The Bonsai of Jason

Some recent work......

2010-02-17T22:31:00.000-08:00

Just a few things that have been given a little love over the past few weeks....

Large Japanese Maple.

In 5 years it will be a stunner! The front will change from the picture below.

Cutting it back this hard was the right thing to do, infact it should have been

done 3 years ago....instead of wasting the past 3 years on this one. Live and learn.

Ponderoas pine now in a Mike Hagedorn pot. I love this tree and it can only get better

from here. Pot is nice, but not the final pot.

Fatty elm after letting it grow unchecked last year.

Changed the front and did lots of branch work. Give this one a few years then watch out! :)

I know, bad picture quality! This tree was posted on BonsaNut last year....in which some
did virtuals of it in a naturalistic style. I liked what they did but this trunk lends itself to a more
traditional styling. This is what the tree needs and wants, it wants to be short, super fat and powerful. Better pictures to come this spring.

Crabapple with a 4" trunk...bigger than you would think.

Roots......tons of them! Anderson flats and pumice do amazing things, no matter the species of tree

In a large oval pot. Need to work on branch ramification now.

Shohin Ponderosa

Same tree in a clamshell style pot by Sir Knight. One he was going to throw away.

This will look good in summer and next spring when the accents get established and fill in a bit.

But its a start!

Amny more to post later.... But for now here is one that is now in line for some work,

a rather large pine...... My good buddy Tony there as "bonsai model extrordinare", lol!

Shohin Chinese Elm

2010-01-28T20:29:00.000-08:00

This little elm is one of my favorites in the garden. Something about it just really appeals to me. I never liked the oval it was in just because it seemed to be to bulky and masculine of a pot. It really seemed to dominate the tree. While I was cleaning the moss off the roots and thinning the foliage I thought now is as good a time as any to look at re potting the tree too. So I grabbed this little Erin pot that I thought would work well with the tree. The blues and browns in the pot will really work with the green leaf, the bark and the blues will really accentuate the fall colors. The only issue I had is I wish it had been a tiny bit wider. Oh well, it works just fine I think.

Before any work.

OH NO, NAKED!!! haha Roots just as I pulled it out of the little oval by Erin pottery.

Branches are thinned at this point.

Pots that I think will work. A blue-ish oval, a blue/brown rectangle and the oval it was in.

Root work underway, you can see the can for scale and the huge pile of Akadama, lava and pumice. There were a ton of roots on this little guy.

Soil I used was imported from Japan. It has akadama, lava, pumice and another Japanese clay in there. I use it on a lot of my shohins and accent plants and really like it so far. I got it from John Kirby at Vonsgardens. I don't know the name of it as the package is all in Japanese.

Potted up

In its new pot and lots of guy wires to reposition many of the branches. I think the new pot puts more emphasis on the tree and is less dominating that the previous pot. I think the colors in the pot will work very well and the size is good. The nebari touches all sides of the pot like it grew in it forever. Very, very good nebari. This is one of my favorites. Picture quality is not that great, I will update with better once in leaf. I hope you enjoy as I do.....

Dwarf Quince, Shohin

2010-01-28T20:04:00.000-08:00

Here is a nice little dwarf quince that has amazing bark and is a cool little tree. Over this past summer it dried out and I lost the big lower limb on the left. My stomach sank when I noticed it dead....but then I thought that it would be a new chance to change the tree a bit.

So today I decided that it would be the day to give it a look over and make some changes. The leaves are just starting to break.

As I started, lower left limb is dead.

Back

With Pepsi for scale.

I used mostly guy wires because I didn't want to damage any of the bark. Even though the bark is pretty tough I still felt it best. I did have to wire a few branches though. The guy wires are unsightly but effective for now. I am please with the way this came out since it was a complete restyle. This type of work is fun. I just hate the way picturs don't do bonsai justice..... oh well.
Finished for now.

Twisty Ponderosa

2010-01-24T22:23:00.000-08:00

Here is a Ponderosa I collected back in the Rockies the summer of 2008. The pictures below were taken then.

I decided that it was time to work on it.I always knew what I wanted to do with the tree and the chance to work with good friends on trees presented itself I took this tree along. I learned quite a bit from a good friend of mine on some bending....

Now the after shots. The tree turned out pretty nice and looks much better in person. I look forward to getting it into a pot soon. This was just an initial styling and as it back buds and fills in it will be a special tree for me.

OregonBonsai's Website.

2010-01-24T22:11:00.000-08:00

Here is a copy of the email I sent out today.
"As of today, Sunday Jan. 24th 2010 Oregon Bonsai's website has been shut down. A new direction and chapter is about to open up for OB and it will be an exciting time. A strategic partnership is being formed and said party will be working as a reseller/ distributor for some of the trees collected by Oregon Bonsai. More details will be released in the near future as they become available.

This has nothing to to with the economic climate as that market for high end collected material is stronger today than it ever has been. This has to do with a new direction and a new era in American bonsai.

Randy Knight, the owner or Oregon Bonsai is very thankful and happy for the new friendships that the website has supplied us over the past 2 years and he looks forward to meeting many more new friends around the world in the coming years.
If anyone has any questions or comments please feel free to email me.

jgamby713@yahoo.com
As details become available in the future I will put them on my blog so that everyone can have an idea about where to puchase the best collected material.

Regards,

Jason"

Shohin Ponderosa Pine

2010-01-01T11:00:00.000-08:00

Here is a little ponderosa that I have had laying around in the front yard for over a year. A year ago I barerooted the little guy and potted it in lava and pumice. There has been an explosion of bew buds since then. This coming spring I will again repot it into a suitable bonsai pot which will change the image quite a bit. This will allow one to see the movement of the trunk coming out of the soil line.

Before I started it was about 8" tall and over 22" wide. Now is the time to give this dog a future and hope to one day be a bonsai

Lookin at the inside you can see a few rather large branches that are almost the same diameter as the trunk. While I can easily bend these it would just look funny and not be a good idea. After a minute a most of them were cut off and the tree changed drastically!

Branch selection has been made and now time to do some cuttting!

Jins have been worked, burned and will now age naturally in the great outdoors. By next fall they will be weathered and a nice grey in color. Tube of cut paste there for size comparison. Now the tree is very small and looks nothing like what it did 2 minutes ago. Maybe a future afterall?

