Last week we visited several of the bonsai gardens in Omiya Bonsai Village. Our first stop was the garden of Masahiko Kimura. Of course there were magnificent masterpiece bonsai as always with heavy interesting trunks featuring sculptured dead wood and refined branching.
However, I noticed something new, rock plantings, and lots of them. The first demonstration at the 8th World Bonsai Convention was presented by Mr. Kimura who showed how to create a clinging-to-a-rock bonsai. He used a rather tall rock he made and planted several Sargent junipers grown from airlayers. The trees were already trained and Mr. Kimura planted them in shallow crevasses he designed in the stone. During his visits to China he was very impressed with the tall narrow mountains and wanted to create a similar, but refined scene.
His garden featured several size clinging-to-a-rock planting created using artificial stones he made planted with Sargent junipers…
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