Hi, everybody,
here are two links to the results of the 2013 WBFF Saburo Kato Memorial award photo contest as posted on the website of the North America Bonsai association. I entered a picture of my (XL) Larch and made it on to the list of 36 selected trees you see below. 🙂
Well, don to the winners of this edition!
Top 5: HERE
36 additional Bonsai from the competition that were judged to be exceptional trees: HERE
Cheers,
Hans van Meer.
Info: karamottobonsai@hotmail.com
——————————————————————
Hi, everybody,
would you believe that there is already a Turkish translation made of my wound treatment article?! I want to thank: Taner Tuncer ( Email: tuncer.taner@hotmail.com ) for doing this so fast and for his permission to place a link to this translation on my blog: HERE! Thanks, Taner!
And the Greek translation is in the making as we speak! So watch this space!
Cheers,
Hans van Meer.
Info: karamottobonsai@hotmail.com
—————————————————————————-
Hi, everybody,
here are (better late than never) some pictures from the 7e BONSAI FROM HET WESTEN SHOW that was staged 1 & 2 June in the botanical garden in Delft (NL). I showed there my XL Larch and one of my Hawthorn in full bloom and on the Saturday I did a demo on a difficult large Urban Yamadori Yew. It was another successful great little show and a lot of enthusiastic visitors came to see it!
Click on pictures to enlarge!
Below: A wonderful Pinus parviflora from Hotsumi Terakawa (out of competition).
Below: My dear friend Teunis Jan Klein brought a wonderful taste of Summer to the show!
Below: My student and friend Ed van der Reek made a nice display with on the left his Berberis buxifolia and on the right side his Chamaecyparis obtusa “nana gracillis” and a nice antique Tanzaku holder with a painting of a Geisha.
Below: Ed was over the moon when he found out that his Chamaecyparis had won first price in the evergreen category and his Berberis became second in the deciduous category! Ed was really proud and so was I! Well don Ed!!!!
Below: Some pictures of my demonstration. At the end of the show, all demo trees of that weekend became prices in a lottery!
The weekend was over before we knew it! It was yet another successful “Bonsai van het westen” edition and I am looking forward to the next one! Don’t miss it and CU all next year!!!!
Cheers,
Hans van Meer.
Info: karamottobonsai@hotmail.com
—————————————————————————————-
Hi, everybody,
I wish everybody a Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy New Year and may all your dreams come through!!!
Cheers,
Hans van Meer.
Info: karamottobonsai@hotmail.com
——————————————————————————————————
Hi, everybody, today it finally was time to take my old yew out of its ugly plastic container. I collected it in Wales in Nov 2007 with Tony Tickle and Enrico Savini and his student/friend/translator Ivo from (Italy). It was a yamadori find of exceptional quality and it was really sad to see that it lost most of its foliage during its first years away from its old home. But a small section did survive and over the last 3 years, it got, with a lot of TLC, healthier and started to grow like crazy! So now it finally was time to see what was hidden under the ground and to replant it in a new (temporary) bonsai pot! Below: The yew before I took it out of the plastic container! Look at all that amazing deadwood that I have to shape into an exciting and bold design!
Below: just look at all that amazing deadwood…makes my mouth water!
Below: Here I carefully remove it from its now opened the old pot, making sure that the rootball doesn’t fall apart!
Below: Carefully removing the soil from the outer layers of the rootball and removing all the thick and by now dead stumps, that was left from collecting the tree all those years ago.
Below: Carefully removing the old soil from between the tender small roots.
Below: Amazing deadwood and a very healthy rootball! 
Below: In its new pot and working in the soil with a chopstick.
Below: The tree is firmly tight down to the bottom of the pot with wire.
Below: Finer soil is put on as a top layer and that finished this transplant.