After exposing the roots and seeing what the trunk did below the current soil line I chose to use this as the front. Ponderosa shohin are rare because they tend to have long needles. But there are short needle ponderosa out there, we see them from time to time. Or one could graft Black Pine on them as well. But for now native will work. While this tree will never be a show tree it will fit in nicely with my growing collection of shohin trees. Next years posts here will show a much improved and filled out tree that will also be in a pot. Isn't bonsai fun? :)

Keep in mind this is an initial styling and the tree will continue to improve over the coming years. It has to start somewhere :)

Updated Literati Ponderosa

2010-01-01T10:23:00.000-08:00

Here is an update on a nice ponderosa that I collected a few years back. It responded well to the initial styling and threw many, many buds that I had to thin quite a bit. I am very confident that in 2 years this will be a very full and killer tree. They bark and trunk line are very nice and elegant while the crown is starting to come along. It too will change quite a bit over the coming years as it fills in and extends. I see the foliage getting tighter and a smaller crown......in time though! Here is is last year http://jasonsbonsai.blogspot.com/2008/04/literati-ponderosa-pine.html

Instead of tearing it up like the wildman I once was on New Years eve I stayed in and cranked out some trees!! No better way to ring in the new year than sap on your hands and copper wire rolls everywhere~!

Before

Old Front

After some thinning and now ready for wire

Done for the time being. The fronts angle change quite a bit to enhance the subtle movement and the abrupt change of direction at the top. While some of the foliage does go away from teh viewer it looks really good in person. This coming Feb. I will be putting it into its new pot and that will take the tree to the next level for sure.

Happy New Years!

2010-01-01T10:04:00.000-08:00

I wish everyone a Happy New Year! I know 2010 will be a great one for me on many fronts. I know my bonsai world will be exploding with many new and exciting things. You will just have to watch this blog to see what I am talking about in the coming months. On a personal front, our almost 2 year old daughter is a pure joy! It is amazing that not even 2 yet, the things she can do, comprehend and say. Its amazing and I am still in awe of her everyday.

Here is to a happy, healthy and wonderful 2010!

Update on Scotts Pine

2009-12-29T20:15:00.000-08:00

Here is an update on this pine. The original post can be seen here... http://jasonsbonsai.blogspot.com/2008/03/scots-pine.html

Just this past Sunday I had my friends Tony and Randy over to work on trees in the garage. This happened to be one of the trees that I grabbed to work on. Glad I did, it really turned out pretty good for a second styling from a huge bush in 2 years time. It can only get better in the near future. I changed the front a bit this time around and will work on getting it into another pot this spring possibly.

After needle and bud reduction. Started to wire the lower limbs.

Old front

New Front! I am very pleased with the progress of this tree in such a short period of time. In person it is much larger and much better. 2d pictures just don't really do justice to most trees.

And one for the Haters!!!! On some of the forums there are some post's regarding the Ichiban tool. I would say that 99.9% of the people talk smack about it and those same people are the same folks who have never seen one in person and if they have then for sure haven't tried it. I applaud Marco for thinking outside the box and making a tool that actually works. I will admit though that I did trade for mine so I didn't have to fork out the cash ($350) to buy it. But I will say that it is a great tool and will help to improve your game. I am glad to have one and once I get use to it and figure it all out it will be excellent. To learn more go here http://www.marcoinvernizzi.com/ichiban/en/index.html

Engleman Spruce

2009-12-28T22:08:00.000-08:00

Here is an Engleman Spruce that I collected a few years ago. It has grown very well and was ready for some abuse :) Pictures don't seem to do this tree any justice at all! In person it is much better.
Pictures are as follows.....
Before
After
Back
Front

Walter Pall Workshops

2009-12-28T21:54:00.000-08:00

Not too long ago we were lucky to have Walter back in town for a few days. Besides a good bonsai artist he is a great guy and fun to be around. We had a 1 day workshop that was quite a good time and many brought some pretty good trees. Here is a glimpse into the day. I didn't get many pictures, I was busy working on my tree!

You can also view Walter pictures on his blog. http://walter-pall-travelogues.blogspot.com/2009/12/bonsai-in-oregon-2009-1-workshop.html

Happy Holidays!

2009-12-25T11:04:00.000-08:00

I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
May all your Bonsai wishes and dreams come true in 2010!!

Walter Pall workshops

2009-11-07T17:24:00.001-08:00

Walter Pall will be here in early December. I am organizing workshops with him for Saturday the 5th and possibly Sunday the 6th. Cost is $90 for full day or $50 for 1/2 day and will be a bring your own tree event. This is a great chance to work with Walter as he only comes around once a year now.

If interested please send me an email, jgamby713 AT yahoo DOT com (replace AT with @ and DOT with . )

Thank you!

Pine Update

2009-09-06T19:35:00.000-07:00

Here is a pine that I have been working on for 3 years now. It has come a very long way in a short period of time. Many of the "Big Names" in bonsai that have seen this in person have all really loved this tree, a few even bowed, lol!!

Here it is in the middle of August 2009. I needle pruned the bottom 1/2 of the tree at the end of that day.
Front before any work

Right Side before any work

After needle prunning and no wire. This is the beg. of Sept now. It sat on the bench for a few weeks before I got back to it.

Partially wired and I changed the front by a few degrees.

Partially wired, back

Partially wired left

Back finished!

Front finished with the sun shining

Front finished

From the patio. I will move this to a taller pole in the garden soon.

Trunk detail

New Koi

2009-08-12T14:43:00.000-07:00

Check out some new fishies on my sub blog...
Link to the right.

July Updates

2009-07-21T08:50:00.000-07:00

Well it has been a while since I have updated the blog. So here are some random shots from some trees that are in development and all at various stages. The pictures were all taken over the past few months.

Here is a big field grown crab apple with a lower hollow trunk. Has potential to be a great tree and has come a long ways in a short period of time.

Linden coming along well.

Fat little field grown trident in the making.

Shohin Japanese Maple. This was dug out of a drainage ditch by a friend and given to me about 7 years ago. It has been forgoten about for a long time.... has some potential. It has sentimental value to me. This is the first season I have given it any attention.

