Well the trees are now on display at Epcot for the next 10 weeks. The show set up went very well and we had a blast doing it. There are plenty of pictures, but I wanted to post one of my all time favorties taken of my tree by Greg Matthews.
Paul Pikel Bouganvillea at Epcot 2009
If you get the chance be sure to see the display. You won’t be disappointed!!
Over the past weekend I entered my miniature tokonama at the Joy of Bonsai, sponsored by the KAWA Bonsai club. If you haven’t been to it or even heard of it, you are missing out. This small club puts on a world class bonsai convention, display, and demonstration every year, and it just keeps getting better.
Miniature Tokonama
I am really happy with the way it turned out, and I think my composition was simple and balanced. However there was good competition.
Tokonama Contest Entries
When you see close ups of these little tokonama it is hard to judge how small they are. I hope this photo gives a good idea of just how miniature everything is.
Tokonama Competition 3rd place
Although I didn’t win the competition, I did still manage to take home 3rd place. Not bad I guess. I just need to start working on small trees so that next time I will hopefully do better. All in all I really enjoyed the experience
If you have read my blog for any amount of time, you probably realize I don’t do small trees. So I found myself with a bit of a problem as the Tokonama competition draws near. This means that I better do a small tree, and I better do it fast. I found that small pre-bonsai material is CHEAP. I picked up a small Procumbens Nana today at Home Depot (of all places) foronly $4.oo. It was so dense I couldn’t see the trunk, but I knew I only needed a small tree. So no matter what trunk I had in there it would be fine.
what a mess
Just look how dense that foliage is. It took me a few minutes just to figure out where to start.
I was surprized to see such a large trunk when I started to remove the branches. I had really wanted something a little smaller, and I was hoping to do a cascade. There were many options in there, but I needed to find something that looks like an established tree.
This is how it turned out. Not the cascade I was hoping for, but I’m pretty happy with it. The picture was taken right after I watered it, so it has a shine to it. I’m going to hold off on the pictures of the tree in the Tokonama until after the competition. However the funny thing about it is that this tree, even though it is very small, looks big in the Tokonama. Fun stuff. I may get used to doing little trees after all. Who knows?
There are times when things just come together perfectly, and I can officially state that I actually had the right pot for the tree for the first time. I spent much of the morning re-wiring and redefining my Crepe Myrtle. I can’t believe the pictures from last January and how far this tree has come.
Crape Myrtle Thread Grafted
Just look how nicely the pot compliments the bark of the tree. When this tree is leafed out and flowering it will really be something special. When I repotted the tree I found that the roots had been holding a lot of water. so with the new soil it should produce a lot of new growth and be much healthier.
Crape Myrtle Close up
Here is a close up of the tree. This tree is not the easiest tree to wire. I’m using 1mm wire on branches that are about 1mm thick. However if I don’t the branches tend to curl up. I need the branches mid way up the trunk to fill in over the scar. I should be able to achieve that this year. I have a feeling the next time I post this tree it will be a finished Bonsai.
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