The Curator’s Journal began publishing the last Friday in March, 2022. That means this week's entry brings us around full circle and we now officially close out the first year of the course. Here at the juncture where one year ends and another is about to begin, it seems opportune to pause a moment and take in the scenery, looking back at where we've been and surveying what might be ahead.

ContemplationsJournal EntryMarch 31, 2023spring 2023, year 1

Twists and Turns in the Life of a Corkscrewed Juniper

The idea of identifying what is most appealing about a tree and making that feature more prominent through presentation is elemental to good bonsai design. Other teachers have taught this, but I learned it that day from Mr. Yoshimura, on this juniper specimen.

Yoshimura, Tree StoriesJournal EntryMarch 24, 2023spring 2023, year 1

Collecting a Field-Grown Maple

The Arboretum's collection has quite a few nice little trees with big, impressive trunks, and many of them were produced right here. How was it done? In-ground growing is the answer. Over the past 25 years or so, I've been refining my technique for producing small trees with large trunks. The new video presented here demonstrates part of the process.