We can divide the bonsai year up into significant periods of activity and equally significant periods of wine and tea drinking in anticipation of periods of activity. Right now, in many temperate parts of the northern hemisphere, we’re just ending a period of bonsai inactivity.

Let’s call this period of inactivity between the start of growth in late winter and the hardening off of leaves in late spring our ‘Spring Break’. If we were to remove shoots and foliage in April, usually we’re a bit ahead of the ball and we’ll swing with a whoosh and no CRACK that would indicate a hit. (For those of you overseas who are now scratching your heads wondering what the heck I’m talking about, I’m referring to baseball, which is a delightfully strange game involving a bat and a ball. It’s incredibly easy to miss the tiny ball as it whizzes past your midriff.)…

We agreed to go back to the ridge where we left off yesterday. We were sidetracked by some junipers on the hill opposite, and never got there. Some scenery on the way to our spot.

Some perspective, here is the ridge we ended up collecting on:

And a shot back to the truck from the top of the ridge…can you spot it?

Now to the trees…starting with ones we left behind for inspiration…

This one was amazing…foliage like Kishu:

Now some digging…
A decent sized RMJ that seemed to double in weight as I pushed, pulled, and dragged it up this 70′ nearly vertical ravine to get back to the road!

Wish the steep angle showed up better…it was like climbing a dirt ladder with no rungs, carrying a 5-year old:

A nice little one…a needed break after horsing out the big one!

Now, Ron’s approach reminded me of a…

The Accent

The accent is all about story telling. In most cases the story is “season”. The accent represents Earth in the Triad. The bonsai represents Man and the scroll represents Heaven. Man keeps a harmonious balance between Heaven and Earth.

The accent, or “companion plant” is part of the display where while there may be rules, it is a time to be creative. Planting can be made in small rustic pots, handmade with rough textures and special glazes, smaller pieces of driftwood or roof tiles, broken pottery, old rusty cans and flat pieces of wood.

In spring, flowers should be held to one or two blooms and the rest in buds. Toko Kazari is about subtlety. The size of the stand under the accent. Is a flowering plant used, should it be a stone or a carving? In the end this last item is really very important. In fact…

Maggioni grand prix

My great friend Michael Mehrmann has let me share this wonderful video of six amazing trees from Omiya, the video is in High Definition so watch it in full screen to enjoy all the detail of these fabulous Bonsai.

The five featured trees are

• Uzushio
• Keyaki
• Meikou
• Shimpaku
• Shishigashira

To watch in full screen HD click the small arrows in the bottom right of the video

Nothing like a dogmatic title for good dramatics, right? I should add an ‘Or Else!’ but I don’t have the heart for it. Nevertheless, we should be duly chastised for broadcasting fertilizer as if it were an unmitigated good.

Whatever that guy is using should obviously be applied with discretion-

For bonsai, generally we don’t need axes to control growth. And for fertilizing bonsai, we can make this one basic distinction:

• Begin fertilizing a young, unrefined tree when it begins growing early in the spring
• Wait a bit with an older, refined tree—usually begin fertilizing when it’s just hardening off it’s spring growth

This makes two assumptions:

• For the young tree, you wish to develop the trunk size and continue it’s youthful vigor…to fatten trunk, develop branching, get big joyful growth, have loud cellular parties
• For the old tree, you wish to retain an ‘old tree’ feeling…to have thin twigs…