Below is a monster collected Hawthorn out of Idaho where they grow wild. When I got this tree it was a big tree, very tall, multiple trunk lines, and in very heavy native black soil. Last year I made some large cuts and started to put together a plan. Now the plan is coming around and about 2 months ago I wired, thinned and gave it a very rough styling. Next year this tree will change quite a bit again. Right now it looks funny.

Some Photos from this morning

2009-04-28T12:11:00.001-07:00

In between rain storms I took a couple pics...

Ponderosa Pine

Monster Ponderosa in raw form. This will be a stunning tree soon.

European Hornbeam looking good.

Little Lead Linden just leafing out.

Monster RMJ waking up from winter. Root work soon on this one.

Vine Maple waking up from winter....these maples have wonder flowers....

Koi

2009-04-20T11:43:00.001-07:00

Check out our koi in my sub blog, Jasons cool stuff

http://jasonsbonsai-coolstuff.blogspot.com/

Spring photos and yard photos will be added soon.

Updates

2009-03-31T16:47:00.001-07:00

Super fat Japanese Maple, seen in last years post on the blog. I have cut it back very hard to induce more back budding as I rebuild the tree.

Crab is flowered out! Smells very nice! What a show.

Linden is coming along nicely. A few more years will give us some good ramification.. I am happy with this tree.

Back view

New Graphics

2009-03-31T11:07:00.001-07:00

Recently I had a friend of mine, Jason Treadway make me a nice banner for the blog and also an Avatar for the bonsai forums that I tend to visit. I had an idea of what I wanted then found it was already done by someone else so I kinda let the project idle a bit. Then I get an email from Jason with these graphics done. He did it all on his own and after a very minor tweak this is what we have. Pretty creative, Mt Hood, my big juniper and mug shot! Nice work Jason!

Here is the good part......he will do this for anyone else too and he wants to trade for trees!! It is a win/win! So, contact Jason Treadway via email at: jtreadway[AT]sentinelusa.com for more details.

Banner at the top of the page and new avatar below.

Collected Vine Maple

2009-03-15T18:29:00.000-07:00

I collected this tree a few years ago in the Cascades right before winter. It has since responded well. Many looked right past this ancient tree as it sat on my benches. I guess the trunk was to straight and all the branches were growing straight up or perhaps they didn't see what I was hoping to achieve.

In the wild this tree was growing a very steep hillside and was actually a full cascade. I had to plant it upright to save space and to make sure I had the roots buried in soil. Plus I always saw this tree in it..... even as we dug it off the side of the mt.

This tree has some very cool features to make it a good bonsai. The trunk is very rugged and has many "muscles" throughout, the leaves in fall turn into fire and puts on a wonderful display, the base is huge! Most is buriedi n this grow pot, but the base is a monster, about the diameter of a basketball and very barked up for a maple. I recently read on a forum that native maples can't make good bonsai, leaves are to large and they aren't any good......Wow, glad I am not that lame!
Before any work.....
Front- This is a big tree......

Back

I had an image in my head as to what I wanted to do and what I saw in this tree. It was very fun to work on this tree.

Some progress photos along my journey.

Look at how old this little shoot is....Those are less than 2 inches and have 10+ rings per shoot. Every branch is that way, the longer ones have 40+ rings in 6 inches! This is a gnarly old maple.

Gotta bend this big thick branch...

All business~ Got my Hackin' at the Hilton Bonsai apron, iPod and cold ice-t..... :)

Adding wire while staning on a ladder!

Getting closer..

Apex detail

Fall Color

Finished back

Finished Front

Please view video for 3D images. If for some reason the blooger player doesn't work for you it can also be found on youtube... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5fTbsDVYxE&feature=channel_page

For some reason the video is a bit elongated and kinda adds a little distortion to the tree.

This was by far the funnest time I had working on a tree. I think it was because there was such a transformation. I wired every single little shoot, branch and twig, wow that was a ton of wire! More wire then I have used on any tree before, even my big RMJ. Please keep in mind this is the 1st styling, it can only get better from here~ a nice pot, ramafication...the sky is the limit for this very old, rugged and natural looking vine maple. Thanks for looking.

Jennifer's Group Planting.

2009-03-15T18:13:00.000-07:00

This is a group planting that Jenn saw at the BSOP Christmas party auction table a few years back. It was looking pretty ok that night, trimmed up, the pot was oiled and overall is was a nice little tree. But I knew what would happen....it would end up in my care, loll!!!! The bad part it that it sat on the bench last year whithout getting rotated the on the back side there was little growth due to bieng shaded out.

I don't think it liked the ice storms and cold temps we had.... but the cambium is still nice and green and I think it will respond well. I am 75% sure this a variety of honeysuckle....the previous owner kept good notes that are in my desk somewhere.

Before, a big overgorwn ugly "chia pet"~!!! haha

After~ Back

After~ Front. Basic trimming, some branch selection and also moving some trunks and branches. While not a super great group, it is very cool and in person looks much nicer and I think it is on its way to becoming a nice elegant group. Nice tree Jenn! :)

Chuhin Apple Update.

2009-03-15T17:58:00.001-07:00

Here is the apple that I posted a few months back. It has been in a friends greenhouse and is looking very good right now. The pictures are a few days old and I am sure many flowers are open by now. This is a killer tree and super cool to look at right now, the colors are very nice.

Top

Side

Foliage

I like it.

Shohin Quince

2009-03-15T17:55:00.000-07:00

Here is an old flowering quince shohin. The bark is very plated and old. Its a cool tree and you can tell it is about to flower.... The leaves are very small as well.

Austrian Black Pine

2009-03-04T21:12:00.001-08:00

This is a little black pine that was given to me by a good friend. It was styled years ago and since has been in California at a bonsai sitters nursery. It found its way into my garden last year in February.

Here it is as I received it.

After thinning of needles and adding wire.

Here is a picture of it today before I started...(the off color is from the florescent lighting.

Top view

And potted up for now. I know this isn't the perfect pot for this tree, but I will find the right pot for the next repot. For now though, it is nice to have it out of them ugly container it was in and also to get it into a mix of large akadama, pumice and lava. I like this pine, and think with a few more seasons of managing the new growth it can be an excellent medium sized pine. Thanks Ryan!!!

