Bonsai - Living Art

VII. International Bonsai Exhibition Medvode/Slovenia

2016-10-03T02:46:00.000-07:00

Last weekend the Slovenian Bonsai Club organised the 7-th international exhibition which was a great event. The new president of the club Nik Rozman was the engine of the organisation and with the support of his family and club members, he managed to pull of a great job which resulted in a great weekend where bonsai enthusiasts from Austria, Italy, Hungary, Czech, Croatia and Slovenia could enjoy trees in the exhibition, demonstrations and most importantly meet with old friends and make some new.

I like to share some photos of trees in the exhibition (published in random order).

Azalea "Kinsai"

2016-06-09T04:43:00.001-07:00

XXXII. EBA & ESA Convention in Hungary

2016-05-31T05:01:00.000-07:00

Save the date - VII. International Bonsai Exhibition

2016-05-17T03:38:00.001-07:00

Juniper cascade progress series 2009 - 2016

2016-05-15T03:53:00.003-07:00

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2016

Carpinus betulus yamadori

2016-04-26T23:23:00.000-07:00

This Carpinus betulus is one of the first trees I collected in nature. The tree is developing nice and below is the current image of the tree. The next pot will most probably be more in a direction of wider oval pot.

Carpinus betulus - six years in development

Carpinus betulus in 2010 after being collected

Workshop with Enrico Savini

2016-04-23T23:03:00.001-07:00

Last weekend we went to Italy to participate at a two day workshop with Enrico Savini. As always we had a great time, lots of fun and of course hard work on trees with intensive learning.

Crespi Bonsai

2016-04-20T01:03:00.001-07:00

Last week we made as small trip to Italy where we had a workshop with Enrico Savini. While being in the "neighbourhood" we took the extra mile to visit Crespi Bonsai Centrum near Milano.

It is an amazing place with a nice Japanese garden, huge sales area and a great bonsai museum where mr. Luigi Crespi is displaying his personal collection.

Some trees available in the sales area

Nice Pine available in the sales area

A huge Ginko available in the sales area

Some additional trees available in the sales area

Stuning Juniper from the personal collection of mr. Crespi

Chamaecyparis from the personal collection of mr. Crespi

Juniper progress 2009-2016

2016-04-13T02:35:00.003-07:00

This juniper started his bonsai journey as a urban yamadori in 2009 and since then it is developing quite nicely.

Juniper - starting material in 2009

Juniper - 2016

Prunus mahaleb progress 2014-2016

2016-04-04T06:41:00.000-07:00

This Prunus mahaleb was collected in 2014. When I found it in nature the amazing hollow trunk and the nice deadwood immediately attracted me. Unfortunately the branch structure was not the best so I decided to develop it from point zero.

Prunus mahaleb - 2014 after collecting

Prunus mahaleb - 2015 after first styling

Prunus mahaleb - 2016

Prunus mahaleb progress 2014 - 2016

Larix decidua yamadori - First styling

2016-03-25T14:01:00.002-07:00

This Larix decidua was collected a couple of years ago and now it was finally time to make the first initial styling.

Larix before the styling

Larix after the styling

Acer buergerianum

2016-03-22T07:00:00.003-07:00

This small Acer was imported from South Korea and joined my collection last year. A couple of days ago it was time to make the first steps. The pot is just a temporary one and will be changed to a smaller one.

Acer buergerianum - before the first step

Acer buergerianum - current image

Noelanders Trophy 2016

2016-01-29T02:49:00.001-08:00

This years Noelanders Trophy is behind us and for me this exhibition is the mile-stone which opens each new bonsai season. Despite the fact that it is a long drive from Slovenia it is more than worth the trip. It is always great to meat old bonsai friends, enjoy the great trees at the exhibition and of course have lots of fun.

Noelanders Trophy entrance

Unfortunately it is still not allowed to take photos of the trees at the exhibition but fortunately Bonsai Empire published a great video which shows a great part of the exhibited trees.

On both days there ware demonstration from established bonsai artists and as soon I will process all the photos I will publish some additional posts with photos from the demonstration.

