The preparation of my RAF Dwarf Scots pine bonsai for exhibiting this year began earlier this spring with trimming and a complete wiring of all the smaller branching. It takes considerable time to correctly prepare a bonsai for display, so I try to use the tree often.

This bonsai was displayed in the 40^th Upstate New York Bonsai exhibition in May, my 50^th Anniversary Display at the International Bonsai Colloquium in June and will be displayed next week at the Midwest Bonsai Show. Additionally the bonsai will be shown at the ABS Learning Symposium in Saratoga, New York, next month.

This tree has a long history, starting from a select young, pencil size seedling in the early 1970s and is the topic for my next story.

 

The Midwest Bonsai Show has quite a history going back 36 years. Originally Tony Mihalic, Keith Scott and I were the only vendors for several years and the society actually PAID us to participate. Times have changed and we now pay well over $1,000 to make our select products available to the show attendees. I’ve been fortunate to participate in all 35 of the shows, except for two when my home/office burned down.

 

2012 International Bonsai Arboretum sales area.

2012 Valavanis bonsai entry, Rock cotoneaster.

2012 Valavanis bonsai entry- Korean hornbeam.

The Midwest Bonsai Show is held at the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe, Illinois. Many of their excellent bonsai masterpieces are on display in two courtyards. Bonsai hobbyists and professionals from five or more states travel to show their best trees. Anyone may exhibit and there is no registration fee.

 

One of the two bonsai courtyards.

Blue moss cypress forest from the Chicago Botanic Garden Collection.

 

Award winning bonsai are displayed in two alcoves.

This year Bjorn Bjorholm is the guest judge who will also present a free demonstration and a few workshops. There are several other free demonstrations and lots of interesting workshops.

 

Additional information on this excellent show can be found at:

http://www.midwestbonsai.org/augustshow.html

If you are in the area, or even if not, try to visit the show, you will not be disappointed. And, while there, stop and say hello to me in my sales area. I should be there since my travel is limited with my broken foot.

Midwest Bonsai Show

August 16-18, 2013

Chicago Botanic Garden- Glencoe, IL

Have you ever wanted to explore the bonsai and Japanese garden world of Japan in a small limited group? Well, here is your opportunity. In November Kora Dalager, travel agent and bonsai instructor from California and I will be leading another one of our popular bonsai tours to Japan. Bonsai gardens and studios of some of the finest bonsai artists in Japan will be privately visited.

 

Maple leaves in Kyoto.

Our tour will first begin in the Tokyo area where we will visit Mr. Kimura’s studio, the new Omiya Bonsai Art Museum and Omiya Bonsai Village. Many of the world’s best bonsai originated or were refined in this small bonsai village of six gardens. Bonsai of all species, sizes and styles can be seen and studied in beautiful garden settings in their autumn glory.

Masahiko Kimura’s studio.

 

Omiya Bonsai Art Museum.

Mansei-en Bonsai Garden- Hatsuji Kato.

Fuyo-en Bonsai Garden- Hiroshi Takeyama.

Next we will visit S-Cube, the garden of Seiji Morimae where you will see several thousands of bonsai and suiseki. A wide variety of bonsai, suiseki, containers, display tables and accessories are reasonably priced. Other than the living bonsai items can be easily purchased to add to your collection.

 

S-Cube- Seiji Morimae.

The next day a visit to Kunio Kobayashi’s Shunka-en Bonsai Museum in Tokyo will be guided by graduate apprentice and bonsai artist fom England, Peter Warren. His command and understanding of Japanese aesthetics and language will surely we  everyone and all questions will be answered. Here you can appreciate fine quality refined bonsai masterpieces distinctively displayed in indoor alcoves as well as in the garden.

 

Shunka-en Bonsai Museum- Kunio Kobayashi.

Display alcove with Gardenia bonsai.

Japanese maple.

Kunio Kobayashi teaching our group.

After the visit we will take the famous bullet train to Kyoto. Mt. Fuji can usually be seen from the fast moving train. Our visit to Kyoto is on the busiest weekend of the year because of “maple viewing” when thousands of old Japanese maples turn into brilliant autumn beauty. There are actually charts in each hotel indicating daily peak viewing of the largest gardens. A private full day bus tour to many of the most beautiful and famous gardens and temples will be led by our native guide, a retired schoolteacher has a wealth of knowledge, excellent command of the English language, humor and freely shares with everyone. Many small details often missed by visitors are quickly pointed out and explained.

