Mother Of All Wisteria Part 2
Just a quick post with a couple of pictures of one of my wisteria in development.
I recently took part of my pot collection to a local bonsai club show and sale to see if anyone was crazy enough to buy a few pots so I could keep my “pot” addiction funded. I brought along one of the big wisteria because it was in flower and might attracted more traffic to the sale table. Next thing I knew it was put into the show on display. It was also used for part of the day in the Japanese community center’s auditorium for a decorative show piece on their stage during several plays. I was very honored and glad that so many people admired it. I hope it looks even better for next year. As always, thanks for looking!
The Mother Of All Wisteria
Being a grower at a large wholesale nursery does have it’s perks. Some employees take home office supplies…. I get plants! The nice thing about that is most plants I take home aren’t considered sellable nursery stock for garden centers or landscape projects so it’s all above board. They are however perfect for pre bonsai material. The “it” or “in” plants fall in and out of vogue with the gardening enthusiast. All it takes is a popular gardening show or magazine to feature the next “big plant” and last month’s feature is yesterday’s news. Gardener’s love for wisteria seems to take a roller coaster ride. Every few years it peeks, however wisteria sales are on a decline. People want plants that are low maintenance, preform well and easy to grow. Wisteria has no problem growing but most don’t bloom due to lack of pruning and fertilizing. This post was just an after thought. Sorry for the lack of quality photos. The nursery has twenty or so very old wisteria mother plants in 30+ gallon containers. Their purpose is to provide propagative material for new wisteria production. Absolutely beautiful to behold when they are all flowering. Much to my good fortune, there just so happened to be a few extra mother plants hanging around then required. Of course I suggested trying to make a couple of bonsai from one of the multi stem wisteria. I was ruthless in the procedure. Poor timing, buds already pushing and several very cold nights with frost definitely set back two out of the three stems. Step one was taking the pot off and sawing the root ball into three sections thus reclaiming the stems back to their single original form. Years ago three small individual wisteria where potted into one container to eventually form a large mother plant. I must have cut off 80% of the root system. Roots from one inch to six inches were cut with a sharp pruning saw. A bark mix with turface was used. This mix holds water which seems like a good idea for wisteria. If there is one lesson I can take away from this project, it would be don’t rush. I was so eager to work on this material I pushed it. I didn’t have the time or supplies ( large pots & better mix) to commit to it but I started anyway. The result wasn’t two out of three ain’t bad but…. two out of three were bad. A couple of heavy frosts didn’t help some of the newly forming buds either. Here are a few very poor quality pictures. Sorry. The scale of the plant is hard to tell in the pictures. In the pot it stood approx. 4 1/2 feet tall by about the same wide. Trunks are approx. 4 inches. The next steps will consist of compacting the branch structure and finding better pots. As always, thanks for looking.
Size Does Matter Part 2
Planting up mame bonsai pots is no small task…. no pun intended. I have propagated several different plants from seed and cuttings for use in tiny pots. More information about my propagation methods can be supplied upon request. Today’s post highlights which plants I will be using in future parts of Size Does Matter. I have grown Ginkgo biloba, Larix lariciana, Taxodium distichum and Parthenocisses quinquefolia all from seed. Cotoneaster ‘Strieb’s findling’, Chamaecyparis obtuse ‘hagg’ and Juniperus procumbens nana all from cuttings. Seeds could be grown directly in the intended pot, however I find it more productive to grow them in plug form. After germination I transplant the seedling into the mame pot at an early stage of development. Following are the pics of plant material being used. As always, thanks for looking!
Ps..I had to include a pic of one of my Wisteria bonsai in development.
Bigei Bonsai Pots
Hold a Bigei bonsai pot in your hand and right away it’s quality and the skill of this Japanese Tokoname potter is evident. Carved images, clean lines, glazed or unglazed in numerous shapes and sizes sums up this potter’s inventory. Definitely a pot for any tree. I only have a few of these pots but plan on adding more to my hoard. As always thanks for looking!
Pictures Speak A Thousand Words
Got a cool little accent or bonsai plant?……then show it off in a hand painted Japanese mini pot. In the world of mini or mame bonsai and accent plants it seem that most anything goes for the style of pot when displaying. Unlike finished full sized bonsai, when a ornate or fancy pot may up stage it’s resident. Mame bonsai need all the help they can get. Keeping in mind I am very new to the bonsai world and really don’t know what I’m talking about….. you might what to ask your experienced bonsai club members before potting something up for a show. 🙂 Interesting tiny bonsai…… interesting tiny pot…. it’s a great formula for tiny fun! My friend said “all bonsai people are nerds.” I guess my name can be added to that list with that formula for fun. I’m sure only cool guys go to Vegas and marry strippers on the weekends….. not needle pluck pine. The little iris pot and blue cascade pot are by Japanese maker Yuuki Shoseki. The pair of white with red paint pots are made in a Seto area kiln. The last pair are painted with the Fox Wedding theme by Tosui. As always thanks for looking!
Amphibious Bonsai Pots
Well the pots themselves aren’t amphibious. Just the little frogs hanging onto the sides. I thought Amphibious Bonsai Pots might be a great title. One of my last posts had the title Size Does Matter. I have never had so many hits on a post! The lesson here is title does matter…… or cheesy sexual references work. In today’s post I would like to show three tiny Japanese bonsai or accent plant pots with small frogs attached to their sides. Cool little pots that people always comment on when I display them. The light rose or wine / pink colored pot by Japanese maker Yamazaki Kouzan. The yellow and blue pots are made by Furumoto. As always thanks for looking!
