Weekend Jam, Kyōdai style 🤘. Have an enjoyable weekend everyone 🥳!

This Redwood belong to one of our clients, Paul Krasner, whom acquired it at the Artisan Cup in 2015. It has been under his care ever since and we’re honor to have the opportunity to work with such great material. We recently repotted and accentuated the shari and uro (hallow) to give the tree more age and years of battle with the elements and, evidently, prevailed.

Stay tuned for the refinement this fall. Thank you Paul for the opportunity to interact with this majestical beauty!

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Weekend Jam, Kyōdai style. Happy Mother’s Day weekend and World Bonsai Day, enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!! 🥳🎊🎉

#kyōdaistyle #kyōdai #kyōdaibonsai #icanbonsai #iBonsai #bonsai #bonsaitrees #kyodai #tree #bonsaiart #bonsai4life #bonsai4thesoul #naturelover #natureart #naturephotographer #design #liveart #artwork #artistsoninstagram #photooftheday #photography #instagram #instagood #trending #homedecor #colors #inspiration #spring #mothersday #worldbonsaiday …

The FAMILY TREE: SEEMINGLY DELICATE, yet RESILIENT and ADAPTABLE

Red Dragon Japanese Maple
Acer palmatum dissectum 'Red Dragon'

Kyōdai Garden is established on the land that our family has sought refuge in. This Red Dragon Japanese Maple and our house established their roots on this 10,000-square-foot plot of land on the hills of Mt. Tabor in the late 1960s. Our family were refugees from Vietnam and this became our first home in the US in 2001, and we have called home since. This eventually was developed into Kyōdai Garden in 2020.

To paraphrase John Green, we fell in love with bonsai like one would fall asleep: slowly then all at once. In 2013, we transplanted this tree and started developing it into a bonsai.

The traits of the Red Dragon Japanese Maple parallel those of our family’s journey: seemingly delicate human lives traversing through tribulations and adversity, molded resilience and adaptability. Throughout the year, the delicate leaves change from shades of purple and red, culminating in a vibrant red in autumn. It is one of the few varieties that adapts well to the full spectrum of sunlight and temperature, better than any other dissectum Japanese Maple.

Weekend jam, Kyōdai style 😎👍. Have a wonderful Cinco De Mayo and enjoy the weekend everyone 🥳!

#kyōdaistyle #kyōdai #kyōdaibonsai #bonsai #bonsaitrees #kyodai #tree #bonsaiart #bonsai4life #bonsai4thesoul #naturelover #natureart #naturephotographer #design #liveart #artwork #artistsoninstagram #photooftheday #photography #instagram #instagood #trending #homedecor #colors #inspiration #spring #familytree #bonsai4all #hometree #japanesemaples …

THE FRUIT AND THE PLANTER: In memory of Lee.

In Vietnamese, we have a proverb, “When eating the fruit, remember the one who planted the tree.”

Lee is the father-in-law of our good friend, Gino. This used to be a family fruit tree in the backyard of Lee’s home. When Lee pasted away, Gino transplanted it and have been developing it into a bonsai. We were fortunate to have the torch passed onto to us in the Spring of 2021 and now it is on display at Kyōdai Garden.

Special thanks to Gino and his wife for the generous hospitality every time we visit. Bonsaiing, eating nectarine and sipping Yamazaki 18 years and Nikka From The Barrel by a pool overlooking silicon valley—it can’t get any better 😊.

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First 70F+ Spring day in Portland! Bringing in this baby to enjoy the blossoms while it lasts. Happy hump day and cheers 🥂 from the Kyōdai Family!

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Weekend Jam Session—Kyōdai Style! 🤘😎🥳

What’s your front?! Please chime in on what you would choose for the front!

Finally getting to work on one of our Rocky Mountain Juniper yamadori we collected from Fall 2020! Repotted Spring 2022. Got the baby cleaned and lime sulfured. The last three photos are of the angle when we stumbled upon it in wilderness, then roughly 45 degrees and then another 45 degrees. This beauty has so much potential so we’re having a tough choosing the front.

We’ll be proceeding with the primary initial styling this week and will keep you posted!

#kyōdaistyle #kyōdai #kyōdaibonsai #icanbonsai #iBonsai #bonsai #bonsaitrees #kyodai #tree #bonsaiart #bonsai4life #bonsai4thesoul #naturelover #natureart #naturephotographer #design #liveart #artwork #artistsoninstagram #photooftheday #photography #instagram #instagood #trending #homedecor #colors #inspiration #spring #juniper …

Weekend Jam, Kyōdai style. Happy Earth Day Weekend everyone! Take time to spend outside this weekend with your family or love ones and enjoy the many wonderful things from our planets.

MUGO PINE PROGRESSION: A MULTI-PATH JOURNEY
 
The journey of this Pinus Mugo began as a pre-bonsai field grown at Telperion Farm for over 30 years. The natural growth of Mugo Pines is multi-trunk. This may pose challenges in choosing a front, but can also be viewed as an opportunity in designing a structurally wild and dynamic bonsai.

We acquired this Mugo in the Spring of 2017. In its first four years at Kyōdai Garden, this Mugo’s journey took many twist and turns and there were instances where we got frustrated and put the saw next to it to turn it into a single trunk, but in retrospect, fortunately did not pull the saw.

In the Fall of 2021, after many long moments of gazing at each other, this Mugo finally pine-whispered to us of a structural design that harmonizes and realizes its potential. For the initial styling, we focused on setting up the primary and secondary structures.  Extra branches and buds were removed to maintain energy balance.  Early Spring this year, it was refined with some adjustments.

#kyōdaistyle #kyōdai #kyōdaibonsai #bonsai #bonsaitrees #kyodai #tree #bonsaiart #bonsai4life #bonsai4thesoul #naturelover #natureart #naturephotographer #design #liveart #artwork #artistsoninstagram #photooftheday #photography #instagram #instagood #trending #homedecor #colors #inspiration #spring#earthday #earthoutdoors #wildlifeonearth …