This bonsai belonged to Mas Imazumi. It spent some time under the care of Boon. But it is now out in the world for all to see. The new owner is Jeff, who has worked with Boon for the last few years to get it show-ready. Enjoy.

Yeah, we all survived. I was a great show, which is clearly reflected in the smiles!

It was cold on Tuesday. This is a really big ice-cube found in the garden. 

Pictures by John Kirby. 

Cold Tuesday 12/8/09

John Kirby came and worked on some show trees in December.

These are some pictures of his trees

Pictures taken by John Kirby.

Japanese black pine

shohin Japanese Black Pine

shohin black pine

Itoigawa shimpaku

John is now the 12th student to graduate from across North America. He has been working to make a Western Juniper into a bonsai. The material below had no work except that it had been repotted once.

So, next came the bending.

All this actually happened last time John came out to California. So this time the styling started.

Below is John and his completed project. Well, not completed, but the first complete styling is finished. Now the filling out and the refinement can start. But when you look at the first picture – and the last picture - you can see that John can do bonsai.

On Peter T.’s  level, you would expect that all the possible choices of pots would work. But then the question becomes, “Which one works best for the feeling you want to bring out in the bonsai?”

Though all may work, the final picture in this post is Peter’s choice.

Here is Peter T. with is his prize winning tree (Midori Bonsai Club Show two posts down). It was hight time for repotting, because a tree well taken care of puts out lots of roots.

The picture below shows a good job of placing branches. When you go to bonsai shows, you can learn a lot about the skill of the artist by looking that the branch placements from below.

We though we would do a “Scott” – peppers and bonsai on the blog- but put them in the same picture. If you don’t know who Scott is here is a link to his blog: http://scottsbonsai.blogspot.com/ He was the one who supplied a tiny little plant this spring, which is now ready for harvest.

This last weekend at the Midori Bonsai Show (California), Peter Tea took “Best in Show” with this California Juniper.

Here is the same bonsai in 2004 – using the other side: http://bonsaiboon.com/bib/bib2004/content/Img2004_01_11_115109_large.html

The tree has definitely matured as a bonsai.

Jeff and Boon had a conversation about this Western Juniper. And, the question they have  is  this: Is this Western Juniper showable?