Western White Pine

2009-03-04T20:00:00.000-08:00

Here is a WWP that I collected about 2 years ago from the Cascades. The tree is very healthy and was ready to be worked on. I know some people think a tree shouldn't be touched for 3 to 5 years after collection, but this is the old way of thinking. If the tree is healthy, new shoot extension and new root growth then it is ready for work. We do this with many, many trees per year and its always fine.

Before and just like it was when collected.

Deadwood...

Mid way through.....I was actually headed in another direction with this tree, but it just didn't seem to flow so I switched directions mid stream.

Done styling for now. In the future some branches will be eleminated and thinned out. But for now, it is good.

Roots.

Finished for now....

Pot by our good friend Darrell Walker of Washington!

Front

Back

Updates....

2009-03-04T18:29:00.001-08:00

Last year I posted this sub alpine fir that was styled. Now I potted it into a nice pot by Erin Pottery. Soon I will thin the foliage out and rewire some branches. Before potting.

After potting.

Future Monster Birdsnest Spruce bonsai..... Very raw stock.

This is a HUGE tree.

First decision made today with my chainsaw. Once the rain stops I will work on the deadwood with my die grinder. Years to go with this one.

Ponderosa Pine.

Fat little pine update.

2009-02-26T19:44:00.000-08:00

Here is a tree I posted last April, a nice little fat Ponderosa Pine. http://jasonsbonsai.blogspot.com/2008/04/fat-little-ponderosa-pine.html

Today I brought it in and removed most of the wire because it was starting to bite in. I left the wire on the lower branches since it was still good. I also thought now would be a good time to start working it into a different pot. I have a really nice pot that I had in mind for it but it turned out to be too small for now. So I went with this pot from China I had laying around. The root growth is phenominal!! It was root bound in the old pot only after 2 years in that pot and 3 years out of the ground!

Before

Repotting.... Yeah, that pot is a bit too small.....

Finished for now... Back

Front

Soon I will needle prune and rewire the top 2/3 of the tree. I didn't cut any roots in getting it into this pot. In 2 years I will do a root layer (think underground airlayer) so that I can get the tree a bit more centered in a pot. I will update as I needle prune and repositon branches.

CorkBark Elm

2009-02-25T20:14:00.000-08:00

Here is a corkbark elm that I got from Brent Walston at http://www.evergreengardenworks.com/

I got it 2 years ago, I can't find my pictures of it from then, but it was in a big nursery can, very root bound and had to be around 4 feet tall. Instantly I removed some of the tall branches and did some root work. The following year I got it into an Anderson flat. I really worked the roots pretty good to make them as shallow as possible. I also removed all big branches and let it go.

Here she is as of a few days ago

Mid way through...

Pictures of the tree after thinning, branch selection and some wire. This is a killer little elm.
New front (old back)

Back (old front)

The lighting really shows the corky bark.

Today I decided that I would put this tree in a pot. I pulled it out of the flat that I planted it in last year. For the soil last year I used a mix of lava and pumice in about a 50/50 ratio. The fine feeder roots were unreal. I was very happy when I tore into it!!! Excellent root growth! For scale, those pruners are the x-large Felco #13....about 12" across.

With future pot.

In a pot......I will keep my eye out for a nicer pot for the next re-pot. For now this will work fine, and I think once in leaf in the next few weeks it will look pretty good.

Back

Update Mugo Pine

2009-02-25T20:01:00.000-08:00

Here is an update on a mugo from nursery material.

Last year Before

Last year, After

Today, 1 year after major work.

Today, after removing some branch's , thinning out old needles and readjusting some of the foliage. Obviously, I need to finish the jin on the right where I removed a branch. For now it is wired and in fall I will do the jin work. I am also thinking in the future the first branch on the left might go? But for now it is fine.... Not a killer tree by anymeans, but not bad after 1 year from a shrub.

Shohin JBP

2009-02-01T22:03:00.000-08:00

This is a very old and unique Japanese Black Pine. You can tell it is a fairly old tree by the nice flakey gray bark. Here is the tree before any work.

Mid way through....

Done for now.... needle pruned, old wire removed and re-wired everything and changed the branch placement a bit.

Front

Back

Wet trunk

Cut Paste for scale.

Killer Apple

2009-01-22T21:03:00.000-08:00

Here is another tree that I got in a trade.... this is a variety of apple. This is one of my favorite trees in my collection. Today I did some minor wiring and pruning. This tree stands 11" tall, has a 9" base with a 5" trunk! I love this tree!

Shohin Mugo Pine

2009-01-22T20:45:00.001-08:00

Here is a little mugo pine that I got in on a trade. At first I was a little excited about it...did some minor pruning then lost interest in it. It was very root bound so last summer I repotted it and put it in good soil, pumice/lava mix. It has almost been 2 yrs since I got it and figured now was the time to do something with it or trash it.

I brought it in to give it a once over and see if I found a renewed interest in it. Once I put it on my turn table and started looking at it from all angles I thought it was possible to salvage a bonsai out of it.

At the base the trunk is 2 1/4" thick and is 11" tall.

Before any work. Front.

Back

Needle prunned and jin work done.

Here every branch gets wired. Through all this normal work I make the old "back" of the tree the new "front". The new front has a more dynamic trunk and while it leans away near the top I was able to fix that with guy wires.

Here is the tree after the 1st styling. It is now under 12" tall from the rim of the pot so it should be a shohin. In 2 years I will reduce the pot size and make it even smaller. For now though it didn't turn out too bad. Not a bad way to spend an hour or so... :)

Bluish background

Snow Storm!

2008-12-29T09:57:00.000-08:00

Here are a few images from our storm we had. At the end of it which I didnt picture we were right at 2 feet of snow. It has been many, many years since the Portland area has seen snow like this.

The snow made everything more festive!

Baby Rayne going for a very cold walk!

You can see many more pictures of the garden on my sub blog "Cool Stuff" located on the right of the page.

Big Juniper

One of the benches full of yamadori

Lots of cool trees under there....

Spruce

2008-11-25T15:45:00.000-08:00

Here is a spruce that I found at one of those one in a million nurseries. This spruce is grafted and is over 25 yrs old, all of which were in a container. That has led to good bark and a nice tree. The graft is pretty good, but from what I wanted to be the better front the graft was a little more obvious so I found another view that kept the good trunk line and less noticable graft.

