Granite Wonderland D.O.G.

The Wind River range in west central Wyoming has long been one of my fantasy places. It seems like every time I see a stunning photograph in a magazine and wonder “where is that?!” it’s always the Winds.

The Photographer at Photographer’s Point

The Wind Rivers did not disappoint but the visit was somewhat bittersweet; I so longed to shoulder my backpack and disappear into those mountains for a few days, but my older dog Bowie just isn’t up to long hikes anymore. For his age, he’s in great health, excellent shape and high spirits. He has almost no grey and you’d never guess he’s 11 – he’s certainly not counting – but he’s slow and gets sore after a few miles and is easily dehydrated. At a burly 85 pounds, he’s 2/3 of my weight and I’d have a hell of a time evacuating him if…

…but not recently! We did this repotting at the end of March, 2014, and like the last couple of posts, I’m playing catch up with things that we did long ago…

The styling of this juniper was featured in a 2012 post: http://crataegus.com/2012/09/04/special-rocky-mountain-juniper-styling/

Enjoy the photos!

Bobby removing the last parts of the box the Rocky Mountain juniper was in. Bobby Curttright is my apprentice, and for those of you who haven’t been following my blog very long, he’s just past the one year mark studying here.

Excavating part of the roots that had some water-retentive mountain soil. If it’s very fine or has organics in there it can hold a lot of moisture, and then roots don’t grow in those areas very well.

Bobby and Konnor hamming it up. I don’t recall if Bobby was intending to bow to the juniper or not. (Were you? )

Beginning to brace the…

A few photos from the 2014 Nashville Regional Bonsai Expo held today, July 12 and tomorrow July 13, 2014 at the Cheekwood Botanic Gardens in Nashville, TN. Great trees, a wide selection of vendors with trees and containers, dynamic demos and workshops and last but not least warm southern hospitality.

Join us tomorrow to see some beautiful bonsai!

So by the summer of 2012, largely following my own instincts, my blauws juniper had progressed to look as it does in the first picture

I bought this tree with the intention of using it to improve my skills. I had no grand plan in my head for its final appearance and was happy to take in as much advice as I could get.

In September and October 2012, I was given the opportunity to participate in 2 weekend wiring workshops conducted by UK bonsai professional and Noelander’s Trophy winner Steve Tolley, so I took this tree along.

Steve felt that the large lower right branch was a feature better suited to a tree with a broader trunk base than mine had and recommended it’s removal. I agreed to this, so that branch was removed. The next picture shows Steve carrying out the final placement of the branches on the final afternoon…

The following tree is a customer’s that is already well on its way as bonsai. The tree has had its first styling many years ago and is now at the development and refinment part of its life.

Before

The tree had just been un-wired when I received it to work on and I set about re-applying wire to fine tune certain areas of the trees canopy.

Many areas in the canopy had borrowed foliage that had served it purpose and could be replaced with growth from better locations so a fair amount of branches were removed. I also focused in turning large singular pads into multiple, smaller layers to add some more detail to the tree.

After

Probably the largest change to the tree was removing a portion of the first left hand side branch to reveal the elbow in the trunk and small shari. I also lifted the first…

It’s been a busy spring! Portland’s bonsai scene is humming, and I’ve had less time to blog about it than I should have. When you are sticky with sap and dirt, it’s easier to put it off another day…

We’ve had several Village Tours, and only a couple of which we’ve had cameras clicking away on. A few of them have been group tours (the largest with 19 people!), and others have been private tours. Our latest private tour features guest Roland Folse from the east coast.

Roland visiting Ryan Neil in his garden-

…and Roland in my garden.

Check out our past posts on the Portland Bonsai Village:

http://crataegus.com/2013/10/22/the-portland-bonsai-village-tours-continue/

http://crataegus.com/2013/07/31/scenes-from-the-very-first-portland-bonsai-village-tour/

…our wonky earlier post about the Village:

http://crataegus.com/2012/11/06/portland-bonsai-village-gets-on-the-design-board/

…and then have a gander at the Tours we’re offering (including our new Tour, the Tree Whimsey, a meandering tour of unique, ridiculously old historic trees in funky Portland neighborhoods, with potentially…

All Demonstrations FREE With Paid Admission

Daily Admission ^$15

Weekend Pass ^$20 Before September 1^st

Saturday, September 13, 2014

10 am– Oriental Brush Painting

by Dr. Alice Chen, New York

Watch, be amazed as a master artist creates beautiful oriental brush paintings as the color flows off her brush onto the paper. Many of Dr. Chen’s be,autiful paintings are quiet, simple and suitable to be displayed with bonsai and suiseki.

11 am– Ikebana Japanese Flower Arranging

by Professor Jerome Cushman, New York

Ikebana, the ancient Japanese art of flower arranging literally means “living flowers.” Accredited ikebana professor Jerome Cushman will demonstrate how to create arrangements in the modern Ichiyo School of ikebana which gives the viewer an experience with nature that is unexpected, stimulating and profound.

12 pm– Suiseki Japanese Viewing Stones

by Sean L. Smith, Pennsylvania

This year the US National…