As a follow up to the recent post about growing wisteria, this is one in my backyard that is putting on quite a show. It’s a Chinese wisteria, and the photo is from last week. When I came back from the Texas convention over the weekend it was nearly finished blooming. Nuts! The pot was [...]
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Wisteria In Bloom! And Quiz…
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged containers, flowering bonsai, wisteria on April 30, 2012 | 5 Comments »
Spruce On Nylon Board
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged black pine, Companion plant, Engelmann spruce, narcissus, nylon board, vine maple on April 7, 2012 | 4 Comments »
The day after my Seasonal students left I was so intrigued by what we had done with the Mountain Hemlock from last week’s post that I put this Engelmann spruce on a plastic slab as well. While the first day with five students it had taken all day to figure out, I did this one [...]
Photo Gallery From Japan: Matt Reel, Tyler Sherrod, Kokufu, Trees…
Posted in Shows, Uncategorized, tagged Chojubai quince, Kokufu, Matt Reel, Shinji Suzuki, Tyler Sherrod on March 7, 2012 | 3 Comments »
As this is a photo album with a strong streak of randomness, I’ll say little here and more in the captions under the images… Enjoy!
Kokufu Show and Suzuki’s Nursery!
Posted in Shows, Uncategorized, tagged Kokufu show, Matt Reel, Shinji Suuzki, Tyler Sherrod on March 1, 2012 | 10 Comments »
Apologies for my blogging absence… I was in Japan for half of February, and will post a few photos from that shortly. Technical problems abound… I used my iPhone for most of the image-making. Unknown at the time, my computer is so old that it will not accept images from the iPhone. And one of [...]
Sakuteiki—1,000 Year Old Gardening Text
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged japanese gardening, Sakuteiki on February 1, 2012 | 2 Comments »
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 [...]
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 | 7 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 | 19 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 | 17 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 [...]
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