The Long Range Plan for Single-flush Plants ~
Decandling black pines…defoliating trident maples…such techniques stimulate multiple flush plants to ramify and make smaller needles and leaves. Because they spur such surprising regrowth, we look mournfully at our single flush plants as if they could do better. White pines, Japanese maple, Beech, Spruce, Hemlock, Magnolia, Oak, etc. all fall into the single flush plant category. And […]
Hemlock On Rock : Revisit
This hemlock composition is from 2016. The design challenge was to imitate a tree not dangling off a cliff, as we tend to do with semi-cascade, but rather rising from a ravine slope, low on a cliff. We used a lace rock cavity which stabilized well in an upright position, suggesting the cliff wall. Starting with […]
Windy Mountain Hemlock Styling
This Mountain Hemlock, Tsuga mertensiana, came from Vancouver Island, BC, courtesy of collector Anton Nijhuis. My impression of wind-influenced trees is that the foliage pads are slender when seen from the side. Also, there is usually some air between the branches. We used that idea in our styling of this tree. The raw Mountain Hemlock, […]
Nurse Log Imagination—Hemlock, Huckleberry, and Salal
I’ve been wanting to do a nurse log as a kusamono planting for quite some time. Always had another project in the way. But recently the creative mood hasn’t led me to work with older trees in the midst of the pandemic, but rather new, fresh, young ones which give a feeling of forward momentum. […]
Revisit: Mountain Hemlock Branch
A few years have passed since this hemlock was styled, and it seemed a ripe moment for an update on its progress. It was collected by Anton Nijhuis, and is unusual being a naturally rooted branch off a larger tree. The first styling was in December 2014 when former apprentice Bobby Curttright was here, and he […]
Revisit: Twin Trunk Hemlock on a Nylon Board—
The last post about a Hemlock suggested that I might as well start a series on revisits from past work to see if they’ve gotten worse with time, stayed the same, or improved. Today we revisit one of the weirder things we’ve done here, putting a tree on a plastic cutting board… At the finish […]
History of a Mountain Hemlock-
Years ago a student brought this Mountain Hemlock into a Seasonal session. We styled it in the fall of 2012, and it later made an appearance at the Artisans Cup and is now spending the year at the Portland Japanese Garden display. Please check it out if you drop through Portland, Oregon this year- Here’s […]
Potting up a Hemlock-
Some of you may remember the restyling of this large, old Mountain Hemlock, Tsuga mertensiana, a few years ago. This spring the wooden box it was living in was replaced with a low ceramic rectangle. The following is a photo essay of this final step in the progression- This was the hemlock in December 2014, before the […]
Ancient Mountain Hemlock-
Merely eye-candy at this point, this huge Mountain Hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana) has never been worked on…but it’s a marvel to look at. The tree was collected by Anton Nijhuis. It’s the oldest hemlock I’ve ever seen in a pot. Thinking of styling it this fall, and will definitely do a post about it if we do…
A ‘Cliff Bonsai’—Western Hemlock Styling
We often think of cliff or rock faces being the place where cascade bonsai get their inspiration. And they do. But there’s another commonly seen growth habit in those steep, rocky areas… I collected this Hemlock, likely a Mountain / Western hybrid according to Anton Nijhuis, on Vancouver Island several years ago, where, coincidentally, it was […]
Michael Hagedorn 