Category: Inspiration

How to read plants

By Tim Barton, Mono No Aware

In another blog post, I described how we all carry the information from our past with us. What is true is true for everything, and this same principle applies to plants in a very interesting and useful manner. Like everything else I know this information was adapted from others, in this case my primary bonsai teacher, Peter Tea.

Decked Out – From Scroll to Skateboard

By Celina Blandford

In 2016 we got to tour of the Pacific Bonsai Museum in Seattle. The current exhibit featured 16 tokonoma style displays, each with a custom skate deck painted by the Pacific Northwest’s most talented urban muralists.
Exhibit APRIL 30 – OCTOBER 2, 2016

Tour of Elandan Gardens

2016 tour of Dan Robinson’s collection.

Images by Celina Blandford

Dan’s first bonsai. Purchased from a nursery in Kenmore in 1957. 60 Years old

Sources of Inspiration

by Terry Davis

As a source of inspiration, I can highly recommend that your bonsai education include

American Viewing Stone

By Bud Hostetler

Basalt Viewing Stone image by Bud Hostetler

Collected on the Caribou River in October of 2013. This stone measures 4″ by 4 1/2″ by 6″ high. It’s a very nice sheet-waterfall stone. The stone is greenish/black basalt with a wide quartz waterfall running down one side only. There is a small parking area on Hwy 61 at the Caribou River. There is a good hiking trail, approximately a half mile long that follows the river upstream that ties into the Superior Hiking Trail System. This particular stone was found on the downstream side, across the Hwy from the parking area.

The North Shore area is an easy drive from Minneapolis/St. Paul and is an excellent place to do some serious rock hunting. There is a small group within the Minnesota Bonsai Society that makes an annual fall pilgrimage to hunt for rocks and maybe take a side trip to collect a few Tamarack trees in the Ely area.