Art of Bonsai with Master Walter Liew - Lesson 3... receiving our tree and Dragon Garden tour.

Art of Bonsai - Lesson 3 I've been so busy since my last post last week. Sorry, I haven't been able to post to my blog more frequently. I hope everyone's still reading. I had a new listing to work on and then a bunch of showing appointments, then offers to present and now we've opened escrow. A bit of relief for a little while. Lesson 3 was held at Master Walter Liew's bonsai nursery, Dragon Garden Bonsai Culture Center. I took so many pictures and want to share them. Not all are great pictures, but the fastest and easiest way to share them is to just embed the picasa photo album here. So that's how it's displayed below. The class runs short of time because there are so many styles of bonsai to go over. We briefed over 3 styles that evening. Master Liew showed us how to "stretch" the branches of the trees, similar to how we would stretch before excercising. Then selecting which branches would be used. Finally, we learned how to wire the trees. Our homework from this lesson is to bring home our first trees (supplied with the course, hand picked by Master Liew), stretch and wire them. These are our first bonsai trees. They aren't exactly bonsai right now. They are just trees in pots. My tree is the left and Kelli's is on the right. They are trees with longer branches so they should be suitable for semi or full cascade style of bonsai. I believe we have what is called a "Hackberry Tree" <--click for Wikipedia. Interestingly, after reading Wikipedia, I now realize I am growing a type of hemp. Well, at least it is a legal type. Master Liew chose this type of tree as one of the starter trees because it's very hearty. He says it will not die even if we don't know what we are doing. I hope he's right. It's also fast growing and has a soft trunk that can be styled as artistic bonsai. These are saplings so they are young trees and not cuttings from a mature tree. I will have to post again after Kelli and I get to our homework and wire our trees. For now, please enjoy looking at some of Master Liew's bonsai. Click to see photo album. Related Links: Master Walter Liew Googled, Google Maps of Dragon Garden, Yellowpages Dragon Garden Listing, Full Size Photo Album, My Bonsai Posts.