Here is before, as I bought it several months ago.

After some branch selection

Again, midway through thinning and selecting branches for the overall design. Some of the larger branches had to go.

Almost done, the sun is starting to set......

Here is the front after the initial styling. This tree will back bud like crazy and fill in quite a bit this coming year. Next winter it will look 10x better. Next spring I will repot it and start reducing the root mass.

Top view....needs to fill in!

Initial styling done for now.

Next years photos will be much better....

Walter Pall CD and Magazines

2008-11-08T22:31:00.001-08:00

A few months back Walter Pall released a much anticipated CD that has over 8,000 images on it! It is an amazing compolation of bonsai and the progress of each of his over 500 world class bonsai.
Through Walter I have over 70 of these cd's in my possesion as well as several autographed copies of Bonsai Today issue #101 that features a gallery of Walters trees.

This is a must have for anyone wanting to enjoy the beauty of bonsai or learn by studying some of the best trees in Europe and the world.

CD is $35.00 + shipping

add the magazine to the CD and the total is $50.00 + $4.00 shipping in the US.

Email me if you are interested. jasongAToregonbonsai.com Remove the AT and replace with @

Fall Color 2

2008-11-08T22:16:00.000-08:00

A very old Vine Maple I collected 2 years ago. This tree has to be over 200 yrs old. The trunk is bogger around than a basketball and on the branches you can count about 20 growth rings in about a 1 inch stretch on a branch thinner then a pencil. This is a very old tree. It also have amazing color, almost looks to be onfire!

Trident Maple. This is going to get its first styling this winter and its fist pot this coming spring. Under these yellow leaves is a very nice trunk.

A very good Katsura tree. The trunk has very good movement and lots of deadwood. This isn't a tree that you see everyday in bonsai. I think this tree has a good future.

Leaf close up

European Hornbeam. Coming along nicely

Super fat Wysteria trunk with amazing hallows. I am tree sitting this one with the ability to acquire it for myself. We will see. Trunk is atleast 10".

Some fall color

2008-11-08T21:57:00.000-08:00

Here are some shots of trees as they are changing color. This has to be one of my favorite times of the year.

Japanese Maple that is headed to the ground this coming spring.

Little Leaf Linden. Just starting to turn colors. Leaves are now off as this picture is a few weeks old.

Shohin Dwarf Quince. Killer bark.

Front and back of a killer shohin Trident maple.

The long branches are to use for thread grafting this spring. Updates on the work done on this tree will come later this winter. Enjoy the amazing color of fall!

Chinese Elm in an Erin Pot. One of my favorite shohin trees. Under the moss is an amazing nebari.

Recently on BonsaiTalk forums there was a post about apex positioning. Here is proof that apex's can lean over the rim of the pot and not seem out of balance. This is not to say that it will always work, but if can work if done right. This little tree looks excellent in the fall hue's.

A few quick photos of the yard.

One of my favorite accent plants. Really cool fall color!

Rocky Mt Juniper

2008-09-25T08:51:00.000-07:00

Here is a RMJ that I got from Walter Pall about 2 years ago. I got it in a trade for a lodgepole pine that he later sold. This juniper is a very tough tree to style because it had a few very good options and that made it very hard to style.
But I have been looking at it on my bench for a few years now and always saw this in the tree. I also want to layer or graft the back branch off in the coming spring. I think that alone will make a killer little tree and I get to practice layering or grafting.

I first started by thinning and cleaning out about 50% of the foliage to get a clear picture of what I wanted to do, once I saw a cleaned out tree I decided that the vision in my head for the past few years was the direction I wanted to go.

Walter commented that he shoudl have never got rid of the tree....he was happy with the work done and now wants it back! haha!!!

Before Pictures. Click to enlarge.

The back branch that will be grafted or layered....it has good deadwood and will make a killer little tree.

Some midway through pictures

Finsished for now. Initial styling is done. I need to glue the deadwood in the front back on and I am looking to slightly edit is to make it shorter.... There is also some tweaking needed on the branches now that I see it in the pictures. This spring I will repot and post updated pictures when done.

Back

Fronts from slightly different angles.....

Itoigawa Juniper

2008-08-25T15:25:00.000-07:00

A while back I acquired this imported Itoigawa Shimpaku Juniper. It wasn't the best of trees but I saw a cool tree in there, one that would require some good bending and hallowing out of a main branch or sub trunk. So for a year or so this has been sitting on bench waiting to be worked on, but first I had a ton of other trees to get to....
At first glance the subtrunk, main branch on the left needed to be bent, it is just to straight and will always be a huge flaw. Problem is it is about 3" tall and is over an inch in diameter. A little to short and thick to bend. I hallowed it out with my dremel and put some heavy gauge copper wire inside. Now we were able to bend it and add a bit of movement that mimicked the main trunk a bit
Before photo

After sub trunk on left is wired and bent

Now there is a major void that needs to be filled in the top to the left of the shari in the apex. This will require bending another short and fat branch. This branch will need rafia and lots of copper. It is right on the edge of the shari so I need to make sure it doesn't split from the trunk.
Starting to come around....

Now it is pretty much inplace. I started to thin and remove branches on the lower right and left.... lots of foliage removed!!!

Lower branches wired and starting to get put in place

Now I find that there is a more dynamic front that I prefer better and is better suited for the tree....

With the new front all I have left to do now is thin, wire and set the apex.
Here are 2 photos of the new front with the re-style almost done.

While this tree has seen a pretty good re-styling, I am not finished yet. I will update this when I am finished tweaking. This coming spring we will get a better suited pot for this little juniper.

The Pot Parade!

2008-08-13T14:03:00.000-07:00

Here are some Erin Pots that I recently got from brother inlaw Rich over at obpots. Check the link to the right....

Enjoy!
First Pot By Charels Gluskoter. Next year we will have more of his pots available. The glazing is second to none....looks like was dug out of the ground after hundereds of years. Excellent!!

Eris Pots Below

This little Crescent is a killer pot, one of my favorites! Can't wait to get a little collected pine or juniper in it!

Below, 10" round. Looks small in the picture.

