On a beautiful Saturday I had a great time turning a collected Moutain Hemlock into a bonsai while my good friend Brian inspired me with his amazing music. Mt Hemlocks are one of the best trees for bonsai because of their tiny needles. Collected trees usually have knarly old trunks and with a keen eye, itContinue reading “Hemlock, Blues Music, and Great Company”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Spring Photos
Tale of the Goodwill Parking Lot Yamadori
Many times I dream of going on a hike up in the mountains or some weathered wild place to scout and collect some gnarly-looking bonsai specimens (yamadori). In my bonsai experience, that remains in my bucket list. So far this year, I have been fortunate to collect potentially awesome “urban yamadoris”. Still crossing my fingers that a good percentage of theseContinue reading “Tale of the Goodwill Parking Lot Yamadori”
Recycle and Reuse – Creating a Bonsai Garden
To create a bonsai, it takes skills and knowledge, creativity, sensitivity, and patience. To create a bonsai garden takes all the attributes of creating a bonsai plus more. To create a bonsai garden out of refuse, surplus and recycled materials … add being able to withstand pulling your hair to all the attributes. The photo aboveContinue reading “Recycle and Reuse – Creating a Bonsai Garden”
Juniper Heaven
February 16th 2015 we worked on a landscape project involving a tear down of an old juniper mass that have been in the landscape for more than 50 years. For someone who is not involved in bonsai, these junipers are garbage, nuisance, and lots of work to remove. And it was a lot of work. ForContinue reading “Juniper Heaven”
Infinitely Changing “Infinity”
I wrote a post a month ago about this tree I call “infinity” because the loop it makes with its trunk. In the last month, it’s been going through some transformation more than it has seen in a few years. Not that it’s growing quickly and changing quickly but me as the bonsai artist is going through aContinue reading “Infinitely Changing “Infinity””
Saving Ugly
This latest post is for me a way to keep this blog going. I get excited about something and all I think about is that “thing”. I do everything for and with that “thing” and when I get my fix for that “thing” I move on to something else. This happens to me with bonsaiContinue reading “Saving Ugly”
Infinity Tree
Around 2006 I bought a Shimpaku Juniper from Bonsai NW. It’s one of the few that I bought from Bonsai NW. I was told that it was one of Gene Goulds trees. I never met the artist but apparently he passed and they were selling off his trees. When I got the tree, it was basically a stickContinue reading “Infinity Tree”
Bonsai and Football
Huh??? Bonsai and football? Yes, an unlikely pair of activities but this is the story of how it all happened for me.
Envisioning the Future – The Beginnings of an Urban Yamadori
In my previous post (5 Reasons Bonsai will Benefit Your Health) I talked about the attitude of a bonsai artist as being optimistic or hopeful in the future. Here’s an example of a tree recently collected from a project we started this week. An urban “yamadori” ( yamadori usually means collected from the wild). It’s a test of theContinue reading “Envisioning the Future – The Beginnings of an Urban Yamadori”