Mame Bonsai Pots By Tani Ganyo
My research skills are horrible. I rely on a couple of great online blogs like Japanese Bonsai Pots Blog, Sam & KJ’s Suiseki Blog and Peter Tea Bonsai Blog to fill this void. All are WordPress based. If it wasn’t for all of their efforts and passion for bonsai and all that goes with it, my knowledge wouldn’t continue to grow as much as it is. I’m truly grateful to anyone who takes the time to share their knowledge. Thanks!
Today’s post features a few of my Tani Ganyo mame pots. I was told this Japanese potter is the wife of another potter Tani Ranzan. I love both of their work. If I scrape together enough coin to travel to Japan, one of my stops would have to be the Tani pottery studio. Talk about one stop shopping! Cool little hand painted birds, flower blooms and bamboo adorn the sides of her pots. What’s not to like. There is something simple about the design that seems to connect well with the serenity and beauty of nature. The small bird on one of the pots reminds me of my Zeko Nakamura bird pot pictured in an earlier post. As always thanks for looking!
Size Does Matter
That”s right size does matter. There is always someone out there in the niche world of mame bonsai pot collecting thinking their pot is smaller than yours. Well that might be true, however it’s what you do with it that counts! I am going to attempt to grow something in some of my smallest pots. Every time I show these tiny works of art to people the general response is ” cute but you can never grow anything in it”. Well to all you haters I just might prove you right! I might fail adding fuel to your low opinion of mame bonsai, but I guarantee I’ll enjoy trying to prove you wrong! I picked up a fantastic Tani Ranzan set of eleven mame pots offered for sale on a fellow collector’s blog. ( when I figure out how to set up my blog links I’ll share all my favorites ) I will attempt to fulfill their destiny of becoming a vessel for a tiny bonsai. Even smaller 1/2″ mame pots by Japanese maker Isso will be transitioned into production from static display. Here’s a few pics of the pots I will be using. Thanks for looking.
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- 1″ Hosen & 1/2″ Isso Pots
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- Isso Pot
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- Tani Ranzan
My Eyes Are Glazed Over
“To each his own”. Thick runny multicolored glaze or beautiful dark grimy patina? Yes that was a question. For a bonsai “pot head” this is an age old question that may never be answered. For now, my eyes are glazed over.  I love complex glazed pots. Japanese potter Echizen Bunzan is one of my favorites. Bunzan pots provide a huge helping of glaze and crackle. Hey I just thought of something! Maybe I have answered that age old question ( at least for me ). A Bunzan with patina!! Why settle. Many different types of art form provoke various emotional responses and stimulate our senses. Like a great song, masterful painting, or an engaging book………. as crazy as it sounds I pick up a glazed pot and get lost in the story it tells until my eye glaze over and all is well. ( maybe sharing a little toooo much? ) I’m sure I’m not alone…. Here’s a couple of my Echizen Bunzan pots. Thanks for looking.
Mr .Zeko Nakamura The Mame Master
A career in the propagation of nursery stock has long held my fascination of watching plants grow from seeds or cuttings. I really love small plants. I guess this is the main reason I find mame bonsai  so appealing. A great deal of dedication is required growing bonsai. An even greater level of dedication is required for mame bonsai. Miss one watering and all of your efforts are for nothing. The one thing that really sparked my interest in mame bonsai was of course a tiny pot. I was surfing the web and came across a picture of a very small bonsai pot with a hand painted bird on it. There was just something about that pot. It was priced just under two hundred dollars. Way out of my price range for such a small pot. After pining over this pot for several weeks, I contacted the seller to purchase it. After all patience is a virtue or good things come to those who wait. Both are sound reasoning and I had put in my time. I waited. Sure enough it was sold just hours before! Not being able to obtain the object of my obsession was a good thing. I started researching the maker. Mr. Zeko Nakamura was the artist behind my little bird pot. A comic and actor in both television and movies. Born in Japan in 1900 Mr. Nakamura lived to be eighty nine. His love of tiny bonsai and knowledge of growing them is communicated through his published works and hand painted whimsical pots. Twenty three years after Mr. Zeko Nakamura’s death his spirit is inspiring and teaching me the joys of growing mame bonsai. I have read that he maintained a collection of over one to two thousand mame bonsai. Often taking some of his favourites with him while traveling for work. Daily watering routines were carried out by family members in his absents. One of my favourite Zeko pots has an image of what I believe is a dwarf pussy willow. There is a picture in one of his books of a dwarf wild salix he collected in the mountains during a movie shoot. In my heart of hearts I sense the memory of that trip and collecting the salix was the inspiration behind the painting on that pot. The likeness of both are so similar. Good things do come to those who wait. I now own nine of Mr.Zeko Nakamura’s pots and two of his books. One is a signed copy of his earlier book published in Japanese. it’s a shame I can’t read it. However I still find enjoyment out of it. My wife affectionately calls me the mame master. I would like to think if Mr. Nakamura was still alive we would have connected through correspondence. We did however connected through his works years after his passing. That’s the sign of a true master. Here are a few pictures of my mame Zeko collection. The true mame master. I hope you enjoy!
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- incredible patina with dancing crabs
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- grape vine
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- the bird that started it all
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- the salix pot
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- signed copy anyone read Japanese?
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- group shot
Mame & Shohin Bonsai Pots 