 

Mt. Fuji taken from bullet train.

Maple viewing in Japanese gardens.

Tour member mediating in Ryoanji Temple garden.

We unexpectedly caught a camera shoot for a kimono shop.

We will then watch the opening ceremony of the Taikan Bonsai Exhibition, the largest exhibition in western Japan. Over 200 beautiful bonsai will be displayed. Unlike the Kokufu Bonsai Exhibition, each bonsai is effectively displayed with appropriate companions and is usually accompanied with scrolls and suiseki. It is rare to see suiseki displayed with bonsai in Japanese bonsai exhibitions. The prize winning bonsai from the last Kokufu and Sakufu Bonsai Exhibitions are displayed along with special exhibits.

 

Taikan ten view.

 

Taikan ten view.

Taikan ten bonsai view.

Bonsai and suiseki display.

Large size bonsai being positioned on display table.

 

Chinese quince bonsai.

Satsuki bonsai display.

Kora Dalager and Bill studying shohin bonsai composition.

 

A simple companion of moss.

Japanese five-needle pine bonsai rock planting.

 

Beautyberry shohin bonsai.

Award winning Sargent juniper bonsai.

A large sales area completes the exhibition and everything you always wanted to add to your collection will be on sale. Bonsai and items from the finest bonsai gardens will be available. Last year photographs were allowed, which is not normally the custom in Japan.

 

Sales area.

Trident maple bonsai, sold during the first hour.

Joe Noga looking at all the great bonsai which can’t be brought back…

Usually during the same time Seiji Morimae hosts a private suiseki show in a nearby 800 year old temple. The beautiful suiseki are displayed in several rooms.

Alcove display of suiseki.

During the following free days tour participants usually return to the exhibition or continue on to explore Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan. Every time I return to the exhibition I see things I missed the previous times. Perhaps I’m a slow learner, but it takes me many visits to study all the displays.

We will then leave Kyoto and travel to Nagoya where will visit the bonsai garden of Toru Suzuki, the third generation artist of Daiju-en Bonsai Garden. Many of the techniques for training pine bonsai originated with his father and grandfather.

 

Daiju-en Bonsai Garden- Toru Suzuki.

A private visit to Shinpuku-ji Temple and museum will complete the day were we will see a small, but excellent bonsai collection in beautiful surroundings. The curator of this museum loves Princess persimmon bonsai and often has beautiful displays. We will be having lunch in their compound.

 

A forest of Cryptomeria and Bamboo on the way to the Shinpukuji temple.

A few stairs leaving the temple. Wonder how to do this if my foot is still broken?

Bonsai on display outdoors.

Japanese five-needle pine bonsai outdoors.

Indoor display of Princess persimmon bonsai.

Finally, a visit to Tokoname, one of the ancient kilns of Japan will conclude our tour. Here you can often see potters create their ware. Containers of all sizes, shapes, color and designs can be purchased for your bonsai. We will depart Japan the following day returning home in time to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday with your family.

 

Lots of bonsai containers everywhere.

Master potter demonstrating slab making a container.

“Gyozan”, one of the top bonsai container artists.

The deadline is rapidly coming for registering for this exciting one-in-a-lifetime tour. The tour flyer can be easily downloaded from my website at:

Click to access 2013%20AUTUMN%20JAPAN%20TOUR.pdf

The exchange rate has been improving and frequent flyer miles can often be used for transportation. Please contact Kora Dalager (kora@ca.astound.net  or phone 510-610-9064) for questions or additional information.

I look forward to sharing the beauty of the Japanese garden and bonsai world with you. Please don’t delay, you will not be disappointed with our distinctive, comprehensive, value packed and fun bonsai tours!

Last weekend at the Park Avenue Art Festival I came across Dan Soles, another artist selling hypertufa pots. He hand crafts and sells them from his business Tranquility Hill Greenhouse (www.tranquilityhillgreenhouse.com) in Clifton Springs, NY. Hypertufa pots are porous made from cement, perlite, sphagnum and fiberglass fibers. They weather nicely and tend to easily grow moss because of the sphagnum. They are a popular item in gardens and are often planted with dwarf conifers, alpines or sometime annuals.

