Bonsai tree: Bonsai museum at Shinpukuji Temple

Source: Bonsai Tonight
Bonsai museum at Shinpukuji Temple

Adjacent to the Shimpukuji Temple in Okazaki, one can visit a very fine bonsai museum. A rotating selection of trees fills both indoor and outdoor displays. When the ume bloom, they fill the indoor display area.

I like ume because they capture some very important aspects of bonsai. The bark shows great age. The flowers, in contrast to the bark and deadwood, offer evidence of life and suggest that spring isn’t far off. Ume is one of the few deciduous varieties that feature deadwood. Plus, the scent of the blossoms is wonderful. Here are some photos from Boon Manakitivipart’s visit to the bonsai museum at Shinpukuji this past winter.

Ume

Ume

Ume

Ume

Ume

Ume

Ume with suiseki and scroll

Ume

Scroll

Suiseki – apparently this stone belonged to Mr. Tokugawa

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Bonsai tree: Shinji Suzuki’s bonsai garden

Source: Bonsai Tonight
Shinji Suzuki’s bonsai garden

Late summer is not the most exciting time of year in bonsai. Most conifers slow down a bit, decandled pines are busy producing new shoots, and deciduous trees aren’t looking as fresh as they did in Spring. Winter, on the other hand, is a great time to view bonsai, and Japan is a great place for the viewing. Thanks to Boon Manakitivipart, we can see some outstanding Japanese bonsai as they appeared this past winter.

The photos below are from the bonsai garden of Shinji Suzuki in Obuse, Japan. They were taken by Boon on his most recent visit to Japan this past February. I’ve done my best at guessing at the varieties, forgive me if I missed a few!

Ume – I don’t know the location of the tokonoma

Matt Reel has been studying bonsai with Suzuki since 2006, and he’s now senpai to Tyler Sherrod, who began an apprenticeship with Suzuki earlier this year. Matt and Tyler both worked with Boon before heading to Japan to study with Suzuki, much like Michael Hagedorn who wrapped up his study with Suzuki in 2006. Matt’s work is outstanding, and I expect the same from Tyler in the not-too-distant future.

Matt Reel, Boon Manakitivipart, Tyler Sherrod

The trees in Suzuki’s garden never fail to impress me. Here is a selection of the trees under his care – I’ll post more soon.

Kuromatsu

Ume

Bonsai

Goyomatsu

Tosho

Goyomatsu

Goyomatsu

Shimpaku

Bonsai

Shimpaku

Kuromatsu

Goyomatsu

Goyomatsu

Shimpaku

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Bonsai tree: Playing with Shadows & Light

Boon Manakitivipart. Western juniper debut with Jalaluddin Din.


Bonsai Boon

All the photos shown here were posted on facebook by Boon Manakitivipart. Boon is a well-known American bonsai artist and influential bonsai teacher. You can find more about Boon here.

Shadows and light

I like these photos. Not only are the bonsai quite intriguing, but the photos offer something you don’t see that often; bonsai photography with an artistic flair. The one possible downside is that the play of shadow and light sometimes makes it a little harder to see some of the details on the trees. On balance though, I think it’s worth it.

Sierra juniper. Boon Manakitivipart with Jalaluddin Din. Western juniper and Sierra juniper are sub-species of Juniperus occidentalis.

Boon Manakitivipart, Ume (Flowering apricot).




Stepping back a bit.




Boon Manakitivipart. Taiwan juniper with Jalaluddin Din.


Boon Manakitivipart. Members’ choice award – large conifer with Jalaluddin Din (I guess the ‘large conifer’ is in reference to the award, as the tree is clearly a juniper of some sort).

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Bonsai tree: A Touch of Spring

The flowers are white, and we’ve got plenty of white stuff on the ground here in Vermont. That’s as far as it goes, but we can dream. The photo is from Bonsai Guest House Osaka (facebook). Here’s their website. It’s hard to tell for sure, but I’m guessing it’s a Ume (Flowering apricot). I’m told that Ume is one of the few deciduous trees holds deadwood for a long time.



More than just a touch. I like it when azaleas show some leaves when they bloom, like this one. Sometimes you see them completely covered with flowers, which can seem a little unnatural and overdone. This magnificent Nyohozan Satsuki Azalea belongs to Melvyn Goldstein. Its height is only 10 inches (25cm). It, along with nearly two hundred other of North America’s greatest bonsai, can be found in the 2nd U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition Album.

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Bonsai tree: Ume – cutback and grafting

Source: Bonsai Tonight
Ume – cutback and grafting

Sisyphus comes to mind when I think about my ume. I’ve been working on the tree for roughly 10 years, grafting, each winter, branches with white flowers onto branches that naturally sport double-pink flowers. Because the variety doesn’t bud back like other deciduous varieties, I find myself re-grafting branches year after year. This year was no different.

I started by removing the old leaves. This is fun with ume – I strip the leaves away by lightly pinching the base of each branch and dragging my fingers toward the end of the shoot.

Before stripping the leaves

Leaves stripped

Last year I repotted the tree thinking that slowing the tree down would help the grafts take. Not so – only a few of last year’s scions took hold. This year I simply cut back the long shoots and grafted the scions into place. You can see the grafting process in greater detail in last year’s post about repotting and grafting the tree.

Apparently grafting is fun

A scion in a bag – moss maintains humidity

Grafting complete

I’m planning on repotting the tree at a different angle next year – from the current front, the trunk looks like a gnarled sling-shot. The goal is to show the tree with plenty of blossoms. I had good luck with this in 2004. The flowers all opened up at the same time and we set it by the door at our 5th Bay Island Bonsai exhibit. You can find a picture of the tree – the first one in the group – at BIB’s 2004 gallery page. Read more!

Bonsai tree: Shohin Seminar from California

It’s hard to create a good shohin display. With larger trees, we work to find trees, pots, stands, and accents that work well together. With shohin, the same is true but the number of trees can jump to 6 or more. When done well, shohin displays create truly unique experiences. Here are some photos from this year’s California Shohin Seminar, the biennial event held in Santa Nella, CA.

Shohin display

Even in smaller displays it’s hard to get trees that point the right way and complement each other well. The display below does a good job of mixing broadleaf, deciduous, and coniferous bonsai.

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Bonsai repoting: ume

Several years passed – no flowers. I’d already carved away the lower 3-4 inches of the trunk and begun developing the nebari. I carved the trunk and helped new branches ramify. But no blooms. I’ll admit I am no fan of double pink, but the point of ume is the contrast between new flowers and old trunk. So I started grafting.
Another 5 years passed. The tree looked great with white blossoms – the fragrance was unforgettable – and I would had fun learning how to care the variety. But ume don’t bud back well, and the grafting became a regular affair. Then, out of nowhere, a few dark buds appeared from some of the original branches. Before long, I saw the first few double pink flowers. Which confirmed my decision to graft.
This year I am mid-re-grafting the entire tree. I let the branches grow past where I can safely cut back so I am essentially starting from scratch. Here is the tree a few weeks ago with the last few white and pink blossoms.

Ume – early February

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