Next to the exhibition and demonstration stage there was a huge bonsai market with an enormous number of traders (I think the number was 96) who basically offered anything a bonsai enthusiast can wish for.

One of the two huge sales areas

On Sunday Matej arranged for our group a visit in Jean-Paul Polmans garden which is relay amazing. Not only the level of the trees and yamadoris but the whole garden is fantastic.

Jean-Paul Polmans garden

Acer from Jean-Paul Polmans personal collection

Ginko
Jean-Paul Polmans personal collection

Pine
Jean-Paul Polmans personal collection

Amazing Juniper
Jean-Paul Polmans personal collection

Mugo Pine from Matej Planinc

One of many the yamadoris
in Jean-Paul Polmans garden

Pine
Jean-Paul Polmans personal collection

It was a great weekend, the motivation is here so now we need to speed up the momentum till the new Noelanders Trophy.

Restart of Acer buergerianum

2015-11-15T11:55:00.002-08:00

This Acer buergerianum was imported from South Korea. The tree was healthy and in solid condition but had many wounds all over the trunk, the front side had a weak nebari and considering the fact that soil didn't absorb water normally, it was obvious that the tree was not repoted for a long time. My conclusion was that the tree was neglected for a longer time so I decided that I will rebuild it from scratch and make it a learning with experience lesson for myself.

Acer buergerianum - 2014

The first step was repoting in spring. When i took the tree out of the pot I found out that the roots have grown around the pot several times because there was no more space in the pot. Even with this variety which is tolerant to all kind of stress this would soon affect the health of the tree. So my advise if you buy trees from resellers, even if they tell you that it is ready to be styled, don't take the risk and at least check the roots before you start to work on the tree.

Roots before repoting

For the first step the plan was to make the tree as strong as possible so the wounds would close faster. Because of this I decided to plant the tree in a bigger but shallow pot and prepared an aggressive feeding plan. In combination with the aggressive feeding regime the branches ware left almost free to grow and in one growing season some wounds between 2 and 3 cm diameter almost completely closed.

Last week at the weekly workshop where bonsai friends work together at Janez's place I decided to make a branch selection of primary branches and the first very basic styling.

In the next season the plan is to continue closing the wounds and start to work on the nebari improvement. The last photo shows the current stage of the tree after one year of development.

Carpinus betulus in authum colours

2015-10-01T12:56:00.001-07:00

Carpinus betulus yamadori 5 years in training.

Pot: John Pitt

Carpinus betulus

Taxus yamadori first styling

2015-09-26T07:43:00.001-07:00

This Taxus yamadori joined my collection as a gift from a very dear friend and finally it was time to make the first styling.

Juniper (urban yamadori) progress 2009-2015

2015-09-12T23:04:00.006-07:00

Juniper urban yamadori - 2009-09

First styling - 2010-09

Second styling - 2011-03

2011-06

2012-04

2012-06

2013-04

2013-06

2013-08

2014-04

2014-06

2015-09

Giareda 2015 and workshop with Enrico Savini

2015-09-08T07:30:00.001-07:00

What can be better than that....three friends spend three great days in Italy with other bonsai enthusiasts. On the first day we had a workshop with Enrico Savini and the learning process that never ends goes on.

Rajkos Pine before the styling

For the rest of the trip we attended the Giareda event where lots of workshops took place and next to that an exhibition on a quite hi level took place. Some tree from the exhibition are in the photos below.

Rajkos Pine after the styling

Pinus sylvestris before the styling

Pinus sylvestris after the first styling

Enricos Pine before the styling

Enricos Pine after the styling

Spruce yamdori progress 2010-2015

2015-09-01T06:59:00.002-07:00

This giant Spruce was collected in 2010 and since than it developed at a slow but steady pace. I'm happy with the current image of the tree and I think that it is a good foundation for the final development of all necessary details to reach the maturity level which is necessary to exhibit a tree.

Spruce yamadori - 08-2015

Natural deadwood details

Spruce yamadori - 09-2010

Satsuki Azalea "Kinsai"

2015-06-21T09:48:00.006-07:00

This Satsuki Azalea "Kinsai" was imported from Japan in the beginning of this year and became a part of my collection. On the first photo is the image of tree when it came to my garden. In the next photos the tree was already whit lots of flowers which i think are very nice and special in this variate of Azalea.

