort of)

Shape in the Ground & Save Wire

A unique technique The illustrations and photos used here are from an article by Kusida Matsuo that originally appeared in Bonsai Today issue 20 (out of print). The unique technique featured is for shaping cuttings taken from seedlings. Though Japanese black pine are used here, the technique should work on any number of species.

Grafting Lesson: Japanese Black Pine

In this simple and clear video, Brent Walston of Evergreen Gardenworks provides an excellent lesson in grafting scions onto root stock. In this case the scion is a Japanese black pine varietal called Hayabusa (Pinus thunbergii ‘Hayabusa’), which is a dwarf cork barked cultivar (nishiki kuro matsu) with very dense foliage. The root stock is your basic Japanese black pine (Pinus thunbergii). Brent uses Japanese black pine as stock for a number of black and white pine cultivars. If you want to try your hand at grafting, you’ll need a sharp grafting knife and some grafting tape.

Dealing with Stress: A Minor Miracle – part 2

Sixteen years ago, this tree… …looked like this! If you want to know how this seemingly miraculous recovery happened, keep reading (you might want to take a look at yesterday’s post first if you haven’t already).