What Is Bonsai?
The earliest known reference to potted trees is found in second-century Chinese literature...
Bonsai Events
photo: Jonathan Ley
Bonsai (pronounced "bone-sigh") is a Japanese word that translates literally as "a planting in a shallow container." In modern usage, the term refers specifically to a dwarfed, artistically shaped tree in a container. Because a bonsai continues to grow, it is never "finished" as an art piece. The artist's work—and the bonsai's evolution—can continue for decades, making these spectacular plants, in essence, living sculptures.
Spring Bonsai Exhibition
Presented by the Bonsai Society of Portland
May 8 & 9, 2010
10am-7pm in the Garden Pavilion
Free with admission
Bonsai Marketplace
Along with the Spring Exhibition, Bonsai Society members will hold a marketplace with bonsai supplies, tools, and materials for sale. Materials include trees that have some styling as well as starter trees and raw field-grown material, including pines, maples, junipers, elms, azaleas, and many others. Vendors will also have bonsai pots, wire, soils, accent plants, and specialty tools available for bonsai artists of all levels of experience—from novice to advanced.
Local businesses participating in the sale include:
- Apex Bonsai (Aloha)
- starter trees, soils, pots, wire, tools
- Bonsai Beginnings (Beaverton)
- specializing in small trees 10" or less, classes
- Daybreak Gardens (Battle Ground, WA)
- plants, supplies and classes
- Telperion Farms (Lyons)
- field grown trees, Satsuki azaleas, handmade pots, wire, soils, and hard-to-find items
The Bonsai Society of Portland will hold its annual Spring Bonsai Exhibition at the Portland Japanese Garden on Mother's Day weekend, May 8 and 9, 2010. The show will include dozens of bonsai from members' private collections, including some truly world-class material. The exhibition will present conifer, deciduous, fruiting, and flowering species, in sizes ranging from large three-feet-tall specimens to tiny shohin trees small enough to hold in the palm of your hand. In addition, displays with scrolls, stones, and accent plants will be on view, including a traditional Japanese tokonoma alcove display. There will also be an educational table and live demonstrations throughout both days of the exhibition, where visitors may ask questions and watch Bonsai Society members at work.
photo: Jonathan Ley
