You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘Bonsai Shows, Nurseries and Events’ category.
Recently I visited the newly renovated Melbourne nursery Collectors Corner. Collectors Corner maintains a moderately large collection of old display trees of a quality that are hard to find on public display else where in Melbourne. Many of the bonsai had been recently re-potted and were showing the results of this work with flushes of healthy spring growth.
I would love to get my hands on some of the display trees as i think with a couple of years refinement they could be very good bonsai.
The renovations are a great improvement on the old setup even though the overall size of the display seems to be a little smaller the bonsai are much easier to see and appreciate. Well worth a visit if you are in the area.
Some photos are below. I will upload a second lot in my next post.
Just thought I would share a couple of pictures from a recent show. The show was put on by the Bonsai Society of Victoria and much like other years it was well worth attending. What I found interesting this year was that there were a number of groups on display. It seems that recently, groups have fallen a little out of favor so it was good to see some nice old examples represented.
Pictures of a couple of trees below.
During my recent trip to Japan i managed to visit Fuyo-en. Fuyo-en is a garden that always has a high number of quality bonsai. I was a little pine-ed out by this part of my trip so it was nice to spend some time with their amazing deciduous trees. I took a number of photos which can be found HERE.
What was also nice was to see some of the recent work that was going on around the garden.
The frist bonsai i noticed of interest was what I am guessing was a flowering apricot. It had recently been grafted in a number of places. I have read that these trees often need to have young wood grafted into areas of older wood to maintain vigour and keep the bonsai compact.
The grafted bonsai.
Although the grafts looked to not have completely healed nearly all of them were producing flowers as can be seen below.
The grafting in detail.
One of the other trees that caught my eye was a maple with an enormous nebari. The bonsai was being worked on by one of the apprentices who was wiring all the branches to the tips.
An impressive nebari
I always enjoy seeing techniques done by Japanese professionals. Even seemingly simple tasks can reveal tip and tricks when performed by someone who works at these high levels.
A freshly wired branch.
One such trick that can be learnt from the above image is the use of the little wire bracket. It has been used to gently spread two sub branches. Had this not been used, the two branches would have had to been wired with quite a large diameter wire to achieve the same spreading effect. Having avoided using a heavy gauge wire, the wire that is on the branch appears far less obtrusive than it could have. A small trick with large results.
I always look out for these little tricks when ever I am around other people’s bonsai, as I find there is always something to learn.
This last weekend I went down to Footscray and had a look at the Bonsai Northwest Inc.’s annual show. This year there had been a change in venue to the Footscray community arts centre which turned out to be a great success. The exhibition space was skirted in black curtains which provided a great backdrop for the trees.
Having been involved in the Victorian scene for a while now it is good to see that every year the quality of both trees and displays are on the rise.
All those who exhibited and worked on setting up the venue should be proud of their work, the exhibition looked fantastic. Hopefully this year is a sign of things to come in the future and also a hint of the quality we might expect at next years AABC convention which is being hosted by this club.
I did manage to get some photos but unfortunately my camera struggled with the lighting as it is a small point and shoot. Some of those pictures are below:
-
- The view upon walking in the entry. What a great venue!
-
- More of the display.
-
- Evergreen Alder
-
- A radiata pine
-
- A wild looking chinese elm.
-
- Another pyracantha covered in berries.
-
- A large banksia. (Australian Native)
-
- A large formal upright radiata
-
- The tokonoma. English elm, fallen leaf and Scroll painted by a member.
-
- The english elm close up.
-
- Olive
-
- A radiata pine group.
-
- A pyracantha with a heavey crop of fruit.
-
- One of the heavest crops of berries i have seen.
Even though my last trip to Japan’s purpose was to get married, i still managed to find some to visit some bonsai nurseries. The nursery below was a little out of the ordinary from your normal Japanese nursery.
For those familiar with the nurseries of Omiya and other well-known growers would be used to the high level of immaculately maintained and presented bonsai. I am sure many of you who have been to japan and experienced this for them selves would be aware of the overwhelming feeling you get when you are exposed to so many high quality trees in one place. These places are obviously the top end of the business. Their trees grace the many shows around Japan that exhibit these high level trees and in my opinion cement the Japanese at the top of the bonsai pile. But surely not all of Japan’s bonsai are show ready and of the best quality. Which brings me to this post.