Satsuki Azalea "Kinsai"

I decided not to make any major styling steps in the first year because I like to see how the tree reacts to its new environment. The only thing I made this year was some minor work on some wounds which need to be closed.

Fortunately the trunk and the branches don't have many wounds and all the wounds are small. I think that in two seasons there wont be any visible wounds on the trunk or branches.

Satsuki Azalea "Kinsai"

Satsuki Azalea "Kinsai" - Nebari

Satsuki Azalea "Kinsai" flowers

Spruce yamadori progress story

2015-05-20T06:01:00.003-07:00

This Spruce (Picea abies) was collected in 2012 and since than each year a small step towards the final image was done. In the next stage of development some detailed refinement is the main goal.

Spruce yamadori 2012 after collection

Spruce yamadori 2013 before the first styling

Spruce yamadori 2013 after the first styling

Spruce yamadori 2014

Spruce yamadori 2015

Progetto Futuro weekend with Enrico Savini

2015-04-28T03:15:00.000-07:00

A team of bonsai friends visited Enrico Savini in his garden for a two day workshop. There is nothing more to say.

Hard work, team work and intensive learning with the right amount of fun is the name of the game and exactly this is how we spent the weekend.

Akina Bonsai Center

2015-04-20T12:30:00.001-07:00

Last weekend me and Vesna made a small road trip to Akina Bonsai Center in Wallbrzych. We decided to combine the bonsai trip with a little bit of sightseeing and made a stop for two nights in Brno which turned out to be a nice and interesting city.

On saturday morning we met with the owner of Akina Bonsai Center, Piotr Czerniachowski who is a great guy and a fantastic host. His bonsai centre is a part of a very old botanical garden in the city of Wallbrzych.

The way through the botanical garden to Akina Bonsai Center

The whole place and especially the bonsai centre is truly amazing and I recommend this place to each bonsai enthusiast who has the opportunity to go there. Especial the ones who are looking to buy good bonsai or pre-bonsai.

Among Piotrs personal collection of private trees there are many good trees for sale of different varieties, quality level and size. Let me first show some photos of Piotrs trees.

Next to Piotrs personal trees there is a good selection of trees for sale. Mainly Acer buergerianum, Azalea, Carpinus coreana, Zelkova, different varieties of Pines and of course Junipers. In the photos below you can see some nice examples.

Carpinus Orientalis first styling

2015-04-20T03:03:00.001-07:00

This Carpinus Orientalis was collected in 2013 and since then it was in my garden getting used to his new environment. The main focus in the first two years was to develop the root system and make the tree strong and healthy for the first styling. This species is very easy to maintain and develop so it was not a hard task to get the tree to the stage when it was ready for its first styling.

Carpinus Orientalis - 2013

I styled the tree in late winter and because the tree showed sings of vigour I decided to also repot it in early spring.

Carpinus Orientalis - 2015 after first styling

The main reason why I like this tree is the strong nebari which gives a solid base for a good deciduous bonsai. Of course the tree has also some huge errors. The major mistake of the tree are the two big wounds which will need to be closed during the next stages of development and the fact that both trunks are almost the same diameter.

There are many more issues which needs to be solved during the development. But pluses and minuses are the name of the game when you dealing with yamadori and the fact that you can play with the design and expose the good sides of the tree and improve or even eliminate the bad ones, is something what motivates me in a special way. This is the internal engine which pushes me to always search for new knowledge and techniques.

Carpinus Betulus

2015-04-04T00:37:00.003-07:00

This Carpinus Betulus is my first project on a deciduous tree. I found the tree while walking trough a forest with my son. I collected it a couple of days after I found it in 2010 and since than the tree developed each year. I'm happy with the progress when I look at the tree at the current stage, but there are many mistakes which I made in the beginning and now they are much harder to correct as they would be in the beginning.

Anyway the tree is special to me for many reasons and some of the mistakes will be fixed in the future and some of them will stay as a reminder of the learning process which never ends.

Carpinus Betulus as found in nature

...and 5 years later in the pot