Corin in Japan part 2 (kokofu) - Greenwood Bonsai

Here we are at the 100th Cuckoo Show in Tokyo—we visited yesterday and have returned Today it's not quite as busy as yesterday so I'll take a little walk around and show you a few of e trees I deliberately don’t want to be one of those people who wander around photographing every tree blocking everyone’s path but if I can quietly capture just a few of the trees I particularly love at stand out and I'm not in anyone's way to get a little cheeky video of them o show you some of the trees and I'll try to do so this afternoon—it's not quite so busy w People as it was here yesterday we'll flip you around—I'm just up on the balcony at the moment and um just to give you an overview of the show just looking down into the main hall A lot of people are here with all the trees laid out neatly—you can spot the flowering cherries from up here and below us there's an amazing hornbeam with remarkable branching we took a quick stroll around Yesterday was quite busy but today isn't quite so bad—we're going down for a wonder about and catch you in a bit to capture a few trees for you—Japanese black pine semi-cascades— beautiful composition amazing old trunk just at the start this is one of the rows that we didn't get to see yesterday but it's really busy so we thought we'd have a venture down today—short needle Japanese white pine formal upright style Chinese juniper emerging beside a cascade magnolia—I know we're still after that painted pot but I really don’t want to talk much over these trees Just try to capture a little of their beauty for you and only about three of these in the show thought there'd be a few more really like the deadwood here just hanging down like that you can really picture them as branches that have withered away over time their beauty in their aged state truly beautiful The foliage on it—I have a few of these in the UK and they end up getting quite a bit of moss on them and uh the bark in this more humid environment is phenomenal with just a hint of resin oozing out from the base of this remarkable tree the phenomenal Satsuki azalea Wakabisu is truly impressive about half a dozen large satsuki on display here—nice to see them among the deciduous trees with a semi-cascade dwarf Japanese white pine or a fully wired black pine at the end Kuramatsu back up—no one's here take your shot take your shot straight on On this side and around the other we're now at the end here—Chinese juniper deadwood style Go on Lee—Lee stood next to me just chuckling because he knows I'm doing a commentary on trees and he knows I'm standing next to this one now and it's on a list of wha It's one I'm not familiar with—oh yeah Brunfelicia uniflora—yeah probably the best one I've never seen the first one I've ever seen someone mention it yesterday and say it's I've never seen one of these I think I'll have to do a bit of research—I take pride in knowing a lot of trees but this is a species of tree I haven't really come across before across so we'll do a little reading to figure out where that's from—that'll be that'll be a a fascinating topic—one of the most intriguing trees here that I haven’t yet shown you we'll get to that a bit later and that's another very unusual tree when we reach it Another Chinese juniper over there and flowering pumice ume here so many white ume lots of them here and there about two or three pink-flowering ones but the majority are old deadwood with white flowers another stunning ume its aged bark hollow trunk and delicate fragility on this deadwood moss grows like a carpet and flowers bloom upon it of course—naturally you lose a little detail when displayed as everything is shown against the background White background which is absolutely stunning—unless it's a white-flowered tree but then again that's life Japanese yew cuspidata deadwood style an amazing powerful dominant tree next to a trident maple on Ibegal Rock Butera Rock with excellent ramification developed over many years This is one of the few trees displayed by non-Japanese exhibitors there are roughly twenty trees in the first half of the exhibition owned by non-Japanese collectors I think yesterday it was reported that the visitors numbered around 60 Westerners but the numbers are way up compared to last year—I think they had 2 000 visitors to the show yesterday which is many many more obviously it's the 100th anniversary and a lot of people have I made a pilgrimage to Kookafoo myself because of that and I'm including you you know I said before it's a busy time of year for me not normally getting away from the nursery but because it's the 100 I was intrigued by this—just a small accessory plant—so I made the effort to travel there like so many others who’ve done the same Someone said it looked like a type of Japanese fern—this one well looks like something I've never seen before I took a little photo of it yesterday—Japanese maple a beautiful tree once again displayed with a large nibari but unlike some of these that are truly solid this one has a few small gaps and a few