Bonsai in Hoosierland
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The author shares some of his bonsai experiences and projects that will interest you. Read the blog to know more.
Bonsai in Hoosierland
2y ago
(Members of the Ft. Wayne Bonsai Club will have seen this material already, with some different wording, in a recent "Stuff from Steve".) “Stronger at the broken place”; have you heard that expression? It comes from the world of medicine, and has to do with the healing of a broken bone. If the broken ends of a bone are close enough to each other and the bone is otherwise healthy, those broken ..read more
Bonsai in Hoosierland
2y ago
Regular readers have seen pictures of this tree before. It's a ponderosa pine, Pinus ponderosa, collected by Andy Smith in 2017. I bought it from Andy in August 2019 and styled it with his assistance. It was repotted in the spring of 2020, and grew well for the rest of that year and into this one. Here's a picture after repotting. Please forgive the cluttered background in some of the ..read more
Bonsai in Hoosierland
2y ago
Those who have been to the Mid-America Bonsai Exhibition know that when you enter the Regenstein Center thru its front doors, you pass down an entrance hall to the doors of the exhibition space itself. This year, someone decided to put a row of bonsai down the center of the entrance hall, giving the visitor a foretaste of what waited for them at the end. I think it was an inspired idea ..read more
Bonsai in Hoosierland
2y ago
(With a nod to Charles Dickens.) When you first enter the exhibition hall where the Mid-America Bonsai Exhibition is held, your eye is guided straight through the room to a double tokonoma which holds the Best of Show and Best of Show Professional. This year was the first time in roughly 30 years of attending that I saw two trees of the same species in those places of honor. Two ponderosa ..read more
Bonsai in Hoosierland
3y ago
In February I wrote a post about a Christmas visit to Wigert's Bonsai, thanks to the generosity of our daughter Kira and her husband Trent. I included as many pictures as I reasonably could, because sometimes, a picture really is worth 1,000 words when it comes to getting across what a place is like. But there was one picture I had not taken, and, I discovered, no one else in our party had ..read more
Bonsai in Hoosierland
3y ago
That could have summed up my reaction a few weeks ago, when I heard Ryan Neil say that trees and shrubs photosynthesize through their bark as well as their foliage. They don’t photosynthesize as much through their bark, but they still do it. This has a number of implications for fall and winter care of temperate-zone trees.(Readers of the Fort Wayne Bonsai Club newsletter has already seen ..read more
Bonsai in Hoosierland
4y ago
The ponderosa featured in my last post is not only the largest of my pines, but with an estimated age closer to 50 years than 45, it is also the oldest and most mature. Here is the youngest and the smallest. I haven't yet identified its species. One year old. The trunk is about twice as thick as a pencil lead. About a year ago, my wife accompanied our oldest daughter, who is a ..read more
Bonsai in Hoosierland
4y ago
In my last post, I mentioned the yamadori ponderosa that I intended to repot the following day. I bought this Pinus ponderosa from Andy Smith of Golden Arrow Bonsai last summer. Andy collected it in 2017, and estimated it to be 40 years old at the time of collection. In August 2019 he brought the tree with him when he visited Fort Wayne to lead a B.Y.O.T. workshop (saving me shipping ..read more
Bonsai in Hoosierland
4y ago
Hard akadama, maximum particle size about 5 mm.
Since my first blog post about akadama two years ago, I think I can safely say that my understanding of the subject has become a little more nuanced. In particular, I've learned more about akadama use in a climate like mine: temperate, freezing temperatures in winter, 40 inches of precipitation in an average year. (And in spring, a ..read more
Bonsai in Hoosierland
4y ago
One of our older girls and her husband, Kira and Trent, flew my wife Princene, our youngest NaevEnya, and me to south Florida for a few days as a Christmas gift. While there, we were able to visit Wigert's Bonsai, about a 30-minute drive away. I'd already gotten one tree from Wigert's online store. Now I was able to see the place in person!
Wigert's Bonsai raises and sells tropical ..read more