The hypertufa pots were a bit heavy and too crude for my taste in bonsai, however the plant material he had planted in the pots were quite interesting. I purchased two of his hypertufa pots which I’m going to carve down to make thinner and a bit more refined. Then, they might be suitable for a literati style bonsai or accessory planting.

I’ve wanted to create a cactus/succulent tray landscape for a long time, but it’s difficult to find interesting plants of the right size. I asked Dan to bring me a few plants in plastic pots rather than take them out of his planted hypertufa pots. He brought a nice selection and I finally had suitable plant material for a tray landscape.

Today I assembled a few containers, weathered stones and a couple of odd succulents which I’ve had for a long time, just kicking around. Together with the new cacti and succulents I had everything ready. Three brown unglazed oval containers were selected for the tray landscape. I selected the smallest size because it was a bit deeper than the others. It had a “belt” design around the sides which presented a more shallow size than it actually was.

The container only had three drainage holes. Cacti and succulents are not known for having a compact root system so it was necessary to tie them into the container. For best holding, the tie wires should originate near the edge of the container, not from the three centered holes. I took two thin bamboo chopsticks and attached four sections of copper tie wires to each. Then they were secured to the bottom of the container using one wire through the two outside drainage holes. The center hole was not used for tying the plants into the container.

Bonsai soil, combined with Pro Mix was used for the medium. Normally I arrange the stones then add plants, however, this time both were positioned at the same time. It was a bit difficult to tie the wires with the stones in place, so I removed the stones, tied the wire and replaced the stones. There were a few wires left over which were not needed, but it’s better to have extra than not enough.

Finally a thin layer of a tan colored gravel was used as the soil covering and the new cacti/succulent tray landscape was thoroughly watered. I placed it directly in a full sun exposure hoping what heat we have left this season will stimulate new roots to establish the plants.

Hopefully the plants will grow slowly and not outgrow the container. However, when they reach the desired size I’ll use a trick to keep the plants at the same size without pruning. Simply take a hot needle and insert it into the growing tip of each plant.

Each summer I participate in two arts festivals in Rochester to introduce the “public” to bonsai, get new students for my Introductory Bonsai Course and sell a few indoor starter trees. Each year photos must be sent for judging to see if your art is good enough for the public. All work must be original, not imported from China or India. On Sunday we finished the Park Avenue Arts Fest, which I’ve shown in for the past 20 years. My good buddies and super salesmen Ron Maggio and Rick Marriott helped Diane and me sell some indoor bonsai starters. Well, they did the selling because Diane “tried” to make me sit down and work on a few bonsai because of my broken foot. They did a smashing job selling 74 bonsai! The bonsai which were sold were priced from $18 to $350. I hope they all live too… My display area is in front of one of my student’s jewelry store, Gudmund Olson, who is a goldsmith. He does great repair jobs for valuable containers. On his porch where he has many of his bonsai I noticed an unusual Siberial elm. It has been container grown from a young collected seedling 21 years ago. He wanted to improve the taper and develop a couple of new branches so he allowed two to grow wild. The normal leaf size on the escape branches is unbelievable next to the branches he has been trimming for over 20 years. I took a quick photo of the bonsai to use in my programs and Diane took the tree to our sales tent to show people the power of trimming to dwarf plants. Each summer I drastically prune the long shoots of my Nippon Daisy Chrysanthemum bonsai to encourage fresh, compact growth and hope for the autumn blossoms. A week ago I drastically pruned a few and they are popping with buds all over the place, and need to be thinned out already. At the festival Ron Maggio helped prune my Nippon Daisy Chrysanthemum bonsai which originally came from Yuji Yoshimura’s father, so it must be nearly as old as my mom, 94. Of course the public wanted to know why we had a “dead” bonsai on display. Thanks Ron for a great trimming job!

Ron Maggio & Rick Marriott– Super Salesmen!

Siberian Elm with two sacrifice branches.

Close up of normal and trimmed leaves.

Nippon Daisy Chrysanthemum blossoms.

October 2012

July 2013 before trimming.

July 2013 after trimming and repotting.

Ron Maggio trimming original Nippon Daisy Chrysanthemum.

After trimming!