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Birds are often used in traditional bonsai display to give a suggestion of where the tree is.

About a year and a half ago, I mentioned that I’d like to visit Walter Pall’s garden. The message got through to Walter (thanks, Jennifer!), and last week I was able to make the trip a reality.

As the first hints of autumn settle, the bonsai garden begins its quiet transformation. The light softens, the air soon cools – although right now we have warm, pleasant summer temperatures, and the trees respond with subtle shifts in colour and energy. This is a season of preparation—not only for the trees but for the bonsai enthusiast as well.

Delivering bonsai to the Portland Japanese Garden has one hairy bit. After grinding up a steep hill you come to the roof panels on the spectacular Kengo Kuma buildings, which are conveniently lower than the top of a 26’ U-Haul. But by taking this arrival slalom at 0.5 mph, in the past eight years both bonsai and buildings have survived materially unchanged.

The Redwood Empire Bonsai Society held their annual exhibit last month at the Rohnert Park Community Center in Rohnert Park, California.

We are in the final days of preparation for the US National Bonsai Exhibition. A big thank you to all who have registered to attend, exhibitors, vendors and the valued volunteers who set up, host and take down the Exhibition. 

In early 2018 I got a call from the then-curator of the Portland Japanese Garden, Sadafumi Uchiyama, who asked for help sourcing bonsai. I coughed up some phlegm—getting over bronchitis following my tiny house build—and said, “Yes, I’d like that”—cough—“thank you.”

While I was in town for the recent Mid-America Bonsai Exhibit, I had the opportunity to visit and learn about the bonsai collection at the Chicago Botanic Garden. Curator Chris Baker and Seasonal Bonsai Assistant Angelica Ramirez led me through a tour of the facility that included the work areas, multiple greenhouses for overwintering trees at different temperatures, and the public display courtyards.

The shape of pine needles gives us clues to our pine care. 

A big thank you to everyone who has registered for a Weekend Pass at the upcoming 9th US National Bonsai Exhibition on September 13-14 2025 in Rochester, New York