Spring 2012 Seasonal Photo Gallery–
Earlier this week five guys descended on my studio for three days of bonsai festivities. Here’s a photographic tour of some of the happenings… minus most of the black pine decandling, the wiring exercise, and the final removal of ponderosa foliage from a grafted tree. Hope you enjoy what we did manage to document-
Getting ready to decandle a black pine, concentrating on the needle count. Howard got his glasses fixed since he was last here.
Yes, we even covered proper watering technique…
Our nutty band at one of the local restaurants. A few students refuse to go anywhere but this quirky Mexican restaurant on the first day. This time we had three students from the USA and two from Canada. They all got along very well, thankfully. No deportations were necessary. In either direction.
Partial defoliation on a Japanese maple
We forgot to take a photo before cutting off the Rocky Mountain juniper foliage on this grafted tree (rats), so helpful hands put them back where they were originally.
Here’s the same tree with only two veneer grafts of a rather coarse shimpaku on it. It’s been three years since grafting. I thought the coarseness of the tree should be mirrored in the foliage, hence the weird choice of foliage. We shall see how it develops-
Cleaning shari on a juniper with a water blaster… sort of like a really powerful water pic for teeth.
Putting approach grafts on a juniper
Another favorite restaurant…
And a display exercise to finish up the session. Well, actually we saw a bonsai video after this with popcorn. There was quite a bit of red pepper in Howard’s popcorn I think, given his expressive reaction. No foul play, though, I think he put it in himself. Good times, thanks everyone for joining me!
Michael Hagedorn 
5 Comments
Good to see the mountain hemlock settling in, Michael.
But about the water blaster…I’ve not seen one before. Would it be good for removing moss from branches? A problem here in soggy upland Hawaii.
Thanks for another excellent post.
Yes, the water blaster is great for moss and algae removal, as well as just accumulated dirt. I bought this one at the Biten sales area of the Kokufu show. Was not able to find one at home. They are not cheap—expect to pay $400 or so. Be sure to get a green one. The brown ones are not as powerful.
Love that hemlock. I have just read your book for the second time this year and really enjoyed it. Looks like your class had a lot of fun, thanks for sharing.
Glad you like the hemlock- Look for it in Bonsai Focus this fall, with more images and words about its creation. Yes, the Seasonals are a hoot of fun and we cover a lot of bonsai, along with far too much eating.
Looks like a good group of enthusiasts here.
I like the use of the power washer but maybe its just me but I like the fact that moss and lichens sometime make home on the bark.
And your photo’s are really clear.
Thanks for sharing