more subtle undulations around the edge which I think gives it a more natural feel—some of them are very manufactured— while the nibari is very circular like a dinner plate and to me it doesn't look quite as natural and that looks a bit less forced—camellias lots of camellias all around you know On the used tree I've got one I'm going to be working on over the next few weeks—this was a standout The tree you showed me a dwarf quince is just ridiculous at that age—the bark is already like that cracked on the bark old bark with two flowers on it and if I can get him to show you there's one There's one right here at the front you can see it and another one that's a bit easier to reach—look it's just opened up at the back and that wasn't there yesterday but such an old tree and it grows so slowly that it takes ages to develop that bark texture and branching patter It's one of the trees I'll certainly remember when I get home and at the end a twisted contorted mass of deadwood forming a semi-cascade blooming pink and intensely fragrant Absolutely showstopping displayed at the end of this right-hand row of trees—and rightly so it's impossible to miss as you walk around the exhibition and I bet a lot of people are stopping in their tracks here Enjoying its beauty at this time of year this is one of the standout trees for us at the show and Lee is just filming standing next to it so you can get a sense of its size—rather than just videoing it you don't really grasp how massive the tree is truly impressive this s the one we caught a brief glimpse of when we stood up on the balcony earlier and you can see the e ramifications extending downward from above so we thought we'd come down and show you right here so you can see the roots the branch structure and the branching patterns They should be able to capture it all if they step back a bit credible tree—one of the ones we'll remember long after we leave this show in Japa Another eliagnas here with a twisted trunk—many people commented on this tree yesterday extremely unusual very unusual Prunus mume—obviously this is upstairs now and these displayed against a black backdrop the difference it makes compared to white blooming apricot trees suddenly came to life stunningly displayed against the blac A completely different sensation truly showcasing the flowers in full display ext to the black pine so many amazing trees here—there's one in this corner I'm going to try and get it to show you the maple root over rock an unusual style elegant lovely canopy This feminine pot has a really nice composition especially in the corners—something I've been dying to show you This is a standout tree for me something I'll truly remember and were just looking at it Yesterday I was trying to figure out what it was—there's a list of it but that's no fun you need o guess what it is or know what it is it's a dwarf rose but one I've never seen with a runk that was good and were having a little game among the people on the trip trying to Identify it to see who knew what it was if you look very closely you can spot the thorns on the twigs A few people guessed it correctly while many others just couldn't weren't sure because how many roses do you see with bark that kind of weathered you know That's 100 to 150 years old to achieve that kind of ruggedness—possibly visible in the video on the This is just some B-roll Josh—feel free to add music or anything else I’d rather not talk over it I just want to show you the details so pan out a bit so you can see it clearly In all its glory there's the hornbeam queen—hornbeam by Shinji Suzuki—on display here again one of those trees that truly shines against the black background allowing you to fully appreciate its form See the ramifications in the twigs and you always get excellent movement—know what I mean Good twisting motion On a grim hornbeam this one's no exception: beautiful bark twin trunk but the movement is what truly stands out on both trunks how well they work together—the upper section on this right trunk especially it's just so beautiful to see just imagine this is exactly why you showed up me of year you know because imagine this tree—how breathtaking it is when it's in leaf—yet now as a winter image you can't see that beauty that's available to all of us right now Japanese white pine here—this is unusual that is a beautiful tree with a striking movement in the tru sinuous serpentine motion as the vine spirals upward coiling back on itself high up the tree's trunk— everything has been carefully wired for display but down here there's a small note offering some insig These four photos— the first from 1934 showing the same tree— notice how high the canopy is in 1939 and we have 1962 and that one's 1980—I mean the 1980s the most recent photo there is 46 years old ago yeah but that one in 1934—that was it on display the very first cuckoo clock exhibition ever and here On the hundredth episode we see it back on display with the canopy lowered further Left as it's been developed it's changed but you can still see it's the same tree