Below....Big semi-cascade pot, 12" opening! One of my favorites!

Killer accent pot!!!

Cool pot for some rare grass' that I have!

These Erin Pots are excellent pots and the pricing is really good for imported custom pots. I am a fan of Erin Pottery, the accent pots are killer, and his bigger pots are very natural and rustic making a nice fit for old yamadori.... I thank OregonBonsaiPots.com for going out on a limb and bringing killer pots to the NW area. I expect that once people find out about obpots Rich will have a hard time keeping pots on the shelves. Oh, they ship too!!!! Tell him Jason sent ya!

Rich's Ponderosa

2008-07-13T17:12:00.000-07:00

A few years ago Rich got this ponderosa from Oregon Bonsai because it some very cool deadood sub trunks that are no longer part of the tree. He had us over for a bbq yesterday and worked on this tree. Once we started looking at it and noticing that most of the front of the trunk was dead. So we pulled out the pcoket knives and started looking for the live vien, pictures show that most of the inner side is alive, everything else is dead! Cool!

Initially we wanted to pt a few bends into the trunk....however since we found all the deadwood we had to re-evalute the plan of attack. Here is what we came up with.....

Using the branch bender we would just squeeze this section together and go from there. I wanted to seperate the live vien from the deadwood all along but Rich wanted to go the safe route is possible...

Above you can see the deadwood starting to split from the pressure of the bender....it sounded like "Snap, Crackle and Pop"!!

Below, Rich using a cheater bar to keep turning!

After Rich added this last turn I looked and seen that it would be real simple to seperate the live from the dead and continue like I originally wanted to do. Picture below shows after we seperated by hand...

Adding some wire....then raffia and more wire.

Final images for now. Next year when the rafia and wife come off Rich will be able to clean the deadwood that is under the rafia to make it look a bit better. He may also pot it in a round pot or more suitable pot at that time. The trunk is pretty straight and kind of boring so we wanted to hang the foliage in front of the trunk to make a smaller tree and use it to distract from the tall straight trunk. For an initial styling it isn't too shabby!

Virtual Potting of the killer RMJ

2008-07-07T17:25:00.000-07:00

Walter Pall was kind enough to do 3 virtuals of the tree in the post below. Here he put the tree in 3 different pots....kinda cool to see what the future looks like.....
I am a year or 2 away from potting so I have time to find the right one....I will start buying a few pots of this size asap so I have a few to try on for size when it comes time to pot this tree.
Which one do you like best?

Pot 2, my choice so far....

Ofcourse my favorite picture of the weekend....My wonderful wife and child!!

Walter Pall's Visit

2008-07-07T16:55:00.000-07:00

A few times per year we here in NW Oregon are lucky enough to have Walter Pall come for a visit. Most of the time it is very casual, I will set up some workshops to offset his travel cost's then the rest of the time is working on trees, eating good food and drinking good adult beverages! But mostly, it is working on trees in my back yard while Walter looks on to make sure we are doing the right thing!
For these 2 days I had Randy Knight and Rich List over for some good ol' tree work. Each of them brought quite a few trees to work on, and I had this big monster juniper to play around with.
Rich and Walter look at my project tree....

Walter looking at how healthy this juniper is. Also wondering why he didn't buy it for himself :)

Going over last years carving. I now have the right tools, the right bits and better know how to get it done. Walter did one branch and I tried to do the rest.

After carving with the die grinder and then fine tuning with the dremel it was time to fire the wood.... one can tell that is was burnt very much then lightly brushed.

The next few shots show thinning of the foliage.....

The apex and right side of the tree are thinned and starting to come together

I think he likes what he sees!!

Now the overall image is starting to come together....never mind "Muscles of spun steel" in the background!!! haha

Back side of the tree as is for now.....

Front side for now

Possible 2nd front????

Deadwood final and right side of tree.

Me and my Baby!

While this tree just had its initial styling it still has a long ways to go. It does have a good start to what is considered by many in the know to be one of the best Junipers around. Once in a pot and the rest of the styling is complete it will be a tough tree to beat. I look forward with great anticipation to continue to develop this tree and see it to be the best it can be.
To see more pictures please visit Walter Palls blog http://walter-pall-travelogues.blogspot.com/

2008-07-07T16:48:00.000-07:00

Here are some random photos of trees that I cut the 1st flush of new growth back on.

Japanese Maple, the long shoots that I left are actully thread grafts that I am letting grow out to thicken and join with the new locations.

Japanese Maple....starting to look pretty good.

European Hornbeam
intially styled this past winter.

Walter Pall Workshops!

2008-06-10T15:14:00.000-07:00

Walter Pall will be back in the Portland area for a workshop on Monday the 30th of June 2008. There are still a few spots available. Email me for details....
The workshop will be held at Tsugawas Nursery in Woodland Washington. They have a very nice nursery and a great palce to hold workshops. http://www.tsugawanursery.com/index.html

Hans Mt. Hemlock

2008-05-08T20:17:00.000-07:00

Well, Hans van Meer has come and gone from my house. Let me tell you, he is one of the nicest, funniest people I have ever met!! I had such a great time with him and I am honored to have been the one to get him to the states for his first visit. Hopefully this will be the first of many trips to come.

We had a great time working on trees, drinking beer, shooting pool and working on trees, haha! He is a very talented artist and I am sure will be come one of the best in all of Europe very soon. Here is a tree that we worked on together in my yard.

It is a Mt. Hemlock, has about a 6"+ trunk and stands about 30" tall. It is an amazing tree.....one local bonsai master told me it was a junk tree.....I collected it because I saw this tree in it. My original vision had a different apex, I like the one Hans designed better!!

It was fun working with Hans, and I was able to learn from him. A good time was had by all.... Hans loved this tree.....

Before any work

Hans working away!

Finished for now..

Hans is done for the day!

This Mt Hemlock has amazing bark, a killer deadwood top that is older than I am and now a wonderful shape to it. This tree just goes to prove that sometimes "Masters" are even wrong! Better pictures of this tree will be posted in the coming weeks....

Fat Little Ponderosa Pine

2008-04-21T17:03:00.000-07:00

Here is a nice little ponderosa pine that I have been working on for about 3 years now. Trunk at the soil line is about 6" and the tree is about 22" tall.

