AusBonsai

We learnt and observed so much..

The thing about Lime Sulphur was amazing!!(tease)

Also the fact that opinions varied widely amongst Japanese artists as well as to how things are done. Everyone has their own way of doing things.

Grant

probably a long shot question.... but did you see any aussie natives being grown on the tour?

bonsaibuddyman wrote:probably a long shot question.... but did you see any aussie natives being grown on the tour?

No, but it did come up in talk at Aichien in Nagoya. One of the apprentices was aware of callistemon, melaleuca, leptospermum and eucalyptus.

The first 3 have been used in Japan but not widely; eucalyptus has very big leaves of course.

Grant

JaseH wrote:Going through some of my photos from the trip and thought I'd share a few.

Ueno Green Club Market

Oh my golly!
What a Shohin display!
Incredible!

Boics wrote: Oh my golly!
What a Shohin display!
Incredible!

That's just a market table - all those trees were for sale!

Here are a couple of pics from Koju-en Shohin nursery in Kyoto - Tomohiro Masumi spoke good english and was very friendly and helpful. I've never been a big shohin fan(pun intended! ), but this nursery changed my mind!

Some amazing trees there too. I wonder what the prices are in comparison to here in Aus.

But.... i'm gonna say it.... when nebari gets that big in proportion to the tree, it just looks contrived in my opinion.

The tree in the last pic in the bottom, white pot seems to be about $900. A little hard to read but i think that's right.

"Taper" if some of these trees had anymore of it they would be flat.

Thanks for sharing the pics guys, looks like it was a great trip! Can't wait to get over there myself... soon as life allows me

Just looking at the pics makes me want to go out and work on a tree, I can't imagine the effect of actually being there would be on your passion

So good....will definitely do this at some point.

Thanks for sharing!

bonsaibuddyman wrote:Some amazing trees there too. I wonder what the prices are in comparison to here in Aus.

It's hard to compare pricing. Quality trees still demanded high prices. There were some bargains, but reality is it's probably all relative. It's just the general overall quality of stock is so high, that's what left the biggest impression on me, not so much the pricing.

bonsaibuddyman wrote:...
But.... i'm gonna say it.... when nebari gets that big in proportion to the tree, it just looks contrived in my opinion.

I'm with you!


Cheers
EZ
Via Tapatalk

bonsaibuddyman wrote: But.... i'm gonna say it.... when nebari gets that big in proportion to the tree, it just looks contrived in my opinion.

I agree too.
I have noticed this on many photos of Maples from Japan we see and personally I do not like them at all.
Lovely photos all, Thanks for posting.

Ken

Jim, Ian and I took the opportunity, on the way to Japan, to visit the Penjing collection at the Shanghai Botanical Gardens. It was a good start to the trip, a contrast to Japanese Bonsai and a milder start to a northern winter.

We were given a guided tour by the Administrator.

She explained that some/many of the trees(mostly pines)were leftover from the Japanese period of invasion from 1917 to 1945. The Japanese fled China after World War 2 of course.

Many trees did not survive the Cultural Revolution in China; but many that did survive were forcefully "donated" by the rich families to the collection to start the collection. (Aren't you glad we live in Australia!)

The trees now are very different to Japanese Bonsai. No or little wire is used to train the trees. Interestingly she did not call it "clip and grow" as that was a more southern style(a lot of Elms) and too much work.

They have 300 to 400 trees on display and another 1,000 or more "out the back".
The pines were Japanese Black pine, Japanese Red pine and Chinese Red pine(Pinus morrisonii).

More to come.

But most were Japanese five needle pine.