Mahogany Row Studio

BCI 2009 Survivors of the Storm

Posted by Rob Kempinski on Jun 24 2009 | 4 Comments »

The Bonsai Clubs International (BCI) held their annual convention in New Orleans, Louisiana this past weekend. BCI selected the Big Easy to try in a small way to help the city recover from the aftermath of the terrible hurricane that assaulted the city several years ago.

The show was held at the New Orleans City Botanical Garden. After the storm there was 8 feet of water on top of the garden. It has recovered well but not without a lot of hard work by the citizens of New Orleans. As you can tell from the photos the exhibit was outdoors, meaning we didn’t use the normal Asian style stands. In fact, the display was as if a museum were showing the trees and frankly I liked it. The few trees without a wall behind them were a bit difficult to photograph but then that is the advantage of attending the show in person.

The theme was “Survivors of the Storm.” Unfortunately most of the New Orleans club members bonsai trees were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. There was one survivor, a buttonwood by Jim Osborne. The story is incredible and touching. Prior to the storm’s arrival he put all his trees inside his house. Then he evacuated as ordered by the local government. He couldn’t return for many days, and he hated to think how his trees would have been slowly dying inside his house. When he did return home- his house was damaged extensively. In one spot, a tree smashed through his roof of his laundry room and opened the roof to the elements. There water and sun was able to reach his buttonwood and it survived the ordeal (unlike his other trees in different rooms). So thanks to Jim for sharing this incredible story and for sharing his nice buttonwood with us.

Here is a Indian Laurel Fig (Ficus Microcarpa) I brought to the show in Ed Trout’s van (long story).
Due to my travel schedule I really wasn’t able to prepare the tree as well as I would have liked, but the show needed trees from out of town as most of the New Orleans bonsai trees were destroyed by hurricane Katrina. Sadly I met several Great New Orleans Bonsai members who no longer do bonsai due to having their trees lost in the storm.

A nice Twin Trunk Bald Cyprss by Ed Lippencott of Fort Walton Beach, Florida.

Ed Trout and I drove together in his van. Ed brought several south Florida trees to the show. Here is his Florida Elm.

Here is a Japanese Black Pine originally grown by Florida’s father of bonsai, Joe Samuels, and now owned by Ed Trout.
Joe started this tree in a metal pail back in 1960.

Northwest Florida master and one time holder of many bonsai offices, Jean Smith, who passed away a few months ago, developed this beautiful Jaboticaba. It is now maintained by Lynn Fabian. Beautiful feminine style.

Here is Louisiana’s own, Guy Guidry’s Bald Cypress named “Twister.” The photo is a bit hazy as my camera lens had fogged due to the humidity. I thought I deleted the blurry shot but guess not. This tree won the BCI Excellence Award. It is huge.

Guy also displayed this cascade Hackberry. Both the Hackberry and Twister were at the US National Exhibition last fall.

Ed Trout also delivered Charles Mickelson’s, President of the Bonsai Societies of Florida, Brazilian Rain Tree to the show. This was nursery grown from a cutting.

This nice Japanese Black Pine belongs to Guy Guidry. I believe this was field grown in the Maryland area for several years before making its way to Louisiana.

The photograph does not do justice to this Parsonii Juniper by Glen Hilton of Miami Florida. It was a fairly large tree and nicely styled.

When the call went out for out -of-state trees, Russell Coker and Joe Day of Mobile Alabama, responded. They drove a few trees over for the display although they didn’t stay for the actual convention. Here is Russel’s unusual Gingko. It had a bulbous base and several tall skinny shoots - an interesting design. Nice pot too.

Russell also brought along a windswept Boxwood. I believe Joe Day made the slab.

This Cedar Elm by Russell Coker looked good. Russell said he collected this Cedar Elm at the same time he collected the large Cedar Elm in my collection.
Small world!

Anyone who has visited the Gulf Coast of the USA would have seen the large Live Oaks that grow there. Joe Dey is trying to recreate bonsai versions of these trees. He says he has identified at least 6 different live oak styles. This Boxwood is reproducing one of them.

