Cheers Stephen, not many mates would have done this. It was a nice surprise 🙂
This was the garage when I arrived on Wedensday afternoon, as you can see a little tidy up was needed. About an hour later and,,,,,,,,
All shipshape and ready for the off. I felt the school was very entertaining and held my interest for all of the afternoon. I also aquired two new trees a really nice Chinese Juniper and a rather large siberian Elm, more posts on these later.
Had a bit of a session this afternoon dividing up some pines we collected a few years ago.
These are Scots Pine, Sylvestris and were collected from a bog and are typical of that shape. Looking forward to a little styling and pruning at the weekend 🙂
Phil looking all coy, not a typical sight!
Batten down the Hatches. Yet another few weeks of storms, flooding and bad weather have passed and there seems to be no end to it. Today winds are expected to reach 160kmph. The Storm today has been reeking havoc all over the south. My neighbors wall just collapsed while i was writing this. Cork has been hit hard again today and If its not under water its been blown away. Here are some photos of Cork and surrounding areas so far today. Photos taken from Facebook and twitter.
#changeonething #onlygoodthings
Most of you will have heard of the craze that is sweeping the world via Facebook.
NekNomination – which is known by various monikers and spellings in different regions – is a game in which a person is filmed downing their drink in one go, before nominating others to do the same on camera. Frequently, they nominate friends in other countries, which is how the fad has spread so quickly around the world.
This craze has resulted in many deaths two of which have been here in the UK and Ireland.
I teach young people about drugs and alcohol and how to stay safe, so as you would expect, this particular craze grabbed my attention. As I researched it further I came across some who were making a stand to turn a negative into a positive. This video shows one should person.
People like this are doing their bit via twitter #changeonething #onlygoodthings to turn a bad thing into something good.
Well this got me thinking! What about starting a ‘Bonsai NekNomination’? I’ll start…
Our club got a new member at the weekend. Drew is 16 years old and just starting bonsai. When many teenagers are more interested on xbox or alcohol, here is a young man who is doing something much more positive in his life.
To encourage him I gave him a Taxus Baccatta, Yew, as his first tree. This was repotted and pruned at our club workshop on Sunday where Peter Snart of Willowbog Bonsai gave him a pot for the tree. This was my ‘Bonsai NekNomination’. This is Drew’s day in pictures.
Well done Drew, not easy to be thrown in at the deep end with a bunch of strangers, but you took it in your stride. Lets keep it going 🙂
The sales area is a major part of most bonsai gatherings. The sale of bonsai, suiseki and other accessories for the training and appreciation of the arts is necessary for the professional bonsai artists.
The Nippon Bonsai Cooperative is the professional organization for bonsai artists and growers. A small corner lot, near the Ueno Park Zoo has been leased to the Nippon Bonsai Cooperative for many decades at a low rental price. Across the street is the headquarters for the Nippon Bonsai Association, which is a different organization from the professionals.
Approximately 20 years ago the Nippon Bonsai Cooperative organization removed the old low buildings and constructed a new, state of the art multi purpose, three story building for sales, exhibitions, meetings and judging for the Kokufu Bonsai Exhibitions. Each of the professional bonsai artists/growers was accessed a certain percentage of the building costs and they are all stockholder…
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On Sunday, February 9, 2014 Part 2 of the 88th Kokufu Bonsai Exhibition opened in the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum in Ueno Park. On Saturday all of the nearly 300 bonsai were removed and replaced with new masterpieces. Now, I’ve been at more Kokufu Bonsai Exhibitions than I remember and I’m still amazed at the number of new bonsai which are displayed each year. There are a few repeats, but most of the trees are new. I wonder how many masterpieces are out there in Japan, but remember, new specimens are always being created while old masterpieces pass on.
Part 2 also had 170 displays, 26 important bonsai masterpieces and 55 medium size bonsai. There were again only 5 shohin bonsai compositions. The judges selected 6 Kokufu prize bonsai for Part 2.
Kokufu Sho Award, Japanese five-needle pine, Pinus parviflora
Kokufu Sho Award, Japanese black pine, Pinus…
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We had a private morning visit to the Shunka-en Bonsai Museum of Kunio Kobayashi in the Edogawa area of Tokyo, Japan. Mr. Kobayashi has developed his museum to display many of his masterpiece bonsai in a garden setting as well as in formal alcoves. This is a most complete example of how bonsai can be enjoyed and appreciated in formal displays as well as illustrating the necessary outdoor environment for health and training.
In addition to having each bonsai in pristine condition, each specimen was matched to the perfect display table in size, color, design and quality. The accessories, antique containers, scrolls, as well as the display tables were all first class and of the highest quality, typical of the refinement Mr. Kobayashi enjoys and teaches.
Graduate apprentice Peter Warren from England returns back to his teacher for assistance during the busy…
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Heavy snow continues to fall in Tokyo on Saturday, it’s one of the biggest storms I’ve experienced in Japan. This would be just an ordinary snowfall for Rochester, NY, where nothing would be closed and school would go on as normal.
At breakfast I saw Michael Hagedorn with some of his students who were on their way to Obuse, near Nagano to visit Shinji Suzuki’s garden. Michael studied there about seven years ago and is returning for a few days. Mr. Suzuki is in Tokyo setting up the Kokufu Bonsai Exhibition Part 2 and the new Japan Suiseki Exhibition. Since I’ve never visited Mr. Suzuki’s garden, Marc Arpag and I immediately changed our plans and joined Michael’s group. Everyone stayed in Obuse for a few days, but Marc and I returned to Tokyo a couple of hours later.
Obuse is a few hours from Tokyo in normal weather. But this…
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