The Kanuma garden centre (Click the image for a larger view)
My last trip I was taken to a place where there was no doubt, a huge range of bonsai. There were magnificent trees on display but, they were the minority. For the most part the bonsai for sale were project trees. Trees with problems in one way or another. Trees that would benefit from an air layer, a branch or two removed or a restyle. I spent a good amount of time here looking over the many benches, admiring potential. It was nice to be able to see trees that were waiting for the hobby grower with some vision to come along and place their mark upon them. I would love to live near a nursery such as this. On the surface it is not as impressive as the higher end nurseries but it is budding with potential for someone who likes to work on their own trees.
A small selection of photos are below.
Some of the more developed pines.
One side of the benches. There is an equal number of benches to the left.
This seasons Satsuki dug and ready for sale.
A Satsuki on the benches
A pine in need of some refinement.
A maple with a nice base. Great beginnings for someone willing to do the branch work.
A trindent with a whole lot of problems i would love to inherit.
A modest maple that would have plenty of potential.
Kanuma garden centre is not going to be first on the list when it comes to a Japanese bonsai pilgrimage, and may not even make second, third or fourth place, but for someone who has seen all the big sights and wants a bit more insight into what is out there in Japan it is worth a look.
Kojou-en is located in Kyoto about 800m to the west of Toji Temple. The Toji Temple can be easily reached by bus or by a moderate walk from the Kyoto JR station.
Kojou-en is one of the nurseries I had been meaning to visit for a long time. I first visited here in 2007 but the nursery was closed. Since then i have been wanting to come back and see the bonsai that I glimpsed through the fence.
The day i chose to visit this trip was also not ideal. Kyoto received a huge dump of snow during the corse of the day and as a result most of the bonsai were shut up in enclosures protecting them from the cold. I did get to see a few of the bonsai but I think a 3rd trip will have to be in order to see the nursery in the full.
Snow fell heavily all day and by the evening around 20cm had fallen. According to the owner of the nursery this was quite unusual for Kyoto.
The fromt gate. Kojou-en is located in amoungst many residential buildings. It can be a little hard to locate the first time.
Kojou-en is known for its shohin bonsai, in fact there were no bonsai other than shohin in the nursery. They also had a nice range of shohin pots that were also for sale.
Some of the nice shohin that I was able to photograph.
Huge bases in tiny pots.
More bonsai sheltering inside their winter enclosures.
Kojou-en is well worth the visit and it is easily included in a Kyoto sight-seeing day. I will definitely be back to take it all in next time and hopefully my luck will be a little better than my last two visits.
If you would like to see more photos from this visit have a look HERE at my other blog.
The Gafu-ten exhibition in Kyoto was one of the first bonsai stops i made on this recent trip. Gafu-ten is held in the Miyakomesse Building, Kyoto. It is recognised as the highest level shohin bonsai exhibition in Japan. There are over 200 displays in the show and it also has an extensive sales area.
It was my first time to the exhibition and i was thoroughly looking forward to it. We arrived and were very fortunate to be given two free entry tickets by a very nice woman.
Me at the entrance
The exhibition was fantastic. The 200 displays were overwhelming. Although we spent the most part of a day at the exhibition it was not nearly enough time to take everything in completely. The level of trees on display was amazing and each tree was beautifully matched with some truly beautiful pots, stands etc.
Unfortunately the only places i could take pictures was at the entrance and in the sales area. I think i will probably have to buy the album as i would like to spend my time revisiting some of the displays that have stuck in my head.
After filtering through the exhibition we emerged in the sales area. We were there on the last day of the exhibition so i am guessing that the best items may have been sold but there was still a huge amount of things to buy, look at and wish for.
Many of the sales trees looked like they would not be out of place on the display benches.
More sale trees
One of the few tool shops
I spent the afternoon browsing, buying and wishing i had a larger luggage allowance as well as snapping photos. If you are interested in the full gallery of pictures they are located HERE
Nichigo Bonsai 