Ben Oki at Kansas City

Ben Oki made his annual April pilgrimage to Kansas City to work on Japanese gardens and hold a Master Weekend at the Bonsai Society of Kansas City. It's hard to believe this man is 80 years old, he works like a horse! He is the curator of the Huntington Gardens bonsai collection and travels extensively throughout the U.S. as well as keeping his own collection.


Here Ben is working on a tree he has provided for the club. It is a Japanese black pine he grew from seed for the last 20 years.


His first step is to take off the strong new candles. They are so long this early because the weather in southern California is so warm.

At this point we see the tree wired and the roots shortened to pot the tree. Ben wired the trunk in order to bring the top a little toward the viewer. It had been leaning back too far.

The next tree is a little Ponderosa pine from Golden Arrow Bonsai. It's in great health but just a bit loose in the pot.

Ben brought the leading branch up for a new apex, cut off one branch, et voila, "instant bonsai." Of course it's instant in that the elements took about 90 years to create this tree. Instant to us.