And here is a full size Live Oak on the grounds of the Garden (at least part of the tree.)

This American Hornbeamm came from Alabama - I believe it belongs to Joe Day.

Cedar Elms seemed to be the tree of the day. Here was another by Ed Lippencott of Fort Walton Beach, Florida.

While he was at it, Ed brought along this Hackberry (not sure of the variety.) This tree was in the Walt Disney World show several years ago.

Speaking of Cedar Elms, Alan Walker, former President of BCI, displayed this collected tree in a beautiful pot by Horst Heinzreitler of Austria.

I’ll try to post more images later. Enjoy.

EPCOT Flower and Garden Bonsai 2009

Posted by Rob Kempinski on Apr 29 2009 | 1 Comment »

The Bonsai Societies of Florida along with Walt Disney World EPCOT center have set up their annual bonsai display at the Japanese Pavilion. Here are some of the nice trees on display.

Here is a large Bald Cypress by Ronn Miller in the center of the pond. Does the tree look familiar?
Love the fish swarming around the base.

Here is a Willow Leaf Ficus by Ed Trout near the Japanese Restaurant.

A Nea Buxifolia by Christian Casellas.

Jim VanLandingham’s Gardenia in the Japan Pavilion meadow.

A large Trident Maple Forest by Mike Rodgers.

My Japanese Black Pine Raft “Kon Tiki.”

A bougainvillea in bloom by Paul Pikel.

A Hollywood Juniper by Jason Schley.

A large slanting style Bald Cypress by Gene Callahan.

An overview shot of the meadow.

A Buttonwood by Christian Casellas.

More to come stay tuned.

Bonsai Societies of Florida Convention

Posted by Rob Kempinski on Mar 25 2009 | 4 Comments »

This past weekend the Bonsai Societies of Florida held their annual convention in near Orlando at the Ramada in Celebration.

Here are a few photos of the exhibit trees.

A Juniper parsonni from my collection. The pot is Chinese.

This Florida Elm (Ulmus Americana floridana) was supposed to be shown on the right of my Parsons Juniper but the exhibit did not have enough room, so it was placed on this separate pedestal. The pot is by American, Tom Dimig.

This is a Chinese Elm by fellow club member Dr. Reggie Perdue.

I displayed this shohin assortment. It had a Dwarf Yauppon Holly (Illex vomitoria schillings nana) with Chinese pot, Willow leaf Ficus (Ficus salicaria) Sara Rayner pot, Cedar Elm (Ulmus crassfolia) in Chinese pot, Chinese Hackberry (Celtis Sinensis) in a hand made Japanese pot, Nea (Nea Buxifolia) in an American Made pot from Matt Castle, Brooklyn, NY , and a Chinese Juniper over rock (Junipersus chinesis shimpaku grafted on Juniper parsonii trunk) in a pot I made. The accent is in a pinch pot also made by me. I don’t know the name of the accent.

This Pink Trumpet Flower (Tabebuia) by Jim Smith was selected for the BSF President’s award.

In an effort to try something different I put together this display of a Slash Pine (Pinus elloitii) and an Azalea. Our Florida native Slash Pine is uncommon as bonsai as it has long needles. However, I’ve been growing this for for several years and now that it is large enough, I am using the needles to make it into a weeping style. While the photo doesn’t do it justice, I received many positive comments on this tree, even by the artists doing the critique. The round pot is by American, Dale Cochoy.
The azalea made one flower about 2 weeks before the show so I figured it would be in bloom for the show, but alas the other flowers had not yet bloomed. Even still with its good shape and small leaves it was worth showing. The pot is by American, Gus Miller, who used to be a fellow club member but moved north a few years ago.

Speaking of something different, a day before the show I noticed my Snake Root Ficus Salicaria was making small new orange colored leaves. So I pulled off the remaining leaves from last year that were pretty weather beaten and decided to show this Snake root raft style in a snake pot that I made back in 1999. The reaction to this tree was similar to the reaction to people have to US presidents, they either loved it or hated it.

