Visiting the Tickle Family
Posted by Rob Kempinski on Jul 02 2008 | Comment now »
During my recent trip to England, Tony and Carolynn Tickle offered stupendous hospitality. They entertained me, my wife, Terry, my daughter, Jennifer, and our friends, Karen and Megan. We had a blast hanging out with the Tickles but don’t challenge Tony to Scrabble, at least not when you have jet lag.
Tony “Yew the Man” Tickle has several nice Yew Taxus bonsai. Here is one of Tony’s favorite bonsai, a collected Yew. It was raining a bit the afternoon we spent in his garden.
Another one in a semicascade style and one growing over a rock.
Here’s Tony’s Elm next to a model of a traditional English country stone fence.
Tony show my wife, Terry (in blue) and Karen some new accent plants.
Living in Tony’s neighborhood is another Gingko Award winning tree. This one belongs to David, who kindly let us barge in while he was eating diner to see his trees. This raft Beech won a Gingko award at the last exhibition in Belgium.
Tony and I stopped to check out the English moors - very beautiful. These moors are on the backside of a hill behind Tony’s house. I used the self timer feature of the camera to take this shot and the group shot above. A handy feature.
Some great bonsai collecting in these rock formations.
Natural Bonsai - A Scots Pine growing in a natural rock pocket. Simple to collect. “Lay ho -heave”
In these cracks in the rocks grow some astounding trees. This Yew’s trunk spiraled like a spring.
Great portrait of Tony.
In addition to great bonsai action Tony was able to arrange a golf game for me at Royal Lytham and St Annes - one of the historic links style golf courses on the British Open Championship rotation. Here Norman and I pose for a shot with the clubhouse in the background. 
And here I am winding up for a power drive.
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“The Pagoda”, Podocarpus, Going to the Show
Posted by Rob Kempinski on Jun 02 2008 | 1 Comment »
The Pagoda, Podocarpus, Goes to the Show
Chinese yew, Podocarpus, are common landscape plants in both in Japanese gardens and around Florida homes. This one was collected from a hedge and reduced significantly. It has great taper and is developing well. The first two branches on the right grew from buds after collecting. Circa 1988. 19 inches tall by 23 wide. It’s in a Chinese pot even though the bottom says “Made in Japan.” It will be on exhibit at the Bonsai Societies of Florida annual show at the Cape Canaveral Radisson at the Port.
This is what it looked like about 3 years ago. Last year it was blown off its bench and lost the top. I regrew a slightly shorter one and like the tree better. This is the large leaf variety so it takes regular pinching to keep the leaves shorter than normal.
Aussy Pine Update
Posted by Rob Kempinski on May 19 2008 | Comment now »
A year ago I posted a photo progression of this Australian Pine. Here is what it looks like now in a Tokonome pot.
Here’s a link to the prior article:
http://www.knowledgeofbonsai.org/rob_kempinski/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=397
Where’s Waldo
Posted by Rob Kempinski on May 18 2008 | 2 Comments »
This Ficus Microcarpa has been having a fungus problem. I totally defoliated it and will keep on it with fungicide this year. We’ll see what happens:
Before with damaged leaves.
Here it is after defoliation.
I might show this tree at the US National Exhibition in October.
Can you find Waldo? He snuck into one of the photos.
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The Rock
Posted by Rob Kempinski on Mar 22 2008 | Comment now »
This Japanese Black Pine started as a seed in 2000. I picked a pine cone off a city tree in November 2000 and put it in my hotel room. The next morning the cone popped and little seeds were all over the floor - the wings looked similar to maple seeds except the pines were brown. I planted about 20 seeds and gradually gave some away or they didn’t make it. This is the last one I have from that cone.
It’s now growing next to a lava rock from Los Alamos, NM. So it really only has 7 growing seasons. It has always grown in a container.
The pot is by Nick Lenz.
This is a close up of the rock to tree union. The goal is to make it look like it is grafted to the rock. I use pieces of an old garden hose and stiff copper wire to place pressure on the tree bark to make it grow sideways.
This is what I envision the canopy to look like.
Japanese Black Pine From Seed
Posted by Rob Kempinski on Mar 15 2008 | Comment now »
This was the tree in 1999
Some people wonder about the futility of planting seeds to grow bonsai. The popular axiom is you have to reduce a tree to make a bonsai. Well, if you have some time, one can grow a shohin Japanese Black Pine from a seed.
This tree was a seed in 1999 or 2000, I can’t remember exactly. After a couple of years I transplanted it into a terra cotta grow pot and let a shoot grow unchecked for 3 or so years. Here is a key point, while the shoot grew unchecked I regularly plucked the intermediate needles so that the top and the buds at the very bottom of the tree grew well. Also I noticed the roots on this particular seedling had grown together like an extension of the trunk below the soil. Instead of splaying them out, I used the roots to add taper to the trunk by raising the roots above the soil. I might have wrapped the roots with raffia or floral tape - I just can’t recall exactly.
I put it in a smaller pot in January 2005. Here it is in September 2005, 9 months of growing in Florida’s long growing season. I then did some shaping work with it.
Doesn’t look like much yet. However, it has buds in decent spots.
In December of 2007 I did my needle reduction program. Here it is in March 2008 prior to work. It is about 9 inches tall so it qualifies as a shohin.
I did some wiring and needle plucking
I decided it will get a new front by rotating the tree counterclockwise looking down from the top at the next repot. If the top and branches fill in nicely it might be show ready in a year or perhaps two. So that would be ten years to show from seed.
And a virtual design for a few years in the future.
I added this shot showing the branch structure from above.
Hand Grenade Accent
Posted by Rob Kempinski on Mar 13 2008 | Comment now »
A little accent plant combining miniature ivy with a succulent in a unusual pot by Horst Heinzreitler of Austria.
My Broom is Coming Along
Posted by Rob Kempinski on Feb 24 2008 | 1 Comment »
The rest of my Florida Elm bonsai have thoroughly bloomed but the broom is lagging behind. I noticed a few buds today so I thought I do a bit of work as it will be full of leaves in no time.
Here is a before shot.
After thinning and a bit of wire but only on the heavier branches as this tree’s growth is too prolific for lots of wire. Clip and grow works well for elms.
The pot is from Tokonome in Japan.
This is what it looked like in the past few years.
February 2006
In February 2007
Shortly after collecting in 2004.
New York Circa September 10, 2001
Posted by Rob Kempinski on Feb 23 2008 | Comment now »
I was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. My father was a policeman for the New York Port Authority, the developers and long term owners of the World Trade Center. After the despicable terrorist attacks, I made this composition to remember the people of New York.
The trees are Winged Elms and growing on a self-made concrete slab/pot. It’s very heavy so I infrequently photograph it.
