"Asian Sensibilities, Northwest Style"

Source material: Feb 2019

          Hello my bonsai fam, today I'm here to remind you that TOMORROW, SUNDAY MARCH 1st is the last day of the 2020 Northwest Flower and Garden Show at the Seattle convention center! Returning readers might be tired of hearing about this show every year, but too bad! Today we have just one more NWFGS-themed blog as we review the display garden that I helped the Elandan Gardens team create for last year's show. Your semi-irregularly scheduled bonsai content will be back after this week, I promise.

As in every year, would it really be a Robinson garden without beautiful niwaki landscape trees, natural boulders, and other one-of-a-kind artifacts?

Interview with Bonsaiko - NWFGS 2020

Source material: Feb 2017-2019

     Well, friends, that special time of year is almost here again. Yes, early spring means repotting season to us bonsai artists, however, in Seattle it also means it's time for the largest flower and garden show west of the Mississippi River.  Returning readers may recall that I have already written about the Northwest Flower and Garden Show several times to highlight the display gardens I helped the Elandan Gardens team create every year (see the 2017 garden here and 2018 one here). In preparation for the 2020 Northwest Flower and Garden Show, I wanted to share the work of another local landscaper featured in the show - the current president of the Puget Sound Bonsai Association, owner of Redwood Builders Landscaping, and writer of the bonsai blog Bonsaiko, Tony Fajarillo. I consider Tony to be one of the most skilled bonsai artists in the local club and his wealth of yardadori (landscape-collected specimen) turned into beautiful bonsai gems attest to that. Today we will review his past work at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show and ask him what we can look forward to for this year.

Sections:

1. 2017 - Mini Garden
2. 2018 - "Pot Party"
3. 2019 - "The Isles of the Blest: Tao Myth
4. 2020 - Interview with Bonsaiko / Tony Fajarillo

Tony calls this his "Flying Dragon" juniper. I was amazed to learn that this is a phoenix graft - a live tree grown between a dead one! The interplay together so beautifully I never would have noticed. This bonsai was featured in his 2019 display garden called "Pot Party".