As collected in 2005

Oct. 2006 I did the intial styling... still in big mica pot. This image is my avatar on a few bonsai forums...I just liked the sky in the background... looks kinda cool.

This brings us to today, April 2008.... time for some more work. With the beverage of choice for scale. In a Chinese pot, potted in early 2007.

Back

Some branch bending, with some really cool branch benders. I love it when one can employ tools!

Close up of the rock that the tree has grown over.... natural root over rock.

After a complete re-style... A new front was choosen that would show the best trunk movement. This meant all branching had to me moved and complete re-style. In the end it will make for a much better tree. Over the next few years I will focus on backbudding and getting it into a new pot.

Old front after restyle.

New front after restyle.

I lost a little bit of the trunk girth at the soil line with this new front but now the trunk leans to the viewer and the movement is 10X better than before. Once in a new pot it will be even better. I am thinking that the back branch will be trimmed up getting rid of the foliage on the bottom right that you see now.

Literati Ponderosa Pine

2008-04-21T16:52:00.000-07:00

Here is a little Ponderosa collected in cascades last year. It has excellent root growth and the buds look phenominal so it is ok to work on it now.....
Here it is after collection....

Something had to be done with the bottom 1/3 of the trunk. It is far to straight and I think a change in the planting angle is in order...
After work has been done.

What I like as the new front.....

The trunk goes away from you at the bottom but then comes back to the viewer at the top.
This angle also shows the best trunk movement, lichens and excellent bark. The foliage goes away from the viewer which I actully kinda like. Some branches will be cut off in time, but for now I decided to keep them until I put the tree in a nice pot.
About 36 inhes tall.

Hans Van Meer Workshops!

2008-04-21T15:08:00.000-07:00

On Saturday May 3rd, 2008 Hans Van Meer will be making his first trip to America. I had the privilage of organizing his American tour and drumming up workshops to offset travel cost's. Between Oregon, Washington, Texas and Maryland he ought to get a look at America!

On May 3rd we will be having an all day event at Tsugawa's Nursery in Woodland Washington.
http://www.tsugawanursery.com/location.html

To learn more about Hans please visit his website and blog
http://www.karamotto.org/
http://knowledgeofbonsai.org/hans_van_meer/

Special thanks to Brian and Greg at Tsugawa's nursery!!

Hans and I will be working in my yard and the yard of Oregon Bonsai for a day or 2, I will post the work done here on my blog and I know Hans will be updating his blog throughout his trip.

Stay tuned..... :)

Huge Ponderosa Pine

2008-04-01T18:16:00.000-07:00

Here is a phenominal Ponderosa that is very large and clearly a good tree. It has been in a box or a pot for a few years now. Since it is super healthy I felt it was time to finally style the tree. A very good friend of mine was over and we worked on it. I had 2 style ideas for this tree and in the end I went with this..... the right choice.

This is just the intial styling and will dramatically change in the next couple of years. So for now we bent some very large and thick branches using rebar, guy wires, steel bars, and lots of very heavy gauge copper guy wires. Some branches were as thick or thicker as a grown mans bicep!

Here is a photo history of the tree from repotting last year to first styling Feb 2008.

Rich List working playing in the dirt!

Rich cleaning the root base..... either a big tree or he has very small hands!

Again, Rich cleaning roots....

Now that is a very large ponderosa!!

Front (note the beer bottle on the right edge of pot for size)

Back

Now it is Feb 2008 and time to style. The buds are very healthy, needle color is excellent and there is a huge amount of new root growth.... time to bend!

I didn't get hardly any photos of actual work in progress, but I managed to get a few, I was too busy working to take pictures.

Midway

Finished for now!!!

Over the next few years it will fill in with new growth and become very full. I will be looking for the right pot to aquire so that I can repot in a few years. This ponderosa has seen a major transformation and is now on the path to becoming something very special.

Mt. Hemlock

2008-04-01T10:16:00.001-07:00

Here is a Mt. Hemlock I took in on trade. It is a collected tree that was for sale in a landscape nursery. I had to cut the top 4 feet off when bringing it home so that it didn't stick up above my truck. That was fine since I knew this would be a small tree in no time.

This tree sat in my front yard in the nursery container for a few months before I worked on it. A very good friend of mine came to town and we worked on it one night while BBQ'n!

Before

After the initial styling.....

This tree came out very good. This work was done at the beg. of Feb and now the buds are swelling and looking very good. While doing root work there was a good amount of new root growth.

In the future, more wirring and a better pot will be in order. For now, it is going to regain strength and look good on my bench.

Work with Walter Pall!!!

2008-03-25T14:41:00.000-07:00

Here is a note from Walter Pall.....

"I will be at Nature's Way Nursery in Harrisburg, PA at the beginning ofApril. This time we will offer very special workshops. There are morethan 30 outstanding collected trees that we work on. These are RockyMountain Junipers and Ponderosa Pines of exceptional quality. Some ofthem are clearly material for world class bonsai.We will do with the trees whatever need to be done at their stage. Thiswill be lifting form the container, examining roots. taking out olddebris from the root ball, cutting branches, deciding about futureshape, reducing foliage, cleaning trunks, potting into bonsai pots. Theparticipants will actually work with these trees hands on. I willexplain every step, what, how and why. I will go into the horticulturalside at length and certainly also into the artistic side. We will notstyle a single tree, but participants will get a good picture of thefuture of each tree. I will also make professional photographs of thetrees during the sessions. Folks who are interested will get my adviceabout how to make professional bonsai images.Most of the trees are available for sale by Jim Doyle. They arecertainly not cheap though. It is not required that someone purchasesany tree. Prices can NOT be quoted at this point in time. Trees willhave a price tag at the beginning of April though.Dates: general workshops with several participants: Friday , April 4(9am to 5pm) and Sunday, April 6 (10am to 5pm). I am also available onSaturday, April 5 and Monday, April 7 for individual sessions if required.Contact Nature's Way Nursery, Jim Doyle for the workshops and Jim ormyself for the individual sessions.See the trees here"
http://walter-pall.de/American_Pines/
http://walter-pall.de/American_Junipers/
http://www.natureswaybonsai.com/

A real unique chance to own hand picked phenominal trees from a world renowned bonsai master. Most of these trees spent over a year in my back yard so I know they are outstanding quality and ready for work. Bonsai folks on the East Coast should take advantage of this oppurtunity to work on and own some outstanding material.

