I started messing around with bonsais four years ago. At the time, I guessed it would take me four or five years to have something decent to show. Four years later, I see that I was wildly optimistic. Still, the progress has been encouraging in places. Like children, you need to take pictures every so […]
Tag Archives: horticulture
Minnows Nipped My Flesh
Took a trip to Sabah around the turn of last year. Mount Kinabalu, the tallest mountain in Malaysia, was impressive: you can see the rocky top with two spurs sticking up like horns on a giant beast. The top of the mountain is above the tree line, and was glaciated long ago. It isn’t cold […]
New Stumps
My students and I dug up several promising new Duranta stumps from the same failing hedge I got my last one. Here they are, freshly dug. They’ve all leafed out by now but you can see the character of the gnarled wood better when they are bare like this. I have only the faintest idea […]
Little tiny trees
Living in Malaysia and not making bonsai is like living in Minnesota and not snowmobiling. You’re just not taking advantage of what is on offer. With a 12-month growing season, plenty of sunlight and rainfall throughout the year, the slow, slow pleasures of bonsai come just a little bit quicker. It took me years to […]
Malay Spiral Ginger
Winds are changing, rain falls harder, durians are appearing at the roadside, and the Malay Spiral Ginger is flowering again.
The Yard: Cekur Udang Gamit
Great, so that makes about as much sense as nursery rhymes can be expected to make. But what on earth is cekur, you ask? Maybe you’re not all that sure what turmeric is either, for that matter.<