Hear ye, hear ye! Today marks the release of the fourth episode of the Bonsai Time Podcast hosted by myself and a fellow Columbus-based bonsai friend, Kevin Faris. In today's episode, I dug up the pilot test interview I did back in May of 2020 with Julian Tsai and Andy Bello. Julian is a former apprentice of Fujikawa Kouka-en bonsai nursery in Japan and Andy is a former apprentice-turned assistant curator at the US National Bonsai & Penjing Museum in Washington, DC. We discussed our observations in bonsai around the world and spent the last half of the interview brainstorming styling ideas for reader-submitted trees. Hopefully seeing our thought process can be helpful in styling trees in your collection! We welcome submissions of additional trees for us to discuss in the future here.
Wednesday, May 11, 2022
Apprentice Talk & Bonsai Brainstorming with Julian Tsai & Andy Bello - Bonsai Time Podcast Ep 04
Saturday, April 16, 2022
Reflections from Working with Dan Robinson - Bonsai Time Podcast Ep 03
Dear readers (and listeners)! Today marks the release of the third episode of the Bonsai Time Podcast hosted by myself and a fellow Columbus-based bonsai friend, Kevin Faris. This episode focuses on reflections Kevin and I had after working with Dan Robinson at his world famous Elandan Gardens. We specifically discussed more detail behind where you can look for inspiration for Dan's naturalistic styling ethos of ancient trees, as well as some technical tips to make gnarly trees in Dan's style.
Wednesday, March 23, 2022
Introducing Your Hosts! Goals for Bonsai and for the Podcast - Bonsai Time Podcast Ep 02
Readers, today marks the release of the second episode of the @bonsaitimepodcast hosted by myself and a fellow Columbus-based bonsai friend, Kevin Faris. In this shorter episode, Kevin and I discussed our backgrounds and goals in bonsai as well as our goals for this podcast going forwards. We are only getting started so I hope you enjoy the ride!
Wednesday, March 2, 2022
A Conversation with Dan Robinson - Bonsai Time Podcast Episode 01
Hello readers! Some years ago I started this blog with the intent to share my journey and pass on wisdom from one of the biggest public bonsai gardens in the US. I especially hoped to share more stories from my teacher, Dan Robinson, as I had not heard of him in my online-only experience with the bonsai community. Today, Dan remains focused on his mission of maintaining his garden and his trees without distractions from the online world (he really does still use a flip phone), but luckily Dan now has a multitude of technology-minded volunteers at the garden who are carrying on sharing his bonsai with the online audience such as through the @elandangardensbonsai Instagram page and other upcoming projects. That said, today marks the release of the first episode of the @bonsaitimepodcast hosted by myself and a fellow Columbus-based bonsai friend, Kevin Faris. With time, Kevin and I envision this podcast serving as a source of edutainment to assist bonsai-growers with a variety of topics and tell the stories of more bonsai artists and trees. The focus of the first episode however circles back to the original purpose of this blog. Dan recently hosted Kevin and me at his garden for a few days of work and collaboration styling trees. During that time, Dan was kind enough to sit down with us for a lengthy retrospective interview on his life in the bonsai. If you are familiar with Dan's evocative style and want to know more about the man behind a uniquely ancient & naturalistic style of bonsai, see the links below.