Below: The Yew in its new (temporary) home for now. I think that this old yew will make a quite special fantasy tree with a lot of dramatic deadwood on it! I can’t wait to start working on its deadwood and foliage! But first, the tree needs to get used to its new home and I will only start to work when I know for sure that it is safe to do! This tree is too precious to me to risk anything that could harm its recovery! So I need some more foliage for its first styling, so for now I only shortened the long branches before they get too thick to bend anymore. With a copper wire, I pulled the main trunk more towards the centre of the tree. This wire will be tightened bit by bit during the coming season!
Below: As you can tell from this picture, I am pretty happy with the outcome for now! 
Hope you enjoyed this little impression of my fun day repotting with a very happy ending!
Cheers,
Hans van Meer.
Info: karamottobonsai@hotmail.com
——————————————————————————–
Hi, everybody,
I like to wish for everybody a
Cheers,
Hans van Meer.
Info: karamottobonsai@hotmail.com
————————————————————————-
Picture was made by me in “het paardenbos” in Rockanje (NL) dec. 2010.
———————————————————————————-
Hi, everybody,
just want to let you all know that I am still among the living! 🙂 A lot of things happen to me during the last couple of months, from which I am still recovering! Getting through that period in my life took all of my energy and because of that, I did not feel like doing any writing and posting! I did some other artwork and Bonsai styling work though, that I will post during the next couple of days! But not everything was bad, two weeks ago I finally met the latest addition to our family! His name is Twan and he brought a big smile to my face!
Bellow: Me, little Twan and his proud Mother and my niece Dory.
I will start posting Bonsai stuff in the next few days!
Cheers,
Hans van Meer.
Info: karamottobonsai@hotmail.com
—————————————————————————-
Hi, everybody,
yesterday I made some pictures of my Larch that I would like to share with you! Its bright green and still short new growth makes it all look so much more in proportion. That’s why I love Larch as bonsai, it possesses the Winter image of a deciduous tree and the Summer image of an evergreen! Their winter image allows us to admire the fine ramification on the bare branches and see all the work that went into creating that! I can’t wait to see how “XL” will look after this growing season, with all those new small branches to fill out its Winter silhouette even more.
Above: Close-up of the base.
Above: Close up from where the deadwood top section starts.
Cheers,
Hans van Meer.
Info: karamottobonsai@hotmail.com
————————————————————————————-
Hi, everybody,
as promised, I would like to share some pictures of the repotting of my “DUTCH” Hawthorn yamadori. I collected it way back in ( will find out tomorrow) in a dune forest close to the sea and not too far from where I live. It took me three seasons to downsize it to the height I wanted and all but a few branches were removed. So I created a blank canvas and basically had to hope for new buds to appear in just the right places to create the new branches with.
Now after all these years of working on the ramification, the tree is heading in the right direction. It will take another 4 to 5 years of growth and wiring to fill out the desired image, but the basic branch structure to work from is there already.
I hope you like this little story of this Hawthorn, the rest you can find soon on my website!
Above: Collecting the tree.
Above: The tree is freed from the sandy soil, and now I am cutting the tree down to a more liftable size!
Above: A year later, The yellow arrow shows where I want my future apex to grow from.
Above: All the unwanted branches are removed or shortened. Only one original branch remains on the left middle side of the trunk!
Above: A few days ago. The larger roots were shortened. This is done with every repotting until the roots are in proportion with the base of the tree.
Above: Carefully remove the old soil.
Above: My student Ed van der Reek is helping me to carefully work the fresh soil in between the roots.
Above: I am pleased with how this tree is progressing. There is still a lot of growing and work to be done, but it already looks promising.
Above: Close-up of the natural deadwood. This tree has come far in just a short time and I can’t wait to see how it looks in 5 years?! I love this hobby! 🙂
I hope you like where this pre-bonsai is going?!
Cheers,
Hans van Meer.
Info: karamottobonsai@hotmail.com
———————————————————————————————
—————————————————————————————————
Hi, everybody,
Cheers,
Hans van Meer.
Info: karamottobonsai@hotmail.com
—————————————————————————————————-
The Bonsai Blog of Hans van Meer 