This white cedar has a long history, from it’s collection in Northern Ontario, to becoming a Marc Nolanders demo in 1997, and beyond. It passed from there to Rainer Gobel, to Chase Rosade, to Bill Valavanis, and today it was the object of Peter Warren’s entertaining, if not lightning-fast demo, assisted by Marc Arpag.

As always, Peter adds nuggets of wisdom; here discussing the importance of leaving growing tips rather than “mowing” off all growing tips.

Thinning the dense tree, keeping this philosophy of trimming back, and not pinching, as evidenced by the size of each shoot removed and laying on the stage:

From on high, to achieve a broader crown present in old trees:

Nearly through trimming back:

And somewhere between thinning out and finishing the wiring, the resident auctioneer runs up to a “sold” to a lucky Michael L. with a big van and northern climate:

And here…

This was a nursery that has been top of my list to visit for some time, and it did not disappoint.

This juniper I first saw in Peter Warrens blog last year, and in the flesh it did not disappoint.

This large Hinoki Sekka that Owen styled a while back was good to meet as I have some of the cuttings he struck from what was removed in the styling.

Chatting with Bjorn about this prunus he said it was struggling due to its age so 4 years ago it was grafted with new foliage and the old all removed. This means everything other than the main trunk is only 4 years old. The tree now grows like a teenager again.

Where as this maple is on a slow decline to the end of its life, it’s already lost a major branch half way up.

Watering in winter is relatively…

After a most successful Joy of Bonsai convention, organizer Louise Leister and Mike Rogers, President of the Kawa Bonsai Society, sponsor of the event, took Diane and me to a special visit to see ancient Bald cypress. The location is out in the wilds, where “men are men and sheep are weary” on Lake Disston. Designated as an “Outstanding Florida Water” by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Agency, Lake Disston is in its natural state, leaving the land surrounding the lake sparsely populated of homes and with very few boats on the waterway.

We took three kayaks on the lake which was smooth glass. The weather was a warm 70F with a clear blue sky and no wind, a bit different than the -10F weather we left in Rochester, and will return to tomorrow. The calm water provided for some interesting reflections.

These ancient Bald cypress trees had tremendous character…

I sell a lot of native European Yamadori all of the trees are very old and of the best quality, trees that I would have in my own collection. I select trees on the hill that I believe will make great bonsai and leave those that have no or little potential. With every tree except pine I bare root, removing all the mountain soil and replace with my own mix suitable for growing new roots and establishing the tree in a pot. I also endeavour to plant the tree in the smallest container whilst still maintaining the future health of the tree. This makes transplanting to a bonsai pot a lot easier without the usual dangerous root ball reduction that sometimes takes place after establishing.

Usually the planting position in the ‘training’ pot is not the ‘finished’ angle or position that the tree will be styled, when purchasing I advise…