Always fun to plumb historical texts for modern-day relevance or just plain curiosity, but it’s not so common to have something this old to read. The Sakuteiki is a text from the Heian period and is a guide to designing a garden. The taboos are particularly entertaining, underlined with the warning, ‘To make a garden [...]
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Sakuteiki—1,000 Year Old Gardening Text
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged japanese gardening, Sakuteiki on February 1, 2012 | 2 Comments »
Winter Cold And Tree Roots
Posted in Uncategorized on January 17, 2012 | 9 Comments »
It pays to read. Not long ago I came across this paragraph in a book on tree maintenance, and thought it very succinct in describing what is going on invisibly inside the tree during times we might think it is fully dormant: Cambial activity shuts down first at the top of the tree, then in [...]
Why Won’t My Wisteria Bloom?
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged flowering bonsai, wisteria, wisteria bloom, wisteria bonsai, wisteria flowering, wisteria water on January 6, 2012 | 4 Comments »
Good question. It seems that while many people would like to have a wisteria bonsai, they give up on them when they fail to bloom consistently. After all, it is a rather dull looking plant when not in flower. I’m sure there are many non-blooming wisteria currently being used as umbrella racks. Wisteria bonsai fail [...]
Are We Missing Something?
Posted in Uncategorized on December 31, 2011 | 2 Comments »
A comment from last week’s post on Chojubai by Mr. Grahn had me thinking about connoisseurship. A connoisseur, as a rough definition, is someone with much knowledge of arts or food, and is a particularly good judge of aesthetics and taste. A sort of art critic, you might say. The very people who end up [...]
‘Chojubai’ Quince—Diminutive Jewels
Posted in Development, Shows, Uncategorized, tagged chochubai, chojubai bonsai, Chojubai quince, choujubai, flowering bonsai, japanese flowering quince, japanese flowering quince bonsai, Kokufu show, quince bonsai on December 22, 2011 | 15 Comments »
This unassuming dwarf quince can steal your heart. There are many who have gone to Japan for the spectacular pines, junipers, and maples, only to discover the quiet but memorable Chojubai. Those ‘many’ included a few friends of mine, and myself. This post is a little longer than most because Chojubai is so little known [...]
Read This If You Grow Japanese Maple
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged bonsai diseases, Japanese maple, japanese maple diseases, maple diseases, pseudomonas on November 29, 2011 | 11 Comments »
Now that I have your attention… This post is about a common bacterial disease called Pseudomonas syringae, which frequently affects Japanese maples yet is relatively easy to control. It is often misidentified as Verticillium wilt, as both cause tip dieback. The Pseudomonas bacteria form purply-black stem discolorations, which is the result of a toxin produced [...]
Cicada Damage On Bonsai
Posted in Uncategorized on November 16, 2011 | 4 Comments »
This may well qualify as the most useless post I offer this year… because it will have relevance only every decade or so. Seventeen years, in some cases… I’m talking about cicadas. Recently I was in the Midwest and saw this cicada damage on a client’s beech. The cicada will lay eggs in the branches [...]
Red Maple in Fall Color
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Anne Spencer, deciduous bonsai, Maple bonsai, red maple, red maple bonsai on October 18, 2011 | 12 Comments »
This post is dedicated to Portland’s own dear lady of deciduous, Anne Spencer, who passed recently. Anne grew this Red maple, Acer rubrum, from a three year old seedling twenty years ago. It is one of the joys of my backyard. This maple is a fine example of what slow dedicated work can bring, which [...]
Extreme Tidiness!
Posted in Uncategorized on October 14, 2011 | 7 Comments »
You think bonsai artists take things a bit far sometimes? This artist’s compulsive clean-up acts made me laugh out loud… His name is Ursus Wehrli.
Sight of the Blind Mind: Part II
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Bonsai, bonsai aesthetics, Bonsai Art, Crataegus Bonsai, Michael Hagedorn on September 17, 2011 | 16 Comments »
When I was in graduate school learning ceramics, a friend of mine asked our sculpture teacher when he was demonstrating assembling a work with clay slabs, sticks, and coils, ‘When you’re making those decisions, what are you thinking?’ The teacher paused and replied simply, ‘I’m not thinking at all.’ And he looked at us and [...]
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