Bonsai indoor or bonsai outdoor June 25, 2007

Bonsai art’s charm lets us consider our plants as an ornament for our houses, but we usually forget the bonsai is a living creature that needs peculiar environments to live in.

It’s a plant before a work of art, and we must take this concept into account when we approach the bonsai art.   Whether a bonsai should be put outdoor or indoor it’s easy to say: no trees were born to live indoor, and bonsai is no exception.   However not every place in the world has the right climate for every plant.    For example a ficus bonsai cannot live in the outdoor in Norway during winter and a red-deal will suffer and die if cultivated in Nairobi.    So where to place a bonsai depends on where you live.
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Chinese Penjing June 8, 2007

Penjing is nominally split into three types ‘Tree Penjing’, ‘Landscape Penjing’ and ‘Water and Land Penjing’. All these categories overlap in practice.

Chinese Penjing does not have clearly defined styles (Formal Upright, Informal Upright, Slanting, etc.) like Japanese Bonsai, although they do use these categories as points of reference.

Historically, style in Penjing was more to do with regional style, with different areas of China specialising in certain species of tree, certain techniques (clip and grow, bending with rope, bending with wire, etc.) or certain visual ideas (such as trees shaped to represent or suggest dragons).
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The first approach to the Bonsai art June 4, 2007

I was reading an article titled “Don’t Worry About Your First Go” and I thought the author was right.

It’s true, looking at a bonsai for the first time could be “scary”. Not because of the tree itself but because you may believe you’ll never reach the skill of the man who accomplished that masterpiece.

I already said in my first article there’s no magic nor mysterious alchemy behind bonsai. There are just advanced horticultural practices to apply on normal trees. There’s nothing to be scared of, but there’s a lot to study and to practice.
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The age of the bonsai tree June 3, 2007

One of the most asked questions in front of a bonsai is: “how old is it?”.

To say the truth the age of a bonsai isn’t that important, there are other factors determining its value, however a really old tree has its charm. To be in front of a 600 years old bonsai is touching.

One of the aesthetic principles of bonsai art is, on the opposite of women, to show much more years than it actually is. The actual age of a bonsai isn’t a good standard of judging.
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Japanese artist breathes new life into bonsai May 18, 2007

by Elaine Lies of Reuters website
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The tiny trees used in the Japanese art of bonsai may live for centuries, but the ancient traditions that produce them are being given a modern twist by female artist Kaori Yamada.

Bonsai — the art of cultivating miniature trees — has long been seen in Japan as a hobby only for elderly men. But Yamada, who hails from a family of bonsai artists with a history spanning more than 150 years, has managed to make it trendy.

“When I started this job, we were a bit worried about whether the art of bonsai would last since the people who took part in it were dying off,” she told Reuters.
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Saika Bonsai - The Female’s choice May 17, 2007

by Tokiko Oba of The Daily Yomiuri website
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In Japan, bonsai was once considered a hobby for elderly men. But that image has changed in recent years, with a new type of bonsai winning fans among women. Bonsai artist Kaori Yamada is one of the key contributors to the art form’s newfound popularity.

“People are busy today, and they’re always in a hurry, not wanting to waste a single second. But bonsai slows you down and makes you concentrate on the plant in front of you. Besides, it takes months for a tree to bud or bloom. There’s joy in the waiting, and I think that’s what many women have found pleasurable,” the 28-year-old Yamada said.
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