swordsmanbonsai

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Dancing Black Pine~

Slowly developing… I made a hard turn on that lower, left branch last styling. Since then then it has grown out, allowing me to add more movement. The apex and other branches were then moved to complement the overall.

Showing to a friend, she commented that it looked like a dancer. Seeing it through here eyes, yeah, I see that now too. Reminds me of of those Tang Dynasty Dancers with the long sleeves.

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A little addition to the Wuguan's garden. Been meaning to add a lantern and this natural stone one caught my eye.

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Cascade Japanese Maple Re-Wire 8/24~

I’ve often made the error of leaving the wire on too long on my Japanese Maples. This time, I might have taken it off a bit early. I noticed that the fine branches hadn’t held their shape, so I re-wired them.

Since I had it in to work on, I thought I might experiment with a bit of camera work. On an overcast day, I had a light shined on the tree at different angles. I thought I might get a nice round spotlight effect. Obviously I didn’t, but did get some interesting shadows. Anyway, let me know what you like, or don’t…

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Black & White & Ponderosa Pines~

Enjoying the morning with three pines. All in early development, but I still quite enjoy them. Left to right, a native White Pine collected this past winter, a recently acquired Japanese Black Pine I acquire just a few weeks ago and barely started styling, and a Ponderosa Pine I've been training for 2 years.

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Love it when something I figured it turns out to also be a method the experts are using.

During the hottest days, I water lightly in the early morning. Before I do, I touch the growing medium of several trees to feel the moisture content. They are typically still a bit moist from the previous evening’s watering.

Midday, I give all the trees a through soak, including spraying the leaves, and spraying the area around them. This includes the nearby lawn areas, gravel beneath the display tables, and stones of the garden path. Obviously, this heats to cool the pots that have baking in the sun, and the water evaporating from around the trees help keep them in a moist humid environment.

Lastly, in the early evening, I give them another slight spray, pots, tree tops and surrounding area.

I know that’s a lot for those who don’t work from home. That afternoon water will be impossible for those at work. For those away during the day, May I suggest a sprinkler with a timer. I’ve effectively employed this set up for days I have to be away.

The short video above describes a process very similar to what I came up.

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Garden of a Chinese Merchant with many Penzai, circa 1800, held in the British Museum.

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Desert Rose Back in Bloom~

I picked up this little tree three years ago on a trip to Florida. I really didn’t know anything about Desert Rose (Adenium obesum), but the shape of the trunk caught my eye. Since bringing it home, it’s flowered for me consistently, and put out a third branch. Not what one might call a traditional bonsai, but quite an interesting tree.

The unique stand, definitely one of a kind, was made by my father when he was in high school in Queens. He always had an eye for design.

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Recently acquired Japanese Black Pine developing into a semi-cascade. I have a nice, slightly bowled piece of stone I'll transfer it into next spring.

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Cascade Japanese Maple Summer 24 Update.

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A Chinese pith painting of a garden attributed to Tinghua, 19th century.

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I’ve been pleased with the first style of the trunk on this collected tree. But I wasn’t sure where to go with the apex of the tree. After training, standing in the wuguan gazing out the windows at my trees, spying my White Pine yamadori, I had a revelation ... wired the last section up to the crown. Quite happy with where it is.

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A wonderful little Companion Kusamono that caught my eye at the Potomac Festival.

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A very nice Chinese Viewing Stone with a Mud Man woodsman figure on display this weekend at the Potomac Bonsai Festival at the National Arboretum.

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Scots Pine Bonsai on Crab Basket Stand~

This display immediately caught my eye. I love the freedom of American Bonsai. This artist did things that I don’t believe would be acceptable in Japan. I mean a beer can as a pot?! He took “trash” and made something beautiful of it. Likewise for the upturned crab basket as a stand.

One’s culture is a great treasure. It can however, also be a straight jacket. Looking at the American Bonsai artists are push the boundaries of the Art, one might say even ignoring them, I might venture to say that they are leading the art in new directions in ways that the more traditional cultures of Japan and Chinese simply might not be able to.

The inventive approach to Nick Lenz’s Bonsai is a fantastic example of how an American Bonsai artist pushed the boundaries of the Art to new places.

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Beer Can Shitakusa (plant thing)~

I absolutely love the inventiveness of this beer can as a shitakusa pot. Also, gotta love the literal translation of the Japanese term shitakusa, plant thing. So that's plant thing in beer can.

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Yesterday I snuck away to spend the afternoon the National Arboretum to enjoy the Potomac Bonsai Association Festival. Warming up for this morning's Webinars, but later today I will try & post a few photos from trees & stones that caught my eye.

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Back Yard Collected Ginkgo

2nd Season Twist~

One of my local swords students pulled this Ginkgo tree out of her garden last year. They are not native and she is working to completely rewind her garden. So it ended up with me. Last year I started twisting the trunk. This spring it was much more supple than when I received it last year, so I was able to take the twist a bit further. It’s taking a nice shape. Unfortunately, you can see where leaves are missing. I lost several young trees to animals eating the leaves. I think this Ginkgo is fine, hopefully.

By the way, Ginkgo trees are one of the oldest living tree species in the world. They also have a long history in Chinese Medicine.