This mini-tokonoma by Martha Goff was kinda cute. It even featured lights with a motion sensor in it.

Here is an interesting Bald Cypress by Jim Van Landingham.

This is a large Green Island Ficus. I don’t really care for the leaves and growth habit of the GI Ficus but this one was large enough to over come that. Could use a stand or perhaps as its so large maybe a separate table that is a bit lower.

A fairly young Brazilian Rain Tree showing a wide tropical crown.

This bunjin Fukien Tea by Martha Goff had some potential. I felt it needed more foliage to balance the heft of the trunk.

A quick virtual to add some foliage mass.

Here is another literati tree, a Brazilian Rain tree.

Here is a small display set up by Louise Leister, former President of BSF. She was awarded the Joe Samuels award for this display. It features a Bald Cypress and a Willow Leaf Ficus along with several other knick knacks and a scroll.

Although the number of trees in the display was modest, the quality for the most part was pretty good. More work is needed on putting together good displays.

Ubamegashi Oak, Quercus phillyraeoides

Posted by Rob Kempinski on Mar 10 2009 | 2 Comments »

This is a shohin Japanese Ubame Live Oak. I think it is a Ubamegashi Oak, Quercus phillyraeoides, native to Japan.
It started as an acorn lying under a neatly trimmed Live Oak hedge at the entrance to the Kinkakuji Temple, i.e. the Golden Pavilion, in Kyoto, Japan in 2000.
Nine years later I planted it in this unglazed pot by American potter, Sara Rayner. It has nicely shaped oval leaves. Rarely does it lose all its leaves at one time.
So far it hasn’t made fruit but is shaping up to be an interesting and moderately unique bonsai in America.

A close up of the leaves.

Creepy Hollow Cedar Elm

Posted by Rob Kempinski on Mar 09 2009 | 2 Comments »

This shohin Cedar Elm, Ulmus crassifolia, was collected from North Texas about 4 years ago. I bought it from Shane Carey. I chopped it hard to make a shohin of it. There is a lot happening in a 7 inch tall tree. It has a hollow trunk and several other hollows that lead to the hollow trunk. Hence the name Creepy Hollow.

A few more years of ramification and it will be nice. The first branch on the right popped from a bud after the chop. I let it grow long last year for thickening. This winter I pruned it and will hope to develop some secondary and tertiary branches on it this year.

As is usual for a Cedar Elm many of the branches have made wings - an interesting appendage just as mysterious as Bald Cypress knees.

The pot is a Xijing (sp) kiln Chinese pot of good quality.

Here is an update as of 2009.  The scars and hollows give this tree a real sense of antiquity.  It is just starting to make new buds so I had to grab a quick photo. The ramification isn’t as great as a Florida Elm or a Chinese Elm but that is the nature of this species.

Here is a close up of the trunk.

Azalea Accent

Posted by Rob Kempinski on Mar 03 2009 | Comment now »

This Azalea, variety Duc du Rohan, is a little more than an accent - but it  is blooming this week, so enjoy along with me.  I made the blue pot.  

Japanese Black Pine Semiannual work

Posted by Rob Kempinski on Feb 22 2009 | 7 Comments »

While I’m way behind in the work on my Japanese Black Pine bonsai,  I have made some progress over the past weekend.

I’ll start by showing some transitional work on this small -just bigger than shohin size - JBP.  

Several of my pine trees are showing some signs of chloriosis.  Hopefully a bit of fresh soil, less water and some ironite will have the new needles come in dark green.

Before the work. 

Usually I pot Japanese Black Pine in early January.  Since it is two months late I gave this guy a very light root prune.  Note the prolific mycorrhizae.

I didn’t pluck all needles as this tree will get another round of work in late August and then the needles that grow in will be much smaller.  The tree is just over 10 inches from the top of the pot.  With smaller needles it might qualify as a shohin.  BTW, I grew this tree from seed.

 

Here is an semi-aerial shot of the canopy as it is today.

Look for smaller needles next year around this time.

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