Spotted in the Wild
Historical Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and RSS posts previously curated by the club (2017–present). Not authored by the club — preserved here since the original source feeds no longer carry this history.
Chinese Elm Repotting – Key Bonsai Practice
A Quick And Easy BC Forest
2020 California Shohin Bonsai Seminar
The 17 th Biannual California Shohin Bonsai Seminar was held on January 31-February 2, 2020 in beautiful downtown Santa Nella California. Actually, Santa Nella is not much more than a truck stop on I-5, but about…
Some Things That Are Waking Up
Defining the branch structure on a Korean hornbeam
I often begin the styling process by considering how well the branches complement the trunk. On the Korean hornbeam below, a slender trunk supports a relatively full silhouette. Korean hornbeam Full silhouettes make…
Black pine – work in progress
After developing the branches on a black pine for the past nineteen years, it was time to give the tree a haircut. Black Pine After reducing the apex When I acquired the tree twenty years ago, it was much taller. After…
BC Collecting Trip #5 For 2020
Bay Area Bonsai Associates’ 39th annual exhibit
The Bay Area Bonsai Associates held their 39th annual exhibit last weekend at the Lake Merritt Garden Center in Oakland, California. It’s been a few years since I last posted photos from the BABA show and I’m glad I…
The Little Book of Bonsai – a look at what’s inside
A few weeks ago I told the story of how The Little Book of Bonsai came to be. Today I’d like to share details about who it’s for and what’s inside. I wrote the book for people who are new to bonsai. It’s illustrated…
BC Collecting Trip #4 For 2020
BC Collecting Trip #3 For 2020
Pruning to support development goals on crabapple pre-bonsai
When pre-bonsai are in the trunk-thickening phase, the work is simple – prune to avoid unwanted swelling and wire new shoots where you want movement. I’ve been doing this work on a batch of crabapples I started from…
Refining a field-grown black pine
The pine below is several years out of the ground and is showing signs of becoming a bonsai. Japanese black pine In the past year, I wired the primary branches and made two grafts near the apex. This winter, I thinned…
Kito Memorial Bonsai Exhibit
When our tour visited Seiji Morimae last week in his garden, he took me aside and told me of an important bonsai exhibit we should visit. I asked the name of the exhibit and the location in case we were in the area or…
BC Collecting Trip #2 For 2020
2020 90th Meifu Bonsai Exhibition
The 90 th Meifu Bonsai Exhibition was held on January 10-12, 2020 in the Fukiage Hall in Nagoya, Japan. It is sponsored by Chubu Bonsai Cooperative, which is a professional bonsai organization. The exhibition is held in…
2020 45th Gafu Ten Shohin Bonsai Exhibition– Part 3
C Sales Area Like most exhibitions, this is the most popular area of the event. Most foreigners go past the bonsai exhibition upon entry and head directly to the sales area. Nearly anything you need or want for bonsai…
2020 45th Gafu Ten Shohin Bonsai Exhibition– Part 2
Special Displays There are several special display in this year’s Gafu Ten Shohin Bonsai Exhibition. It was interesting to view the special display of Registered Important Masterpiece containers, all in clear plexi…
Huckleberry #5 Potted
2020 45th Gafu Ten Shohin Bonsai Exhibition– Part 1
This morning the 45 th Gafu Ten Shohin Bonsai Exhibition opened in Kyoto, Japan. This is the highest-level exhibition to show small size bonsai. Although a shohin bonsai exhibition, there were quite a few mame bonsai…
Pot selection exercise – dwarf wisteria
Earlier this week, I presented a program on repotting for the East Bay Bonsai Society. We started by covering techniques for securing trees into containers based on the numbers of holes in the pot (see “ Securing ” for…
Shunka-en Bonsai Museum & Taisho-en Bonsai Garden
Shunka-en Bonsai Museum The Shunka-en Bonsai Museum of Kunio Kobayashi is always a special treat for our bonsai tours. Located in central Tokyo it is easy to find and visit. Here you can see superb developed masterpiece…
How To Make Good Material A Lot Better
A Visit To Saitama Prefecture
Our first day of touring the Japanese bonsai world included Mr. Morimae, Mr. Kimura, Omiya Bonsai Art Museum and the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum. Seiji Morimae’s S-Cube business and Uchiku-tei Garden Located about an hour…