Instagram story viewer> @dogwoodapprentice> Posts

Jacob Michaels

@dogwoodapprentice

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Day by day, the work continues. 🥋🤎 Does this mean I have to be on time now? taken in Triangle Jiu-Jitsu Academy by @dogwoodapprentice

53

18

2 years ago

Things my teacher taught me: use sand in flat trays to slow watering requirements in summer. Escape roots will grow rapidly in the sand, supercharging growth while leaving a tight root ball. Good horticulture comes first, art second! #bonsai #盆栽 #japanesegarden by @dogwoodapprentice

186

6

7 days ago

A few years ago @davideasterbrookbonsai told me offhandedly of a retired woman living alone on the Jersey Shore. He spoke of her collection of Japanese Black Pine approvingly, and a short while later, @koji.hiramatsu.35 told me of the same woman. As I was commuting to Jersey often at the time, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see good black pine, and so I asked David for her contact info. A call came back as a wrong number, but the handwritten letter I decided to write reached the intended recipient. We have become friends over the past few years and I visit her garden any chance I can. She planted 500 JBP in 1988, mostly in the ground, and another 100 ten years later. The hinoki on stone planting was started by her mentor with Yuji Yoshimura 60 years ago. There’s a pride about her knowing many of her trees are quite valuable but that she paid so little for them as little sticks and through decades of care they’ve reached refinement. She would tell you what Tyler and I would tell you: spend more money on bonsai education than too many trees -and never underestimate the power of a handwritten letter

My Taiwanese auntie is an incredible woman who’s lived many lives, I only hope to have her energy for bonsai when I’m 78! taken in Colts Neck, New Jersey by @dogwoodapprentice

240

6

13 days ago

Boxed up the trees, packed up the van in the rain, and headed back east. Traded bonsai pots for tattoos, saw some New York niwaki, ate at the best pizza joint in the country, had oysters in Oyster Bay, and headed off to the next part of the trip
Thanks to @julianllouve for the new ink
@dancoveljiujitsu for being my yamadori guardian for a weekend
@jamesrobert__10 for Erniemaxxing
@erimagee @akireeeee for our New Haven afternoon
@lilouu.cso for loving me and my crazy dreams

YOU CANT DO THIS LIFE WITHOUT SUPPORT taken in New York City by @dogwoodapprentice

75

7

14 days ago

Children of the corn

Tyler reminds me often that you can’t be a bonsai professional without a support system. The morning after my brother’s Black Hills wedding (congratulations Luke & Valeska!) I spent a week camping in the backcountry of the mountains I spent my summers in. On one of the days, I collected trees in the valley my stepdad has been camping in since 1965. Back to my parent’s Not-so-Little House on the Prairie, with some of my late grandfather’s tools, he and I built the collection boxes for 5 Ponderosa Pine and a Black Hills Spruce. So grateful for my support system 🥰

#bonsai #盆栽 #japanesegarden #bonsaitree #deadwood by @dogwoodapprentice

239

16

25 days ago

Dances With Wolves

“If the Pondo doesn’t have deadwood, don’t bother digging it.” @tyler_sherrod84 #bonsai #yamadori by @dogwoodapprentice

101

4

a month ago

High Plains Drifter

Big thanks to the Backcountry Boys @backcountrydan @stevevarland for their warm hospitality on my first visit out to Wyoming in many years. Hopefully be back soon! by @dogwoodapprentice

71

8

a month ago

Aloha state of mind in the foothills of Appalachia 🌺⛰️ taken in Catawba County by @dogwoodapprentice

114

5

4 months ago

In the “Display” chapter of his 2008 seminal apprenticeship memoir “Post Dated,” @crataegusbonsai says this, “The carefully weighted emphasis on individual display elements reflects the intensity of the Japanese involvement with nature. To take one example the Japanese make out 72 variations in the moon’s appearance during the year, but as Mr. Suzuki says they’re really only four main variations for display…a summer moon is indistinct and fuzzy on the edge from high humidity.” As the kanji for Satsuki 皐月 indicates both the plant and fifth lunar month, a hazy moon celebrates both the flowering season for this beloved species and the beginning of another sweltering summer.

#bonsai #盆栽 #japanesegarden #皐月 #wnc taken in Catawba County by @dogwoodapprentice

60

2

4 months ago

Zelkova forest

I acquired this 11 trunk composition a couple years ago from my friend @jmichaelring and allowed it to grow freely in an Anderson flat. This spring, with light rearranging, I planted it on a stone imported from China, and accented with Selaginella, Mondo grass, and a Korean boxwood in the back. This week, the more developed trunks received their second pruning of the year, while others continue to develop better branching.

Most bonsai forests, and certainly most slab compositions, are quite heavy-but this one I can hold one handed. I’m a fan of bonsai I don’t need to be forklift certified to handle.

Summer may not start until next month, but the heat is already here in WNC. The cool mist from a waterfall in the deep woods always serves to refresh the body and spirit.

#bonsai #apprentice taken in Catawba County by @dogwoodapprentice

73

7

5 months ago

My American Hornbeam forest after its first cutback of the season. This planting was repotted this year into a new @wallacewoodspottery container, my second from him in this glaze; the soft blue goes well with just about everything! During the repot, the center trunk was moved about 2” closer to the left trunks, which helps the composition look more full. American Hornbeam is one of the strongest native species for deciduous bonsai, and while’s its leaves never reach the small size of its Korean sibling, fine ramification is still able to be produced reliably.

#bonsai #bonsaitree #pottery #apprentice taken in Catawba County by @dogwoodapprentice

94

11

5 months ago

American Beech, wild collected
Ceramic: @tokutakebonsai

I spent a lot of time at this lake house in New Jersey. There were these massive 120+year old sentinel American Beech right at the waterfront. One though, came out at a 45 and reached out into the lake, fighting for its place in the sun, its base gripping the shoreline. This display transports me right there to the dock, and how beautiful it looked in snow. taken in Monmouth County by @dogwoodapprentice

50

4

8 months ago