Mikawa Black Pine part 2

2008-03-25T14:33:00.000-07:00

Well, after looking at the tree I decided that it would be best if the lower limbs were no longer part of the design. To my eye, it was too much foliage for such a skinny compact tree. I think letting the right side grow out a little will help in the future design.
Right side

Front

Given some time to reduce needle length, grow out the right and left sides and define layers it will be a much better tree. But this tree has had enough work for the moment and next year it will get more work, if I don't sell it first.
In person it looks much better than these pictures.

Japanese Black Pine, Mikawa

2008-03-21T15:46:00.000-07:00

I aquired this tree a few years ago and at the time it was one of my best trees and much larger than it is now.... This was the tree I took to my first ever workshop in 2005 with Boon. Since then my eye has grown and I now realize what we did was not the best. Now it is time to make a better tree....

Before

I thinned this tree of old needles and I bet 200 unwanted buds!! The back budding on this thing was crazy. Some pictures of bending branches,

Now the finsished image for the time bieng.....

I am deciding what to do with the lower branching on the right.

I think 1 of them needs to go for sure while the other gets shortened quite a bit or removed all together. Time to get to work on it :)

Back

Fat European Beech

2008-03-20T19:13:00.000-07:00

Here is a field grown European Beech that is very unique. I chopped the main tree because I liked the broken branch as the tree. This was created by elk damage while growing in the field. It has been out of the ground for a few years now and no time better than now to start working on it.
Before

Chop location~ pretty ugly!

Here after some intial carving and branch wiring

Something about the carving just didn't sit well with me. It needed to be more natural like some of the huge oaks and maples that we have growing here in the NW. So, out came the carving tools, power and hand tools....

Notice the chopstick in the picture? That is a pretty fat trunk and good base.

Now we are getting somehwere..... I introduced taper and tried to match the exsisting the deadwood which to me is a very cool feature of the tree.

Now in a new Chinese pot, it is time to just let nature finish off the deadwood. By the summer the trunk should less burnt looking and more natural. If not I will step in and make it look better by getting rid of the char. This is a unique tree that has a ways to go yet, next year I will continue to work the branches a bit. They are very brittle and one doesn't want to move them too much.....

Japanese Maple

2008-03-20T18:56:00.000-07:00

This is a field grown garfted dwarf cultivar of Japanese Maple. The trunk and roots are phenominal and have perfect 360 degree roots. This tree was field grown for 20+yrs and was dug in 2006 as seen below

The same tree in late winter 2008 while potting it in a Chinese pot.
Lots of fine roots

Very good nebari

Nice shallow root pad with excellent roots

Nice fat root base, again very good roots

And now in a new pot and the next 2 years will be
devoted to working the new growth, back budding and
reducing the overall heigth of the tree. This has potential
to be a good bonsai in 5 years.

Rough virtual of the future size and potential shape of the tree.

Mugo Pine

2008-03-18T11:29:00.000-07:00

Here is a good little mugo pine from a little nursery. This has been in a contianer for almost 12 yrs and has a nice single trunk with good movement.

Here is what I started with.....

From here it looks like just a typical landscape mugo pine. There is a tree lurking in there somewhere.....
Mid way photos, front and back...

BACK

While this is a good transformation, I picked all the right branches to save and got rid of the ones that wouldn't fit into my overall vision of the tree. The tree sat like this for about 2 months then I decided to finally finish it. I had to wire every shoot and pot it in a pot by Erin Pottery.
FRONT

Back

Elevated front

I am pretty happy with how this came out for a first styling. It looks like an almost finished bonsai as compared to what it started as and what I have seen others post with nursery mugos.
There is still room for improvement on this tree, but that will come next year and the years after. For now, I will enjoy this little pine.

European Hornbeam

2008-03-18T11:15:00.000-07:00

Here is a field grown European Hornbeam.
This is a nice elegant tree with good lines. I don't have a before photo for some reason so you will have to settle for the final photos of the intial styling. Once this has a chance to ramify it will be a pretty nice tree.

The trunk had some reverse taper that I had to carve away and also some scars that I did some cleaning up on. These will heal in time and look like old hallows you see on old maples and oaks here in the NW.

Japanese Pot before and Chinese pot after.

FRONT

BACK

Front from a slightly different angle.

As one can see it can be a good bonsai from all angles not just the front. Again this is the first time wire has ever hit this tree so it can only get better in the future.

Scots Pine

2008-03-18T11:03:00.000-07:00

Here is a Scots pine that I picked up at a very small hidden nursery in the middle of nowhere. The trunk on this tree has very good bark and a nice subtle movement. I started working on this tree on Thanksgiving day with Brother in Law Rich while on mini vacation with the wives.

Here you will see what I started with and what I was able to finish with. Wow, what a lot of fine detail wiring on this one. Wirring this tree really helped me to improve on my wirring skills and now I look at it and am almost embarraesed at how bad of a job I did!! It's not that bad, really!! haha

Before and afters.....Pot made in China

BACK

FRONT

Not a bad transformation. Trunk is about 4" and the tree is about 26"tall. Once this tree has a few years to fill out and then make the final branch selections it will be a very good tree. I do not forsee all these branches staying.... some will have to go!

Sub Alpine FIr

2008-03-18T10:31:00.000-07:00

Here is a collected Sub Alpine Fir. It started out as elegant fir in the "mother daughter" or twin trunk style. After sitting on my bench for a few years I decided it was finally time to do something or sale it to someone. This winter I decided on the direction to go with it.

Before any work

Then after trunk splitting, linning the split with aluminum wire and wrapping with rafia the adding more wire to the outside. I needle pruned all the older needles to open the foliage pads up and make it easier to wire to the ends of the branches.

I am pretty happy with the results of the intial styling. Next year I will be able to fix the root sticking up, get it into a much better pot and make fine adjustments to the branches if needed.

2008-02-24T17:04:00.000-08:00

2008-02-24T17:01:00.000-08:00

Ahh, joined the rest of the Western World and started up a blog..... More content to be added soon!

Peace, Jason