Hoshu-in Bonsai Garden at Daitoku-ji Temple complex in Kyoto, designed and maintained by Seiji Morimae

Shunka-en Bonsai Museum of Kunio Kobayashi, Edogawa-ku, Tokyo

Omiya Bonsai Village

Omiya Bonsai Art Museum

This year, like the past 25 years, Kora Dalager and I have been leading exciting tours to the Japanese bonsai world. Attached are a few photos to share with followers to my blog,

S-Cube Uchiku Tei, the bonsai garden of Meiji Morimae in Hanyu, Japan.

In Part 1 of the Autumn 2023 Beauty blog I shared photos of my garden and bonsai as of October 25^th. Part 2 has now been completed. I was waiting for two dozen bonsai which have not yet completed their autumn transformation to colorful foliage. 

On Monday my Senior Crew cleaned and moved most of the bonsai into the overwintering building (garage). It’s kind of full now and we still have many more to add. Each deciduous bonsai had all the leaves removed, then using a leaf blower, the surface was cleaned of leaves and old organic fertilizer balls. Moss growing up the trunks was carefully removed too. All the bonsai were carefully placed so they look good, kind of like a small bonsai display. Many will be moved, again, when the remaining bonsai are brought inside.

There are still a few bonsai not yet ready to photograph. After the bonsai were protected, the “bonsai in waiting” were brought to the front od the garden, for easier watering. Each tree was placed on a turntable and is turned daily for even coloring. It happens sometimes overnight, so they must be carefully watched and photographed at their peak beauty.

There are still a couple of Japanese maples and Dwarf contorted Bradford pears which have not yet completed their color change. There are two of these bonsai, sitting next to each other, one is turning red, the other yellow. As these remaining bonsai change color they will be photographed my one of my assistants, Alan Adair. Then they will be cleaned and he will have to put them away finding space. I’m leaving for Japan in a few hours so it’s up to Alan to carefully position each tree so it looks good, like an indoor exhibit. He knows me well and knows I’ll move most of them around when I return home.

All of the photos in Part 2 of this blog are different to show the wide range of beauty we are enjoying. Perhaps I’ll have a few more to share in a few weeks. Enjoy the beauty of autumn, it doe not last that long before the winter snows arrive…

The annual colorful beauty of my deciduous bonsai came on schedule during the fourth week of October. The brilliant color peaked on October 25th and lasted for a couple of days. However, the show is not over yet. I still have 12 masterpiece Japanese & Trident maples which have changed color… yet.

Enjoy the beauty that my bonsai are displaying this year. More to com!

The Bonsai Society of Upstate New York celebrated their 50^th anniversary by presenting a unique program to the members on Tuesday, October 24, 2023. The meeting was held in Buckland Lodge in Rochester, New York, where most of our members live, although we do have a good number of active members who regularly attend most meetings and support the organization from Buffalo, Syracuse and Ithaca, New York as well as Erie, Pennsylvania.

We wanted to present a special educational program unlike anything else we have had during the past 50 years. Current president Marc Arpag and long-time past presidents Harvey Carapella and Wm. N. Valavanis together presented demonstrations on Developing and Refining Bonsai. Additionally, each formally displayed one of their finest bonsai. The society rented white curtains with pipe and drape to create an appropriate atmosphere for the three exhibits. The skirting was dark red on the bottom and had a dark red valance on top of the eight-foot white curtains to visually lower the vast white space and coordinate with the bottom. Green and purple table coverings were used, with green on each end of the larger displays and purple in the middle for the smaller exhibit, thus providing additional colors and variety tastefully.

Each artist exhibited and demonstrated on one of their favorite species they are well known for. Marc used Eastern White Cedar, Harvey worked on Sargents Juniper and Bill used Japanese Maples to explain the difference between the developmental training and refining techniques. Bonsai were from their personal collections and each artist carefully and lovingly explained and showed key points. All questions were answered and discussed from the attentive members. They all demonstrated next to each other making comments on each other’s trees and work. This was NOT a “club demo” where a tree is quickly shaped to impress the audience. Each artist respects and admires each other’s trees and work well together. We even had “tip jars” next to each artist for our members and guests which were encouraged to insert folding money as the artists worked. This was NOT a competition or judging. It was fun and the society made a few hundred dollars for the treasury. 

Member’s comments after the meeting were well received. “Wow the program was magical and 100% gold.” “All three displays individually were excellent, interesting, creative, tasteful, and were artistically representative of each artist AND together combined to what felt like a perfectly harmonious composition!” “The presentations were seamless, extremely educational, varied in subjects and informative and yet not repetitive at all!” This program was a fantastic way for the artists to pay tribute to the society they  love and support and a wonderful gift to our loyal members. The unique program was enjoyable and educational. It will be difficult to top this program after the next 50 years….

Late Summer Beauty At International Bonsai Arboretum

This Saturday, September 23, 2023 will officially begin the Autumn season in the northern hemisphere. The weather is beautiful, sunny and warm. As I was strolling though my garden several views look good so am sharing them with you.

Winter is coming, time to get overwintering white poly to cover four houses. I felt luck to find the right sizes, but not happy about the double price increase, over $750!

More photos as my garden colors up, hopefully.