Issho-en

(This is a re-post of an article from Dec, 2011. I brought it here for you to enjoy.)

Recently I worked on a large Korean Hornbeam of Daniel Robinson’s (my teacher) at Elandan Gardens, this is the story of that tree, through a few images. For those of you familiar with Elandan you will have doubtlessly seen this tree in the collection where it has lived for a great many years. I fell in love with this tree (actually all the hornbeams) from the minute I set foot in the garden. They are such a spectacular species and this tree is certainly no exception. Much of the deadwood had weathered and changed over the years and excavating what was left behind was a wonderful distraction between hours of focusing intently on little tiny branches.

This tree took me about 16+ hours to wire over the course of about 3 days. I gave it a break for a few days during the work week and finished it just before heading to bed on Monday.

This was a tremendous amount of fun as always. I never tire from the transformations, of a twig, a branch then a tree. It makes me fall in love with bonsai all over again. I hope this helps show how important it is to do detailed wiring. This is the only way to get those amazing ancient crowns.

I hope you enjoy … please feel free to comment as always  …

With the last bit of fall color:

After removing the leaves:

After many tedious hours of fine wiring:

I am currently working another large hornbeam from the collection and hope to have it completed soon. I will post a more detailed progression of it’s change in the coming weeks.