And how amazing it is to see a tree and then glimpse what it looked like nearly a century ago If you're a fan of a nice nibari then listen up—this one's for you Just place his hand right in front of it not touching just hovering above it to give you a sense of scale a sense of scale to see just how large this nibari is—it literally comes within an inch of the pot and It's probably what I'd say is a 90-centimeter pot—the pot's likely the same size The 90-centimeter section on the tree is likely about 90 centimeters tall too I mean obviously a manufactured base but impressive all the same absolutely stunning amazing absolutely amazing—tree this is one of the trees were looking at yesterday it has since won one of the awards uh Chinese quince and there's a lot of Chinese quince here—maybe 15 or so—but this What's notable is that they don't actually produce a dwarf variety—some naturally have smaller leaves than others—but this one I've never seen before a Chinese quince with such extensive branching Absolutely amazing—so dense and because you have so many twigs you significantly increase the density and therefore it has more leaves with each leaf being smaller and there is no there is no It's impressive it won an award—you just don’t often see them produced with such quality and that level of complexity even in the accessory or companion plant of this semi-cascading variety Japanese black pine—the quality of the display is simply unmatched I've never seen anything like it And you know as you're walking around marveling at how incredible the trees are you can't help but think— I'd be really happy with some of the companion plants because they're just as impressive in quality and this tree paired with this pot is absolutely phenomenal Sorry I can't provide more information about the pots because we're uncertain whether it's mentioned on the Japanese labels or not but it's not indicated in the English translation so it would be ce to know the maker and the age of the pot but it fits the tree so perfectly it's one of the So now we're in an area with the shohin displays and this display is one of the awards that's always present and only a black pine occasionally a white pine at the top of the displays on a root stand and this is a dwarf citrus there are plenty of these here of course it's seasonal and we have shoujo quince in a painted pot with a beautiful design as well as eliagnis with small leaves Is it an Elmo Is it a little elm A little elm down at the bottom — is it an Elmo Elmo celtis could be a hackberry and as we continue along the companion plant showcasing Chinese juniper deadwood on a root stand—amazing—let's add a touch of gentle drift Here's another juniper with deadwood on an incredibly intricate root base the lighting in here is a bit unusual—on the other side there's additional supplemental lighting It's a bit dim in here so that's just how it is—unfortunately A small winding white pine at the top of this display no taller than six inches deciduous ilex serrata at the base appears to be a small koyo po Japanese maple in a beautiful old pot gardenia in a painted pot and again at the top a Japanese black pine on a root stand followed by juniper with deadwood on a root stand In fact these trends are noticeable though we might not see them quite the same way in the UK where you don't necessarily encounter this scale or level of quality—but you'll always find a five-piece pine display e top and then flowering something fruiting something evergreen and this one has a juniper On the right on a root stand—so is that one here so is that one there and the two at the far end—again all pines on top around here again Japanese pine on top A hint of hinoki on the bottom with a touch of citrus and a hint of fruit and this time a pine on a root stand is a bit shadowy in here unfortunately as I said earlier This trident root growing from the rock wasn't showing any leaves yesterday but come back to see it today—look spring has clearly begun it's probably been here for a couple of days already with lights on top and a warmer ambient temperature and it's just beginning to burst into leaf so I took a photo of it yesterday—it looks completely different today because the colored leaves contrast beautifully with the darkness of the pot it's a pleasing sight Japanese maple beautiful old pot gardenia painted pot and again at the top—Japanese black pine on a root stand to finish the composition and then juniper deadwood on a root stand—indeed these trends you notice might be ones we don’t see in the UK simply because you don’t encounter them in such quantity or quality but you always have a five-piece display of pine at the top then something flowering something fruiting evergreen and this one features a juniper on the right mounted on a root stand And there's one here one there and the two at the far end again—all pines on top Back again around here Japanese pine on top on the bottom there and a raw citrus with a fruit on and this time a pine standing up slightly shadowy in here—unfortunately as I said earlier